Need help with the Defence Letter

mmatopper

Dear Friends

I am writing to seek assistance regarding the Defence Letter.

My wife holds a contract with a parcel delivery company as a courier but I primarily handle the deliveries as we are allowed to. She is the registered keeper of the van by the way and I am the main driver. I was the one driving the vehicle  and she was sitting next to me at the time the PCN was issued while I was delivering to a court which is a care house for old people. I have evidence to prove that we were actively engaged in delivering parcels to the building in question during that time. 

My first question is; how should we mention that the driver was the defendant's husband. Or should we mention?

The second question is about the validity of the PCN. There is a " Registered Only" sign at the entrance of the car park but another sign on the building's entrance glass door written on a white A4 paper as;

                                xxxx COURT
                        Deliveries And Visitors
Waiting time in the car park is limited to TEN MINUTES after which penalty fine may be issued. To avoid this please enter your vehicle registration number in the key pad on the left of the reception area "

We received 2 PCNs for the Monday and Tuesday where we stayed just 5.5 minutes on Monday and 9.5 minutes on Tuesday as shown on the PCNs. So it looks we did not ruin the rules. Are these PCNs valid?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

Your thread title mentions 'Defence' so I am wondering whether you or your wife has received a County Court Claim?

If so, can you please tell us the Issue Date on it.
Please also tell us when, or if an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed.

It looks like your wife is the named Defendant, but who is the Claimant?

Gr1pr

Dont reveal who was driving, ( why assist a claimant. ?  ) the RK can truthfully state that she was NOT the driver  !

Valid or Invalid doesn't enter into it , its Enforceable or Not Enforceable 

Seems to me that the Jopson appeal case may apply as a defence, loading and unloading are legitimate endeavours and are not parking 

I think that Jackson Yamba has argued cases like this too

Fruitcake

Have you read the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES yet? This will answer most of your questions.

At this stage, do not reveal the driver's identity.

What exactly has the keeper received? Was it a parking charge notice/notice to keeper from an unregulated private parking company, or something from a powerless debt collector, or a letter of/before claim from a solicitor, or a court claim from the CNBC in Northampton, or something else? Only the latter requires a defence (not a defence letter).
If this relates to parking/stopping on private land, then it is not a fine or a penalty.

Who sent the correspondence the keeper has received.

In any case, Plan A is always a complaint from the keeper to the landowner and the keeper's MP, without identifying the driver.

mmatopper

Thank you all for your quick replies and sorry for the missing infos. First we received the PCNs.Then too many letters which were advising to pay. We ignored all. Received Claim Form(CNBC) with an issue date of 02.04.2024. I completed acknowledgement of service from MCOL on the date of 07/04/2024. I was abroad and returned back to country last weekend. I am a bit late but sill have time for the defence I think.

mmatopper

And the claimant is UK parking Control Limited-DCB Legal Limited

Gr1pr

mmatopper said:

1) First we received the PCNs.Then too many letters which were advising to pay. We ignored all.

2) Received Claim Form(CNBC) with an issue date of 02.04.2024.

3) I completed acknowledgement of service from MCOL on the date of 07/04/2024.

I was abroad and returned back to country last weekend. I am a bit late but sill have time for the defence I think.

1) this is why they issued a court claim, the letters should have been dealt with at the time, you left them no other  choice but to sue 

2) as long as the AOS was done promptly, within the 19 days allowed after the issue date then

3) the submission deadline would be 33 days after the issue date 

KeithP

mmatopper said:

Received Claim Form(CNBC) with an issue date of 02.04.2024. I completed acknowledgement of service from MCOL on the date of 07/04/2024.

With a Claim Issue Date of 2nd April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, your wife has until 4pm on Tuesday 7th May 2024 to file her Defence.

That's a whole week 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'.

It is important that everything is done in the name of the named Defendant.

Fruitcake

Plan A is still you best option, but don't miss the defence deadline. Use all the points available to you from the Defence Template sticky Announcement.

Please show us a copy of the particulars of claim, leave all dates showing, but redact all personal data

Your defence should include,
Not the landowner
No standing to issue charge in their own name
No breach of parking terms occurred. Driver was making a delivery within the times specified on the signs. (Get a photo of that A4 paper and all other signs).
Dropping off/picking up/delivering is not parking as determined by Judge Harris in the appeal case of Jopson v Homeguard, case number B9GF0A9E. The transcript is available online.
Inadequate signage (UKPC signs are always inadequate. Try reading one from a car length).

If the POC do not mention a specific breach, but only "Ts and Cs displayed on signs were breached" or similar, then use the Chan v CEL defence point as well as detailed in the Template Defence sticky thread.

mmatopper

This is the POC

nopcns

Follow the advice given above and read the Newbies/FAQ thread. Use the Template Defence from the same named thread. Follow the 12 point checklist in that thread and you can guarantee that DCB Legal will discontinue the claim before it ever gets to a hearing as evidenced in this thread with almost 350 claims discontinued in the last 18 months:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

All you have to do is edit one paragraph. You wife states that she was not the driver. No mentioning who the driver was as there is no legal obligation to do so. You can mention that you will use Jopson v Homeguard as part of your defence.