County Court Claim for not parking in a bay

princejambojambo

Hi there, I was hoping to get some advice on a Claim Form I received on the 14th of November for parking in an M&S car park back in April. It is from UK Parking Control Limited, and the court address is Civil National Business Centre, Northampton. 

The claim issue date is 09 November.

 Firstly, I've read through the stickied posts, and filed an AOS through MoneyClaim on the 16th of November.  I screenshotted the confirmation screen after completing the forms, and downloaded the pdf, but haven't received an email confirmation, is this normal?

I've then gone to M&S and shown them my google timeline history that showed I was only parked in their car park for 7 minutes. Someone there kindly checked with the parking firm, and the next day emailed me to let me know that I apparently hadn't parked in a bay, and that the parking firm  wouldn't cancel proceedings. They included screenshots of a picture of my car (attached), which to me clearly shows a car driving past it with miles of space to get by. I've been back to the car park to jog my memory, and the area I parked in would not have obstructed anyone, and at the time there were other cars parked there in front of me (who probably got fined too I imagine) They also claim they sent me 5 letters about it, which I definitely haven't received.

I've taken the template defence in the stickied posts, added the recommended section about Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44) and written in my own defence pasted below:

"The defendant arrived at the car park, and parked in what they assumed was a bay behind two other cars. Their car was not impeding other cars, as seen in the photo provided which shows another car driving by the defendant's vehicle. After buying a sandwich in M&S the defendant drove away, the entire time they were in the car park amounted to 7 minutes, as shown by their Google Timeline history. The first time the defendant was made aware that they were being fined was the 14th of November, when a Claim for £255 was posted to them."

Thank you in advance for any advice or amendments you can give me, I just wanted to check if I'm doing the right thing, or if I should just pay up.

KeithP

princejambojambo said:

The claim issue date is 09 November.

...filed an AOS through MoneyClaim on the 16th of November.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th November, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 12th December 2023 to file a Defence.

That's over two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

[Deleted User]

Were you parked in a bay? It's not very clear from the pic.

Coupon-mad

Please show us a pic of the Particulars of claim, minus your VRM.

On the Claim firm, was it issued by UKPC themselves?  Not a third party solicitor?

Also check your V5C.   The address on it must be old. For you to miss five letters, it must mean they went to your previous address, then they traced you for the claim.

princejambojambo

Hi there, thanks for getting back to me. I've pasted in the Particulars below, at the bottom of the form its signed by [Deleted by Forum Team], the claimant's(UK Parking Control Limited) legal representative

1. The Defendant(D) is indebted to the Claimant(C) for Parking Charge(s) (PCN) issued to the vehicle ******* at Kingsley Village Shopping Park, TR9 6NA. 2. The PCN details are: 3010231191247 (29/04/2023 13:47:29). 3. The PCN(s) had been issued on private land, which is managed by C. 4. The vehicle was parked in breach of terms and conditions provided by signage (the contract), resulting in the PCN(s). 5. The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not D is liable as the keeper. Despite requests, the PCN(s) are outstanding. 6. The C claims 170.00 being the total of the PCN(s) and damages. 7. C claim costs and court fees.

The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 28/04/2023 to 07/11/2023 on £170.00 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.02.

I'll have a look at my V5c to check the address, thanks for the heads up.

princejambojambo

Major_Hazard said:

Were you parked in a bay? It's not very clear from the pic.

I wasn't, when I arrive there were cars parked in front of where I was parked in the picture, so I foolishly assumed it was fine to park there. 

Coupon-mad

Change your facts paragraphs (AFTER the Chan transcript) to these three:

- The Defendant admits that they were the driver but denies any breach of a relevant obligation or contractual term, not that the woeful POC specify any terms or breaches.  The Defendant was an M&S customer and properly parked - straight and behind a row of other cars - in what appeared to be a parking area, beside a completely unmarked kerb at this retail park.

 

- The area is always used for customer parking and there were no signs or lines along this row.  Some other areas of the retail park not intended for customer parking have yellow lines/hatchings but this area for a line of cars has no such lines, nor were any terms visible. After buying a sandwich in M&S the Defendant drove away. The entire time they were in the car park amounted to 7 minutes, as shown by their Google Timeline history which tracks the whole stay at a location.  Actual parking time would therefore have been less than 5 minutes, which means this Claimant is in breach of the 'consideration period' rules in the applicable Codes of Practice including the incoming statutory Code first published in February 2022. 

- No Parking Charge was affixed to the windscreen and no 'PCN' was received by post either.  The Defendant was afforded no opportunity to dispute the charge. It is assumed that any earlier letters were sent to an old address. The first the Defendant knew anything about this matter was upon receiving the Claim Form this month, which suggests that this Claimant has recently traced the Defendant's address, yet failed to reissue the PCN (again, a requirement of the Government's Code of Practice).  As such, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 part 2: 'Requirement for contract terms and notices to be fair' was breached; namely that there was a failure by the trader (this Claimant) to prominently and fairly draw a 'consumer notice' to the attention of the consumer in a timely manner, which is why the Government has included a mandatory obligation upon operators to re-issue PCNs where it is known that an address has changed.

princejambojambo

Thank you for taking the time to look over everything, and for your amendments, they're brilliant. I'll change my document and get my defense sent off. 

I really appreciate your help, I'll return with an update when I hear what's next. Have a great week

Coupon-mad

princejambojambo said:

Thank you for taking the time to look over everything, and for your amendments, they're brilliant. I'll change my document and get my defense sent off. 

I really appreciate your help, I'll return with an update when I hear what's next. Have a great week

Good!

One favour please -

If you could reply to this Inquiry that would be superb.  ...only TWO WEEKS left to do this VERY relevant Inquiry linked & discussed here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80417494/#Comment_80417494

Really relevant because the reason that the county court is clogged up is because up to a THIRD of all small claims are private parking.

Your claim paperwork will be great evidence of the meritless 'cause of action' constantly bombarding the courts and wasting Judges' time.  This is about showing how parking firms abuse the court service.

Please tell the Ministers on this Committee that there needs to be a bespoke parking Alternative Dispute Resolution 'court buffer' at pre-action stage, and the use of the "debt claims" pre-action protocol is totally improper.  Asking for people's income on a 'debtor' reply form is an insult and utterly inappropriate.

I think if enough people say the above sort of stuff, this Justice Committee will go and talk to the DLUHC guys I'm dealing with, and hopefully recommend a new pre-action protocol to stop the vast majority of cases even going to a claim.

Please do the Inquiry with your claim form and views.

  

princejambojambo

I will do, thank you for the heads up on this, I'll be glad to take part and put forward my views!

Castle

princejambojambo said:

Hi there, thanks for getting back to me. I've pasted in the Particulars below, at the bottom of the form its signed by [Deleted by Forum Team], the claimant's(UK Parking Control Limited) legal representative

 2. The PCN details are: ********** (29/04/2023 *******). 3. The PCN(s) had been issued on private land, which is managed by C. 4. The vehicle was parked in breach of terms and conditions provided by signage (the contract), resulting in the PCN(s). 5. The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not D is liable as the keeper. Despite requests, the PCN(s) are outstanding. 6. The C claims 170.00 being the total of the PCN(s) and damages. 7. C claim costs and court fees.

The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 28/04/2023 to 07/11/2023 on £170.00 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.02.

Are they really trying to claim interest starting a day before the PCN was issued?