Highview Parking claim via DCB Legal re Borehamwood Shopping Park

Sweetmelody_2

Hello all,

Id be grateful if someone would review and comment on paragraphs 2 and 3 of my defence against a parking charge from Highview Parking. Thanks in advance:

2. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief. Conversely, the Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case. The POC appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and 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 POC, to understand with certainty what case, allegation(s) and what heads of cost are being pursued, making it difficult to respond. The vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the defendant is the registered keeper. The claimant has provided a photograph of the car and I appear to be the driver of the car at the time of the photograph, but have no particular recollection since both my husband and I were shopping in the Borehamwood Shopping Park on the date in question and either one of us could have been driving on this occasion at any other time during the visit [or should I just say that I was the driver? It is me in the photograph, entering the car park, but my husband could have driven out of the car park].

 

3. A notice of debt recovery, dated 8 March 2023, was received by the defendant in relation to the alleged contravention on 23 December 2022 – almost three months prior. This was the first correspondence the defendant had received in relation to the allegation from either the claimant or the claimant’s legal representative. The letter sets out that, as the keeper of the car, the defendant had an unpaid parking charge that was issued because the vehicle was parked in contravention of terms and conditions. The letter stated that the defendant was no longer able to appeal the parking charge and that the charge could only be disputed if the matter was taken to Court. The defendant subsequently discovered that the PCN and two reminders to pay were sent to a previous address so were never received and so the defendant lost their right to appeal. Moreover, the defendant contacted one of the retailers that was visited on the date in question (and indeed, on many occasions prior) to complain about the conduct of the claimant. The defendant was advised that the retailer would have been in a position to arrange for the PCN to be cancelled (which they routinely do) but since the matter had been passed to a law firm (which was when the defendant first became aware of the PCN) it was now too late for them to intervene.

The defendant uses the car park in question on at least a weekly basis to shop at the retail units there and, having checked credit card statements and diaries, the defendant is able to confirm that that she was shopping in the retail park with her husband on the date in question. However, the defendant had no idea that there were terms in place restricting use of the car park to 3 hours. This is not a ‘pay and display’ car park and, while there is now signage in place (the defendant does not know whether there was signage in place on December 23rd, 2022), the font is extremely small, on some signs the text is particularly faded and the light in the photos produced by the defendant is very low (the car’s headlights are on).

Coupon-mad

Welcome!

Please show us the POC but cover the VRM.

What's the 'date of Issue' of the claim?

You say you didn't get the PCN. Was the address on your logbook not updated in time?

Sweetmelody_2

Thanks 🙏 

No, I later realised my logbook was not updated after a house move. Claim issue date was 22 Jan. AoS has been filed - 5th February

KeithP

Sweetmelody_2 said:

Claim issue date was 22 Jan.

Sweetmelody_2 said:

AoS was filed on 5th February 

With a Claim Issue Date of 22nd January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 26th February 2024 to file your Defence.

That's a whole week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

Coupon-mad

You should instead be using the hharry100 version of defence (linked in the Template 3rd paragraph).

Sweetmelody_2

KeithP said:

Sweetmelody_2 said:

Claim issue date was 22 Jan.

Sweetmelody_2 said:

AoS was filed on 5th February 

With a Claim Issue Date of 22nd January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 26th February 2024 to file your Defence.

That's a whole week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

Thanks - good to know I’m on track. The steps for defence filing are v helpful

Sweetmelody_2

Coupon-mad said:

You should instead be using the hharry100 version of defence (linked in the Template 3rd paragraph).

Oh I’d spotted that suggestion but wasn’t aware they hadn’t stated the breach. Thank you. I’ll redraft on that basis 

Le_Kirk

The claimant has provided a photograph of the car and I the defendant appears to be the driver of the car at the time of the photograph, but have no particular recollection since both my husband and I were shopping in the Borehamwood Shopping Park on the date in question and either one of us could have been driving on this occasion at any other time during the visit [or should I just say that I was the driver? It is me in the photograph, entering the car park, but my husband could have driven out of the car park].

Is this part of your defence or questions to the forum?  If part of your defence, it should be much shorter, don't talk about who was driving and should be written in the third person.

Debszzzz2

Sweetmelody_2 said:

The claimant has provided a photograph of the car and I appear to be the driver of the car at the time of the photograph, but have no particular recollection since both my husband and I were shopping in the Borehamwood Shopping Park on the date in question and either one of us could have been driving on this occasion at any other time during the visit [or should I just say that I was the driver? It is me in the photograph, entering the car park, but my husband could have driven out of the car park].

How do you imagine that an unregulated private parking company can identify the driver as being you, unless you blab it? There is no magical database for these ex-clampers to take a picture of the driver and compare the face to someone's details.

If you are the keeper, then stop blabbing on about who could or could not be driving. There is no legal obligation to identify the driver. This is not a criminal prosecution. Just defend as the keeper... nothing else about who the driver may or may not be!

FYI, the driver who enters the location is the person liable. Stop trying to be too clever about this. Get rid of that paragraph.

Sweetmelody_2

  re comments about whether I’m the driver or not…. I figured that if this ends up in court (the last thread I read about a DCB Legal case did get to court) then I was concerned about saying I didn’t know if I was the driver when they had a photo of me 🤷‍♀️

Coupon-mad

The only DCB Legal one that went to court was at Cardiff, as they are not doing hearings.  DCB got a free hit (of a case they would have discontinued...) courtesy of Cardiff court's clueless Judges.

Or possibly a four figure multi-PCN one last year may have had a hearing.

All others are discontinued every time.

Admit to driving if you are more comfortable taking that stance.  You'll win anyway.