Advise on court claim please..

pcn_freedom

Hello all,
First of all, thank you so much for the fabulous free information in the forum. 

I have received a court claim recently (dated 08th Jul) from BW legal/Napier for parking. I had received a PCN from Napier for non-payment at their car park in a shopping centre. The car was parked for only 16 minutes and this is a car park where the machine do not accept card payment.

I was on maternity leave at that time and busy with children and was not sure if it was me or my partner was driving on that day. However, I appealed explaining my situation and being on maternity and reduced pay etc, I offered to pay £10 to settle the matter because the charge was only £1 for 90 min use of the car park. I felt it was too unfair to charge anything more than that for missing £1 payment and the car was there only 16 minutes. I still don't remember if it was me or my partner was driving as there was so much happening in life with childcare, health issues and cost of living crisis etc.

Received BW legal letters but ignored them. Now that I have received this court claim, really worried if it might impact my credit files for mortgage etc. Since it was no-payment, what are my chances of defence? Can I defend the amount in full? Or partial acceptance to pay what I offered them earlier? Please can someone guide me how to respond to the claim?

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th July, you have until Monday 29th July to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 12th August 2024 to file a Defence.

That's 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 again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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'.

pcn_freedom

Thanks so much Keith. Can I go ahead and defend in full or partial acceptance of claim?

KeithP

pcn_freedom said:

Thanks so much Keith. Can I go ahead and defend in full or partial acceptance of claim?

Doesn't the mentioned dropbox file suggest you defend against all of the Claim?

I can't imagine why you would want to do anything else.

pcn_freedom

Thank you very much. Will do that. 

Was asking because I did not pay the parking fee so thought my argument is not strong enough. Thanks for the clarification.

Coupon-mad

Absolutely NOT a partial admission!

pcn_freedom

Thanks all. I've completed the AOS on the 25th and now working on the defence draft. 

pcn_freedom

Hi, I have read through the process and written my defence letter.

This is what I drafted in the facts section:
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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.

3.  The POC claims that the vehicle was parked at the car park on 23rd July 2023 but the Defendant cannot recall driving the vehicle on that day and was not sure who was the driver. The Defendant and family were away from the country from 24th July 2023 until 08th of September 2023 for medical reasons. Upon returning home, the Defendant found a letter from the Claimant informing the penalty charges. Since the Defendant did not recall parking the car at this car park on the day, an appeal was submitted to the Claimant explaining the situation and indicating the unfair charges. As a courtesy, the Defendant also offered to pay a fair amount of £10 citing reduced income during maternity leave, challenges faced at the time due to health issues and childcare responsibilities. The appeal was rejected by the Claimant but no further correspondence received regarding the subject. 

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Can someone please review this and advise?

pcn_freedom

pcn_freedom said:

Hi, I have read through the process and written my defence letter.

Can someone please review this and advise?

POC attached for clarity.

KeithP

I would suggest that you remove the whole sentence starting "As a courtesy..." from your proposed paragraph 3.

Coupon-mad

I think that interest calculation is wrong because it is dated from the very date of the parking event. That can't be right. As this was a postal PCN sent weeks later, in August 2023 (with a discount and appeal on offer at that early stage) the alleged £100 PCN was not considered 'overdue' until some time in September.