Car Parking Claim Form How to Proceed

Savvy101

Coupon-mad said:

Yes.  When you are at claim form stage v a PPC you defend. Regardless of merit.  As you came here with a court claim, we are advising you what to do to respond to it and how to avoid paying in full.

You probably should have paid this PCN and nor ignored them after they pointed out you'd paid for a different car park. Too late now. We are are claim defence stage.

If I were you, I would agree to Mediation when you get your DQ this Summer, and be ready to make an offer to settle for maybe £40 and see where that gets you.

That covers the claim filing fee and their minor automated admin, and the missing parking fee you should have paid to park in THAT car park.  They won't accept £40 but it opens the discussion and it will be damage limitation.  Make it clear to the Mediator that you will not pay the imaginary £60 'debt damage costs' which the DLUHC Minister called 'extorting money from motorists'.

The point of defending the claim is that - at this stage - you can't offer to settle for less.  So defend. Blame the unclear signs a bit more in your facts paragraph.

Great.

Fair enough.

That sounds good to me.

Ok will do.

Savvy101

Here is my updated defense:

"On the day in question, the defendant intended to park at Bridgewater Street Car Park. However, both Bridgewater Street Car Park and Collier Street Car Park share the same postcode, M3 4NN, which led to confusion. 

The defendant relaying on the sat nav, with the postcode, was guided to Collier Street Car Park, which the defendant mistakenly believed was the intended destination.

Upon approaching the car park from Collier Street, the first visible parking facility is Collier Street Car Park. There were no clear signs to indicate that this was not Bridgewater Street Car Park, and in good faith the defendant , parked the  vehicle there."

Approaching collier street car park, it is impossible to realise there is another car park, as collier street car park has one big wall surrounding the entire area as you approach it from collier street.

Coupon-mad

All good but remove this and you're done:

"The defendant relaying on the sat nav, with the postcode, was guided to Collier Street Car Park, which the defendant mistakenly believed was the intended destination."

Savvy101

Coupon-mad said:

All good but remove this and you're done:

"The defendant relaying on the sat nav, with the postcode, was guided to Collier Street Car Park, which the defendant mistakenly believed was the intended destination."

Thanks, for that do I write the entire defence and post it here? I assume the other parts are standard? Is that correct.

Coupon-mad

"do I write the entire defence and post it here?"

No thanks! Drives us mad... we don't need to mark our own homework. Spare us!

Savvy101

Point taken .

Just checking that my defense is in the right order (2, 3 and 4).

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.] However, the vehicle is recognised, and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver.

3. On the day in question, the defendant intended to park at Bridgewater Street Car Park. However, both Bridgewater Street Car Park and Collier Street Car Park share the same postcode, M3 4NN, which led to confusion.

 Upon approaching the car park from Collier Street, the first visible parking facility is Collier Street Car Park. There were no clear signs to indicate that this was not Bridgewater Street Car Park, and in good faith the defendant , parked the  vehicle there.

Since a ticket had been obtained on Just Park, the defendant left the car at the Collier Street Car Park in Manchester

4. An appeals against the PCN, showing evidence of payment through Just Park, was sent to SIP Parking  but this was rejected.

Gr1pr

4 , appeal, not appeals 

Ensure that DEFENCE is spelt correctly 

Once submitted, start thinking about settling out of court or at mediation, so before court fees start being added 

Any without prejudice offer can start low, say £30 or £50 but through negotiation might be agreed between £80 and £130 maybe 

Savvy101

Gr1pr said:

4 , appeal, not appeals 

Ensure that DEFENCE is spelt correctly 

Once submitted, start thinking about settling out of court or at mediation, so before court fees start being added 

Any without prejudice offer can start low, say £30 or £50 but through negotiation might be agreed between £80 and £130 maybe 

Oh dear, do you mean, (Once submitted, start thinking about settling out of court or at mediation, so before court fees start being added ) there will be court fees ontop of of the without prejudice offer?

Gr1pr

I mean that once SIP paid the CNBC the £35 fee, its part of the added charges, additional to the original claim of say £100, if the PCN and signs stated £100, the POC say that its £100 , so already at £135

The second stage in several months time would cost them say £25 to the local court that you nominate in a few weeks time , they don't appear to have claimed it on the claim form 

So the longer you leave it, the more money they pay out, so the higher the possible settlement figure might be 

Originally they would have offered you a settlement figure of say £60 before you appealed, but as we have mentioned earlier, this is damage limitation because IMHO you have little or no chance at court, even if you nominate Manchester court 

I suspect that the Bridgewater st car park you paid for was ECP or NCP or similar, so probably not even a SIP car park, the signs onsite would have told you it was a SIP car park where you parked, and the location on the entrance sign , and their claim all along is £100 for a breach of the parking contract you entered into by parking there without paying SIP , which we know is true

I accept that it was a genuine mistake, but the mistake will cost you money, the only question is, how much ?  The maximum figure is the figure on the right of the claim form, £195, your goal is to pay as little as you can get away with, the more you cost them, the higher the settlement figure 

If you manage to get the debt figure of £60 removed, its still £135 , £100 plus CNBC fee , so you start with a low offer to start with,  ALWAYS aiming to get a figure lower than £135 , or lower than £100 , the lower the better , so start very low, but be realistic 

Coupon-mad

Savvy101 said:

Gr1pr said:

4 , appeal, not appeals 

Ensure that DEFENCE is spelt correctly 

Once submitted, start thinking about settling out of court or at mediation, so before court fees start being added 

Any without prejudice offer can start low, say £30 or £50 but through negotiation might be agreed between £80 and £130 maybe 

Oh dear, do you mean, (Once submitted, start thinking about settling out of court or at mediation, so before court fees start being added ) there will be court fees on top of of the without prejudice offer?

No there won't. I told you what to offer and when to offer it.  Whatever you end up agreeing does NOT have fees added.

My reply above did already tell you that the offer "covers the court filing fee". Did you miss that? It's already in the offer.

There is no rush. Fees are not being added.

I did also tell you that £40 won't be accepted but it's a good starting point. They've only spent £35 on this claim.

DO NOT OFFER THREE FIGURES but expect to possibly end up somewhere near there.