County Court letter - parked outside marked bay

RuffRyder45

Hello All, I've recieved a letter from the County court to pay a fine for which I was parked outside of the marked bay in a retail park car park. It was a completely empty car park on a weekday afternoon- and I simply parked up to collect an item within 5mins and left. I initially appealed the PCN, but was rejected. I received several debt recovery letters whilst I was on holidays, and have now received the County court letter.

Do I have any grounds to defend, or should I cut my losses and pay the fine. Images of the form and initial PCN notice attached.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

RuffRyder45

Hi Keith, 03rd April 2023 was the issue date.

Yes, I filed an AoS on the 15th April.

KeithP

RuffRyder45 said:

Hi Keith, 03rd April 2023 was the issue date.

Yes, I filed an AoS on the 15th April.

I am going to assume, and hope, you mean 03rd April 2024 was the issue date.  

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 7th May 2024 to file your Defence.

That's nearly three 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 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 don't have a fine and almost certainly won't be paying a penny. It's an invoice and even if they take it all the way to a hearing and you lost, you'd pay LESS than the claim.

fisherjim

That useless grainy photo doesn't prove anything, where are the bays anyway, surely they have more evidence that that?

nopcns

It's a DCB Legal claim so you won't pay anything as long as you follow the steps as advised in the Newbies/FAQ thread and the template defence thread. Follow these steps and you will see you username in lights in this thread in 3-6 months down the line:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Coupon-mad

Heads up to @Umkomaas there are two more to add this week: usernames start with cheme and Belly something!

Umkomaas

Coupon-mad said:

Heads up to @Umkomaas there are two more to add this week: usernames start with cheme and Belly something!

@Coupon-mad, notifications still jittery ..... anyway, found both, and both now included in the disco thread. Thanks for nudge. 👍

RuffRyder45

I had made an appeal when I first received the PCN, which I can't recall what was written at the time, will they have access to this?

Coupon-mad

Yes.