Need Urgent help Please – received a letter from DCBL dated 30/04/2024 received 07/05/2024 – CCJ

Stressed_Out_VG

Johnersh said:

What is your defence? That somehow the paystation gave you a ticket back and preauthorized exit but oddly the card wasn't charged?

Because if so your defence doesn't say that. The court doesn't really care what you did on other occasions (and at best that is for witness evidence) you need to respond to the allegations of breach of contract. 

By all means reference the service failures, but that has now been dealt with. It's not the lead issue. There's an awful lot of complaining in the defence that is masking what may be your best arguments inho...

Johnersh

Thank you for your reply.  

In all honesty I have no idea what I am doing or what I need to say/how to respond to the allegations.  I was not trying to complain. I was merely trying to state in all the years we have used the car we never seemed to have a problem.

From the information they have sent me, I can see they have different tariff charges, you now have to put your registration number in when you go to make payment and new signage.  There is probably also other changes to the parking dynamics which I not really aware of.

I would really be grateful for any help and guidance on what exactly I need to write for my defence.

I appreciate this forum and all the help I have been given this far.

Johnersh

You take the particulars and respond to it para by para, using their numbering something similar to the below.

1. The defendant is owner and keeper of vehicle X and a regular user of site X in order to attend hospital outpatient appointments for a chronic medical condition.

2. These proceedings have been delayed as a result of failures by the claimant to undertake reasonable enquiries regarding the defendant's usual residential address and, having obtained that information, to use it.

3. The defendant responds to the particulars of claim served on X the particulars of claim appearing on the claim form having been found to be inadequate etc.

4. As to Paragraph 1 of the particulars, the defendant admits to being the owner of car xxx parked at yyyy

Where you wish to add detail you can, similar to the below.

Save that it is averred that the site is a barrier controlled car park, such that exit without payment is impossible in usual circumstances it is admitted that the terms of parking stipulated that payment prior to exit was required.

Where you wish to introduce new contrary information you can

It is averred that the defendant did attempt payment, which appeared to be processed, with the return of the exit ticket which facilitated exit. Etc....

I can't tell you what to write as this is your defence and your facts. You know what happened. But you get the idea. It's a much harder case if you simply forgot and the barrier was up, than it is if you tried to pay and the machine malfunctioned. I've not read the whole thread, so no views on that.

Gr1pr

So as Johnersh says or implies,  plus the current court order,  your defence rebuts the POC from Parking Eye,  concentrating on the facts,  same as in any other defence.  Tell the court and judge what your defence is to the alleged breach or alleged breaches

If you thought you had paid correctly,  received an exit token or ticket and used it to lift the barrier,  say so, because you know the details,  ( I don't,  we don't , we weren't there   )

As for anecdotes, complaints, stories,  hearsay,  previous occasions etc, save them for your Witness Statement 

To conclude,  your defence is to counter the allegations being made in the POC, not war and peace about the system or your feelings,  but cold hard facts as to why you believe that you did everything correctly and do not believe that you breached any parking contract,  so dont owe the claimant a penny

You can expand on all of the above in your Witness Statement later on 

Stressed_Out_VG

I have redone my defence and responded to each paragraph in the POC.  As always grateful for any feedback. 🙂

Gr1pr

The statement of truth at the bottom is woefully  ( years  ) out of date.  Far too short and doesn't include the warning regarding the truth 

Check the one in the defence template thread in the first couple of posts 

Stressed_Out_VG

Gr1pr said:

The statement of truth at the bottom is woefully  ( years  ) out of date.  Far too short and doesn't include the warning regarding the truth 

Check the one in the defence template thread in the first couple of posts 

Thanks @Gr1pr - I will use the following:

STATEMENT OF TRUTH

I believe that the facts stated within this Defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Coupon-mad

You're missing a lot of 'double r' spellings (it reads like Spanish!).

'barier'

'irelevant'

'corespondence'

are all typos.

You also don't normally attach exhibits with a defence.  Those should be attached to a WS.

Stressed_Out_VG

Coupon-mad said:

You're missing a lot of 'double r' spellings (it reads like Spanish!).

'barier'

'irelevant'

'corespondence'

are all typos.

You also don't normally attach exhibits with a defence.  Those should be attached to a WS.

Thanks Coupon-mad

Apologies, I am not sure what happened but I had changed those spelling errors and the current version I have has the correct spelling.

If I may ask, how would I include anything that I would like to be reviewed included?

Would you also please be able to clarify the following:

1. I created a Witness Statement which included all the relevant Exhibits when I submitted all my paperwork for having the CCJ set aside.  Will I have to create another Witness Statement?
2. Once I have submitted this Defence to PE Ltd and the County Court, will it then be up to the County Court to make a decision or will PE Ltd have the opportunity to respond again.
3. If PE Ltd have the opportunity to respond again - will I be able to go back to them and say in order to have this issue resolved, I am willing to pay them the £35 (which is the discounted parking charge).

Le_Kirk

The witness statement for the set-aside was exactly that - the set-aside - now the WS will be for the hearing and will support and back up, with evidence what you have written in your defence.
I wouldn't offer anything.  Did you (were you required to) send a copy of your defence to the claimant?  The defence will go to the hearing and that is when PE respond in front of a judge, unless they make some comment in their WS.

Coupon-mad

1. Yes. Another WS is needed. That one wasn't about defending the PCN. This one and these exhibits are.  Send the court and PEye (if the claim was in-house, not DCB Legal?) an email attaching three PDFs: DEFENCE, SECOND WS and EXHIBITS BUNDLE.

2. You will then have a second hearing. This is normal. You are now on the usual small claim track, as if there'd been no CCJ.

3. You can make offers at any time. But have you already had your CCJ costs awarded? Don't lose sight of those, if not.