Help with Writing a defence - Met Parking Virgin Chiswick

Coupon-mad

You should add:

6.  The Defendant cannot respond to Particulars of Claim they have not seen but they are aware that CST Law parking claims invariably fail the requirements of Part 16, hence the above assertions.

7.  The Defendant has still not been served with any Particulars of Claim (no Claim form arrived, as the learned Judge who set aside the CCJ is aware) so the Defendant has been unable to identify any specific pleaded allegations. The court, who have had the benefit of seeing the POC, is invited to strike out or dismiss the claim, or in the alternative, to order the Claimant to file and serve further Particulars which must meet the requirements of Part 16. 

8.  For the avoidance of doubt, it is denied that the Defendant is liable as driver or as registered keeper.  There is no evidence that the Claimant complied with Schedule 4 of the POFA 2012, so it is denied that they can hold the keeper liable, not that the Defendant has any way of knowing if this was even pleaded.

9.  Even after looking at the sparse information on the template 'PCNs' it is not known exactly what breach(es) are purported to be alleged but whatever they might be, they are denied and the Claimant is put to struct proof.  No conduct of the Defendant - or any driver of the vehicle identified in the PCNs - breached any known terms. If there were terms over and above the free parking offered by the gym, they were not prominently displayed. In the alternative, if the Claimant's ANPR system failed to exempt gym users' cars this is not a case of any breach of contract caused by any conduct of the driver(s) on the material dates.


(then re-number the rest of the usual Template defence from what was para 4 onwards.  However, as you are emailing it to the local Court hearings email and CST Law, I would suggest you drop the middle section in the Template (about the DLUHC Code and Impact Assessment) to shorten the defence, so as not to annoy the silly rookie Judge who should never have ordered you to defend a claim you haven't seen!).

ashkal

Coupon-mad said:

You should add:

6.  The Defendant cannot respond to Particulars of Claim they have not seen but they are aware that CST Law parking claims invariably fail the requirements of Part 16, hence the above assertions.

7.  The Defendant has still not been served with any Particulars of Claim (no Claim form arrived, as the learned Judge who set aside the CCJ is aware) so the Defendant has been unable to identify any specific pleaded allegations. The court, who have had the benefit of seeing the POC, is invited to strike out or dismiss the claim, or in the alternative, to order the Claimant to file and serve further Particulars which must meet the requirements of Part 16. 

8.  For the avoidance of doubt, it is denied that the Defendant is liable as driver or as registered keeper.  There is no evidence that the Claimant complied with Schedule 4 of the POFA 2012, so it is denied that they can hold the keeper liable, not that the Defendant has any way of knowing if this was even pleaded.

9.  Even after looking at the sparse information on the template 'PCNs' it is not known exactly what breach(es) are purported to be alleged but whatever they might be, they are denied and the Claimant is put to struct proof.  No conduct of the Defendant - or any driver of the vehicle identified in the PCNs - breached any known terms. If there were terms over and above the free parking offered by the gym, they were not prominently displayed. In the alternative, if the Claimant's ANPR system failed to exempt gym users' cars this is not a case of any breach of contract caused by any conduct of the driver(s) on the material dates.


(then re-number the rest of the usual Template defence from what was para 4 onwards.  However, as you are emailing it to the local Court hearings email and CST Law, I would suggest you drop the middle section in the Template (about the DLUHC Code and Impact Assessment) to shorten the defence, so as not to annoy the silly rookie Judge who should never have ordered you to defend a claim you haven't seen!).

Thank you again, you are a lifesaver. Just one last thing if you don’t mind: should I put the name of the judge in the subject of the email as well? Should I also give a background of why I am writing this? And should I ask the court to start the procedure of removing the CCJ from my records upon receipt of the defense? If yes, where is it best to mention this? In the body of the actual email, and should I send the defense as a PDF attachment?

Something along side of

“Please find attached  the defense for the case of [Claimant’s Name] vs. [Defendant’s Name], case number [Case Number], as requested by Deputy District Judge [Judge’s Name] as a condition to set aside the default judgment issued against the defendant on [Date of Default Judgment].

Kindly, upon receipt of this defense, please start the process of setting aside the default judgment as ordered by the esteemed Judge [Judge’s Name].

Additionally, the judge ordered the application fee of £275 to be refunded to the defendant within 14 days from the hearing on the 8th of January. As of today, the defendant has not received any updates regarding this matter. Could the court please advise on the necessary steps for the recovery of funds from the claimant?

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Coupon-mad

hearing on the 8th of January. 

July?  I assume you emailed it already as you had a deadline and it was yesterday.

ashkal

Coupon-mad said:

hearing on the 8th of January. 

July?  I assume you emailed it already as you had a deadline and it was yesterday.

Hey, thanks again for your help. Yes I did email but decided just to send the defence and not the
extended explanation in the email body. I am not too confident that the default judgment will be automatically wiped now that I filed the defence. The court seems to have a trek record of not replying to any emails or phone calls. I might have to follow up through resolver. Once the dust is settled I will post an update. 

ashkal

Some good news! CST law paid me back the application fee last week. It was a great feeling having them asking for my bank details. However the worrying thing is that I never received the court order and I had to asked them email me a copy. Now I am worried there might be a court correspondence I have missed. In part 2(c) I can see that the court will send questionnaires to both parties. How long sending this usually takes? And considering they have definitely send the court order to CST law, they should have sent me a copy as well right?
Thank you all for your help again. 

@Coupon-mad

ashkal

I just talked to the national line and they are indeed sending documents to the incomplete address again. So I don't know if I have missed a deadline or not, what is the best course of action? 

Coupon-mad

Ring the local court which set aside the CCJ and complain. Insist that they ERASE the old address and send your DQ to the right address.

ashkal

Coupon-mad said:

Ring the local court which set aside the CCJ and complain. Insist that they ERASE the old address and send your DQ to the right address.

Any number I try goes to the national helpline. Is there a way of finding the number? Because it is not on the court form or online.

Coupon-mad

Then speak to the national helpline.

ashkal

Coupon-mad said:

Then speak to the national helpline.

The CCJ has now been removed from my record. I want to thank you all for your support throughout this process. The court finally sent the documents to my address, although the letter requesting the Director's Questionnaire was mistakenly addressed to the claimant instead of the defendant. Despite this, I sent the DQ on time and am now waiting for the next step.

Thank you again for all your help. It’s been really challenging dealing with a damaged credit score—it’s affected my ability to get loans and even a mobile phone.