Deadline missed, please don't scroll on by - DCB Legal

Netty2771

I am in the crap..... I have a claim against me for staying over the permitted free hour at a service station. I received the claim on the 12th December.  The date of issue is the 7th December. I shouldn't try to make excuses, but I had covid from the 8th December and was really poorly right up until just before Xmas and then it was go go go with my Son home from abroad and hosting 10 people.... sounds lame, but true. It re-entered my head today and I so I hurredly completed the acknowledgment today online, even though I am outside of the 14 days. Perhaps there is a very small chance that DCB have not yet asked for judgement against me yet with with it being over Xmas/New Year..... small chance, but I will take it as I understand that if they have not that my acknowledgement can go through despite being outside of the timeframe? I absolutely must do all I can not to have a CCJ.  I have not had one in my life and I am a company director and could potentially cause all sorts of problems.  So I am considering calling DCB tomorrow to ask if I can pay in full.  Is that a bad idea? The alternative is to use the motorway tiredness argument coupled with a clinical diagnosis of a medical condition I have which causes chronic fatigue. I fully accept I have messed up with these deadlines which is so unlike me.  Please help!    , 

Fruitcake

Hopefully @KeithP will be along soon to check your working out, but it is assumed it takes five days for the claim to be delivered, so you had 14 days to complete the AoS or submit a defence after that. 
I'm no expert and I don't know if the 14 days includes public holidays, but on the assumption that is does, you are out of time.

Do not despair. You are now in a race to submit your defence before the claimant applies for a default judgment. I suggest you fire off a defence by 4pm tomorrow, but do not submit it outside normal business hours.
 To do this, use the template defence from the sticky Announcement of the same name, and amend just the relevant paragraphs. This should take you a few hours at the most.

Who is the claimant, and where did the alleged event occur?

What happened when you complained to the landowner and your MP? This is always Plan A, and it is never too late to do so.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 7th December, you had until 5pm on Thursday 28th December to file an Acknowledgment of Service.

You have missed that opportunity. 

That in turn means that your Defence is now due.

You are now in a race.

Suggest you file a Defence immediately - NOW - before the Claimant seeks a Default Judgment against you.
 

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

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'.

Although I have written there to not file a Defence via MCOL, your urgent situation might be an exception. You will need to cut down the Defence text drastically to get it to fit. See what others say.

KeithP

Oh... and forget anything about a County Court Judgment.

Even if the case is found against you there will be no lasting CCJ as long as you pay what the court specifies within the timescale allowed.

troublemaker22

You haven't shown us the particulars of claim, which makes it hard to advise on how to draft the defence, but as it's a recent DCB Legal claim, we can make an educated guess. There is no point phoning DCB Legal.  

As the defence deadline has passed and you are at risk of  getting a default judgment (if you haven't already got one) if you don't bang in a defence immediately, I don't think you have the luxury of crafting a long form defence based on the MSE template and emailing it in.  In your exceptional circumstances, I would draft a short and simple defence that will fit in the MCOL form and file it online via the MCOL website tonight.  You can then fill it out at the witness statement and skeleton argument stage, if it gets that far.  Something along the following lines might suffice.  I'm sure it could be polished but speed is of the essence in this case:

1.         The Defendant denies liability for the entirety of the sum claimed and save as expressly stated below makes no admissions.

2.         While it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the specified vehicle, the Particulars of Claim are deficient as they do not comply with CPR 16.4 being in breach of the Practice Direction to Part 16, as they fail to ‘state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action’. The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the Particulars of Claim, to understand with certainty what legal cause of action is being asserted, what facts are relied on and what heads of cost are being pursued. A recent persuasive appeal judgment in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan  (Ref.E7GM9W44) would indicate this Claim indeed fails to comply with the CPR 16.4 and the Practice Direction to Part 16 and should be struck out. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that: 

'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. 

3. In view of the above the allocating judge is requested to strike out the claim using the Court's powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

4.         Without prejudice to the foregoing, if the claim is not struck out, the Defendant admits to being the registered keeper of the vehicle but does not admit any of the other facts and matters alleged in the Particulars of Claim, as to which the Claimant is put to strict proof.

5.         In particular, without prejudice to the foregoing, the Claimant is put to strict proof as to the following, as to which no admissions are made by the Defendant:

a.    Proof that a valid and enforceable contract was entered into between the parties that included enforceable terms obliging the Defendant to pay the amount claimed;

b.    Proof that the Claimant had standing to enter into any such contract whether as owner of the land referred to in the Particulars of Claim or otherwise;

c.     Proof that the Claimant complied with the strict conditions for keeper liability set out in Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and, if so, the extent (if any) of the resulting keeper liability;

d. Proof that the amount claimed has been properly calculated according to the terms of the alleged contract.

Delete 5.c if the claim does not allege keeper liability

Netty2771

Fruitcake said:

Hopefully @KeithP will be along soon to check your working out, but it is assumed it takes five days for the claim to be delivered, so you had 14 days to complete the AoS or submit a defence after that. 
I'm no expert and I don't know if the 14 days includes public holidays, but on the assumption that is does, you are out of time.

