Claim Form from Northampton court

emtotal

just received a claim form with claimant UKPCL with DCB Legal.
I have sent off the Acknowledgement of service. intending to defend all claims. my vehicle front was overlapping the white line due to a recovery lorry helping another vehicle parked behind access road, so had to move forward further to make space for traffic to pass by Recovery lorry while I was parking. Can you provide a template letter for this defence as I have about 10 days to send off my defence?

Below is Particulars of Claim

1-The claimant issued a parking charge at Gallions reach shopping park, London E6 7ER.
2-PCN issued on 27/7/2023.
3-Defendant pursued as the driver for breach of terms on the signs (the contract).Reason: Not parked correctly within The Markings of the Bay or Space.
4-In the alternative the defendant is pursued as the keeper pursuant to POFA 2012, schedule 4.

And The Claimant claims
1-£170 the total of the PCN and damages.
of 8% per
2- Interest at a rate per annum pursuant to s.69 of the county courts act 1984 from date hereof at a daily rate of £.02 until judgement or sooner payment.
3- Cost and court fees.

 

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

emtotal

issue date 15/4/24

filed Acknowledgment of service on 20/4/24 received on 22/04/24

KeithP

ericmensahtotal said:

issue date 15/4/24

filed Acknowledgment of service on 20/4/24 received on 22/04/24

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 20th 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'.

emtotal

please review my defence, if ok to send off?

3. The claimant issued a PCN to the defendants on ../../2023 for "not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space" but this is denied.

The defendant was visiting the Mcdonalds Restaurant and had parked forward his longer than normal vehicle over the faded markings, due to a Recovery vehicle attending to a vehicle nearby when the defendant approached the only available parking bay. 

The Recovery vehicle had restricted the access to exiting vehicles from the parking bays, therefore the defendant had to park more forward in the parking bay without impacting parking bay ahead, to allow space for traffic to pass due to the Recovery vehicle taking the  other side of the road behind. the vehicle was no further out than most vehicles parked alongside it. The defendant attempted to read two signs in the car park but they were placed high up on a post with no terms and conditions on the closer one. The second sign was a distant away placed high up on a post. The text was too small to be seen clearly from the distance of a car length.

4. The Claimant will concede that no financial loss has arisen and that in order to impose an inflated parking charge, as well as proving a term was breached, there must be:

(i). a strong 'legitimate interest' extending beyond mere compensation for loss, and

(Ii). 'adequate notice' of the 'penalty clause' charge which, in the case of a car park, requires prominent signs and lines.

5. The Defendant denies (i) or (ii) have been met. The charge imposed, in all the circumstances is a penalty, not saved by ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC67 ('the Beavis case'), which is fully distinguished.

Coupon-mad

Yep looks good to go.

Le_Kirk

emtotal said:

The defendant attempted to read two signs in the car park but they were placed high up on a post with no terms and conditions on the closer one. The second sign was a distant distance away placed high up on a post. The text was too small to be seen clearly from the distance of a car length.

Make the change above and number every paragraph before adding the rest of the template defence and sending it to the latest e-mail address shown in the list in the template defence thread.