Claim Form

tangiro23

Hello everyone.

This is my first post on this forum. I have read through the newbies page but I'm still unsure what to do next.

I will try to keep most of it private. Here's the situation:

I parked at the leisure centre car park. The car park has signs were displayed. The signs are regular BPA Private Property signs that warn about £100 fine if conditions are breached. Now, here's the situation. I parked there about 4 years ago to use a facility. When I came back to my car that I was renting from a company. I saw a yellow sticker on the window with a parking ticket. I responded to the parking ticket stating that I was a member of the leisure centre and I forgot to enter the registration number on the tablet at the reception. Also, I told them that I won't pay for the ticket. They responded stating that the ticket stands and conditions are clear therefore I must pay the fine and their decision was final.

Some 'genius' suggested I just ignore the ticket, so that's what I did. They kept sending me letters every few months.

Situation changed when I received a letter of claim recently. I responded to it asking for pausing the claim as I need to contact the MET Parking services (who is the owner of the car park). I've asked for SAR and received it roughly 2-3 weeks later. The SAR contained all of the information as well as photo evidence. The guy who took photos, showed photos of the panel where registration number needs to be entered. The panel is just blank. I'm wondering whether I can use that in my defence as they cannot prove if I entered the registration or not.

Interestingly enough, today, I received a Claim Form. 

The original ticket was £100 (£50 discount). The letter of claim was stating that I owe them £170.
And the Claim Form is stating that I owe them the following:
Amount claimed £229.00
Court fee £35
Legal representative's costs £50
Total amount 314.08.

I'm wondering what to do next. I called the leisure center and they weren't really helpful. The only thing I've learned that the car park is owned by MET Parking Services and leisure centre is not the owner nor has any business with them.

Any suggestion on that to do next?

I was wondering if I should wait for the court case or keep emailing the debt collector?

Regards

Coupon-mad

The 'genius' was right.

You don't pay these things and having appealed  (it's not independent) you were correct to ignore threatograms.

I was wondering if I should wait for the court case or keep emailing the debt collector?

If you do that, you'll get a CCJ. Obviously you must defend in full, as explained in the second post of the NEWBIES thread.

What's the Date of Issue top right?

Which solicitor firm? DCB Legal?

And show us the POC with your VRM covered. 

tangiro23

The Coupon-mad said:

What's the Date of Issue top right?

Which solicitor firm? DCB Legal?

And show us the POC with your VRM covered. 

The date of Claim Form - 22.11.23
The solicitor is DCB Legal

Coupon-mad

'Defendant is pursued as the driver'!

And it states the alleged breach. 

I'm wondering whether I can use that in my defence as they cannot prove if I entered the registration or not.

They can, because you admitted fault in your appeal, years ago. That was the bad thing...you'd have been better ignoring it and not appealing at the time (although that will change for new PCNs in late 2024).

Anyway of course the Template Defence sticky thread already tells you exactly what to do to get the case defended (and discontinued by DCBLegal six months down the line).

tangiro23

Thank you for the reply.

I know I messed up there. So you're suggesting to acknowledging the claim and sending an email to the ccbcaq@justice.gov.uk ?

Coupon-mad

Errr... yes. You want the discontinuance!

Surely you aren't planning on paying?

tangiro23

Yes of course I want to cancel that ticket
Obviously due to the threating nature of the letters, paying the fine and 'be done with it' crossed my mind. But I do believe that 'IF' the case goes to the court, the judge will see that this is just an extortion attempt.
However, I will be defending myself to the very end. The £314 for forgetting to enter the license plate number is just not reasonable. And that is because I was a member of that leisure centre at the time and was using the facility.

Coupon-mad

True.

Hence add that to the Template Defence as your paragraph 3.  Job done over the weekend without even breaking into a sweat!

KeithP

tangiro23 said:

The date of Claim Form - 22.11.23

With a Claim Issue Date of 22nd November, you have until Monday 11th December to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it.. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Thursday 28th December 2023 to file your Defence.

That's almost five 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 again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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'.

tangiro23

Thank you both for your responses

One more question:
I noticed that my name was incorrect. The claimant typed my first name twice as a defendant  like so: John John (instead of John Smith). Would that make any difference, can I use that against them?

Thank you for your help. I will make sure that I will post back here once the case finishes.

KeithP

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service yet?