Defence for Parking Claim - advice please! (Civil National Business Centre)

Gr1pr

They took their time logging your DQ and transferring it to Portsmouth 

From now on the CNBC is no longer involved so you are waiting for the staff in Portsmouth to get around to dealing with it and sending both of you directions, in a court order by post 

So all on track, the long process is grinding on, at a snails pace, standard fodder 

A_JS

@Gr1pr are you familiar with this procedure please? Received today, I wouldnt actually be able to attend this date either as I will be in Australia.

Gr1pr

Because you have asked me personally rather than the regulars, my personal reply is this, for clarity 

I am not a lawyer. ( IANAL. ) and so I have absolutely no experience in these matters, never been to court and never want to either ! I have never received a private parking company PCN either 

I understand processes and procedures, I have read thousands of threads etc, I have talked to qualified solicitors too, but unless somebody on here replies with better knowledge or has legal experience etc then really you are expecting too much from people trying to help you for free, pro bono. !

For actual legal advice you would or should employ a lawyer like parking companies tend to do, but most people don't so are unrepresented litigants in person, like you, or like me , so don't have a decade of legal training to fall back on

Hence why your question should be put out there to the whole forum, you might even get a reply from a legal person etc

So FYI, now you understand, you should hope that you can change it, although your N180 should have been filled in properly with unavailable dates when it was completed a few months ago ( prevention is easier than cure. )

LDast

Well, it's good news in that the allocation (case management) judge doesn't think the claimant has much (any?) chance of being successful. Probably because of the claimants failure to comply with CPR 16.4.

You can try calling the court and explaining the fact that you wouldn't be able to attend on that date. When you submitted your DQ, was the period you were planning to be in Australia blocked off?

At this stage, I think you only have three options:

1. Write to the judge and request an adjournment or a change of the preliminary hearing date set for 13th January 2025 due to your unavoidable absence from the country. Explain you will be in Australia at that time and unable to attend the hearing in person. If you have booked your travel, attach evidence of the travel dates to support your request. Request that the hearing be rescheduled for a date after your return.

2. If you are unable or do not wish to reschedule the hearing, you can request that the hearing proceeds in your absence. You can apologise for your unavoidable absence, explain your situation, and ask the judge to consider the documents you have already submitted. However, this is the most risky option.

3. Given your location, you can inquire if the court offers remote participation options (video or phone hearing) for such hearings. However, the time zone difference could be problematic for you, assuming they do offer this option.

Coupon-mad

A_JS said:

Coupon-mad said:

Show us the POC.

Thank you Coupon-mad. Please see below:

Hopeless POC - no breach specified - with the interest wrongfully calculated from just 1 month after the date of parking (the latter was the extra defence point that I pointed you to but wasn't included!).

No wonder Portsmouth court thinks there are no real prospects of success (due to CEL v Chan).

A_JS

Coupon-mad said:

A_JS said:

Coupon-mad said:

Show us the POC.

Thank you Coupon-mad. Please see below:

Hopeless POC - no breach specified - with the interest wrongfully calculated from just 1 month after the date of parking (the latter was the extra defence point that I pointed you to but wasn't included!).

No wonder Portsmouth court thinks there are no real prospects of success (due to CEL v Chan).

Thank you @Coupon-mad for your reply, I did detail and refer to CEL v Chan in my defence. I have not yet put together my witness bundle, should this be done ahead of a preliminary hearing please?
Are preliminary hearings a regular occurrence, do you suspect CEL will back out ahead of this?
Appreciate your expert advice 😊

Coupon-mad

It was the latter (not Chan) that was the extra point you missed. I tried to point you to it!

There is another new argument to add re CEL now too but I'm not linking that either! Thread today by @Castle.

I suspect CEL will discontinue.

A_JS

Coupon-mad said:

It was the latter (not Chan) that was the extra point you missed. I tried to point you to it!

There is another new argument to add re CEL now too but I'm not linking that either! Thread today by @Castle.

I suspect CEL will discontinue.

Thank you, I was a complete new comer and had some issues navigating the forum and finding everything so I did what I could at the time.
In your experience do CEL discontinue at the very last minute, I was just curious as to whether I will need to complete WS bundle prior to preliminary hearing?

😊

Coupon-mad

They don't normally discontinue but with that warning from the Judge and with the prospect of paying a legal rep hundreds of pounds to travel for a mere 30 min in-person hearing, when they've already been told they are likely on a hiding to nothing, I think they'll try to persuade you to settle.

Say no and they'll fold.

DO NOT TRY TO CHANGE THE DATE. Shhhh!

If I'm wrong, then after Xmas (if not discontinued by then) inform the court that you cannot attend and why (prove it) and ask for the preliminary hearing to be heard in your absence without sanctions due to valid reasons that make in-person attendance impossible on that date, PLUS:

- attach a new DQ with 2025 unavailable dates just in case the Judge orders a full hearing

and

- attach a WS and the transcripts of Chan and Akande plus point out the CEL outcome that @Castle showed us here today about a claim signed only by 'S Wilson'. Invite the Judge to strike the claim out.

A_JS

@Coupon-mad thank you so much for all your advice, I really appreciate it. This process is confusing for me, so having guidance is invaluable. 🙏🏼

Thank you for sign posting me to the right place for WS. Would I need have my WS sent over before the preliminary hearing? I don't remember seeing info re this in the newbies thread/ stages. 

Thank you again.