Do not despair. You are now in a race to submit your defence before the claimant applies for a default judgment. I suggest you fire off a defence by 4pm tomorrow, but do not submit it outside normal business hours.
 To do this, use the template defence from the sticky Announcement of the same name, and amend just the relevant paragraphs. This should take you a few hours at the most.

Who is the claimant, and where did the alleged event occur?

What happened when you complained to the landowner and your MP? This is always Plan A, and it is never too late to do so.

Thank you Fruitcake, appreciate your reply. The claimant is CP PLUS LTD T/A GROUPNEXUS.  It happened at Leigh Delamere service station (M4) and it was late in the evening.  Cameras..... 

Netty2771

troublemaker22 said:

You haven't shown us the particulars of claim, which makes it hard to advise on how to draft the defence, but as it's a recent DCB Legal claim, we can make an educated guess. There is no point phoning DCB Legal.  

As the defence deadline has passed and you are at risk of  getting a default judgment (if you haven't already got one) if you don't bang in a defence immediately, I don't think you have the luxury of crafting a long form defence based on the MSE template and emailing it in.  In your exceptional circumstances, I would draft a short and simple defence that will fit in the MCOL form and file it online via the MCOL website tonight.  You can then fill it out at the witness statement and skeleton argument stage, if it gets that far.  Something along the following lines might suffice.  I'm sure it could be polished but speed is of the essence in this case:

1.         The Defendant denies liability for the entirety of the sum claimed and save as expressly stated below makes no admissions.

2.         While it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the specified vehicle, the Particulars of Claim are deficient as they do not comply with CPR 16.4 being in breach of the Practice Direction to Part 16, as they fail to ‘state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action’. The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the Particulars of Claim, to understand with certainty what legal cause of action is being asserted, what facts are relied on and what heads of cost are being pursued. A recent persuasive appeal judgment in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan  (Ref.E7GM9W44) would indicate this Claim indeed fails to comply with the CPR 16.4 and the Practice Direction to Part 16 and should be struck out. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that: 

'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. 

3. In view of the above the allocating judge is requested to strike out the claim using the Court's powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

4.         Without prejudice to the foregoing, if the claim is not struck out, the Defendant admits to being the registered keeper of the vehicle but does not admit any of the other facts and matters alleged in the Particulars of Claim, as to which the Claimant is put to strict proof.

5.         In particular, without prejudice to the foregoing, the Claimant is put to strict proof as to the following, as to which no admissions are made by the Defendant:

a.    Proof that a valid and enforceable contract was entered into between the parties that included enforceable terms obliging the Defendant to pay the amount claimed;

b.    Proof that the Claimant had standing to enter into any such contract whether as owner of the land referred to in the Particulars of Claim or otherwise;

c.     Proof that the Claimant complied with the strict conditions for keeper liability set out in Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and, if so, the extent (if any) of the resulting keeper liability;

d. Proof that the amount claimed has been properly calculated according to the terms of the alleged contract.

Delete 5.c if the claim does not allege keeper liability

Thank you so much troublemaker. The Particulars of the claim are;
1. The defendant is indebted to the ckaumant for a parking charge (s) issued to vehicle XXX at Moto Leigh Delamere West.
2. The PCN (s) were issued on 19/03/23
3. The defendant is pursued as the Driver of the vehicle for breach of the terms of the signs (the contract).  Reason: Vehicle remained on private property in breach of the prominately displayed terms and conditions.
4. In the alternative the defendant is pursued as the keeper pursuant to POFA 2012, Schedule 4.
Schedule 4.
AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS
1. £170 being the total of the PCN and damages.
2. Interest at a rate of 8% per annum .............
3. Costs and court fees

Amount claimed £179.32
Court fee £35
Legal representatives costs £50.00
Total £264.32

Do I mention the fact that I was taking a break for tiredness reasons as the police recommend and that I have Fatigue is one of the most challenging symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis? I would guess not looking at your templates and your suggested text.  What are my odds using your suggested text, any idea? Again, thank you so very much for your reply.

troublemaker22

Absolutely not. Do not admit that you were the driver. Put them to strict proof as stated in the draft. The odds are good that DCB Legal will throw in the towel before the hearing as they usually do in a single ticket case 

Coupon-mad

That's really kind of @troublemaker22 who is a solicitor so he knows his stuff.

We don't 'scroll on by' on this forum. We help everyone.

Get that defence in NOW on MCOL (not by email).  That way it's immediate and you can sleep!

Obviously in your haste don't copy these words at the end:

"Delete 5.c if the claim does not allege keeper liability"

Umkomaas

Get your defence in now, thereafter follow the required court procedures to the letter (no more missing deadlines!) and the prospect of DCB Legal discontinuing your case is very high. After you have submitted your defence (nothing must get in the way of that - nothing), have a read of the following thread; you could find yourself mentioned in dispatches there before too long:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Netty2771

troublemaker22 said:

Absolutely not. Do not admit that you were the driver. Put them to strict proof as stated in the draft. The odds are good that DCB Legal will throw in the towel before the hearing as they usually do in a single ticket case 

Thank you troublemaker.  I literally just copied and pasted what you wrote and I did it straight on money online as suggested.  What happens next?  Do I hear though an email or letter or do I have to keep looking at the portal?  Oh and to let you in to a little secret, I wasn't the driver on that day anyway, but I see they can pursue me as the keeper......?