My defence is about to be struck out

amelia1231

Taken to the Court for Parking Eye. Paid  for 2 hours, overstayed 20 minutes (including 10 min allowance to exit the carpark) while some of their paying machines were not working.
Sent my defence and never heard from the Court or claimant until last week when  I received an order from the court in the mail, instructing me to respond within 7 days and send a Directions Questionnaire. Unfortunately the  deadline for response to the Court Order overlapped by 5 days(being abroad, opened my correspondence late).

Spent all morning trying to contact the Court, sent an email, and then went to my job. At 2:40 pm, I received an email from the Court, advising me to contact the Claimant and ask to delay the defence(?). No success over the phone in contacting the Claimant, so I wrote an email that I was planning to send after I finished my job. At 6 pm, ready to send the email to the Claimant, I noticed the Court sent me another email 30 minutes after the first one, allowing me an extension of 43 minutes and asked me to complete the Questionnaire within 43 minutes. I did not expected the Court to send me another email with different instructions, so I haven`t checked my email(I am a childcare provider we are banned from using the phone during working hours) I printed, completed, and sent it back with a delay of 2 hours and 48 minutes.

Now, the Court is indicating that my defence may be struck out, or I'd have to pay £108 to reinstate it. I'm at a loss for what to do next. Should I:

1.End it here and mediate with the parking company, hoping they'll accept the money?
2. Pay £108 before knowing if I will be struck out.
3.Wait and hope my defence won't be struck out and continue the case (but will cost me more to reinstate it.

I called the Court twice and they seem sure that the defence will be struck out so they push for £108 penalty.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice or insights you may have.
Thank you a million in advance. 

troublemaker22

Check online whether judgment has already been entered and/or the Defence struck out.  Either way, email the completed DQ and a further copy of the Defence to the Court and Parkingeye now.  Mark the email urgent.

Coupon-mad

Yep, easily sorted!  Just email it urgently to the CNBC and solicitors (or ParkingEye if they are acting alone) now.

amelia1231

Thank you very much for your comments. I have emailed to the CNBC, alst week, on the day that they granted me 43 minutes window. I haven`t  seen the email until 2 hours later when I emailed the DQ marked as urgent. At the moment the defence is not struck out simply because is a backlog but I`ve been told by the admin Court staff that they will struck out and pretty much asked me to pay now £108 to reinstate the defence or £200+ after is kicked out. They seem sure that will be struck out. For troublemaket22, why do I need to send a copy of the defence? Sorry my ignorance, not much experience dealing with the Courts. Also, I did not know that I have to send to the claimant solicitor, I will do ASAP. I presume is to ask them to accept a delay or what would be the  reason? Once again, thank you for your help.

Coupon-mad

This is normal. DQs are often late and defences are not struck out that wuickly.

Once you got an acknowledgement to your email, then the DQ is in.

troublemaker22

amelia1231 said:

For troublemaket22, why do I need to send a copy of the defence? 

Because you wrote 'I received an email from the Court, advising me to contact the Claimant and ask to delay the defence(?)'  which suggested something might have gone wrong with the service of the defence

amelia1231

Thank you for the above. I have received different answers & instructions from the Court via email & phone. Anyway. I have submitted the DQ to the Court and the Claimant. Is there a way to find out if my defence will be struck out without waiting for a letter? I was told there's no alternative, but I'm concerned about missed correspondence. Any advice? Thank you so much.

Le_Kirk

amelia1231 said:

Is there a way to find out if my defence will be struck out without waiting for a letter? I was told there's no alternative, but I'm concerned about missed correspondence. Any advice? Thank you so much.

Go to the status page of your MCOL account and tell us what is written there.

amelia1231

Unfortunately, I've been unable to log in to my MCOL account since I filed my defence back in September 2023. According to the Court clerk that I spoke on the phone, defendants are only granted one-time access with the password generated. For instance, if I log in to check my account without submitting required documents like acknowledgment or defence, I won't be able to log in a second time. This means I've been restricted from accessing my account history, which seems odd. All my correspondence with the Court has been via email, with no way to view any of the history in my case.

Coupon-mad

That's not true. You can log in again. She's wrong.