Help with defence please.

Emily1275893

Please can someone give me advice on what to write for my defence? I have read the newbie thread but would appreciate the help. 
I received a County Court claim today, issue date 30/07/24 and completed the AOS today so I believe I have around the 1st September to complete my defence.
 I have the template from the newbies thread however I do not know how to word the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs.. 
The parking ticket was issued on 10/10/22 from Euro Car Parks. I paid for 1 hour which is £2 and it is on my bank statement. I went over this time I think by half an hour due to me having to wait for the workcoach at the job centre. When I went back to the car with my 10 month old there was no fine or ticket on my car and I went to pay again for another ticket to cover the cost but the card machine was not working then. I did my best to leave the car park as quick as possible but it was very hard with putting a baby in the car in the tightest possible bays you can imagine. There was even a massive tree stump in the bay I was parked in which delayed me further as it restricted the door I needed to open to access the car seat. 
I never received a parking fine or the reduced amount to pay within a certain amount of days before it went up. I just received an amount to pay of £170 in January 2023 from a different company. I assumed it was a scam and never paid it. And now we are at today where I have a claim form being submitted. 
Can anyone tell me if I have a valid defence and if my circumstance is justified enough to defend this extortionate amount? 
I just don't know how to word it and what to omit or include in the paragraphs I need to edit in the template... 
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

KeithP

Emily1275893 said:

I received a County Court claim today, issue date 30/07/24 and completed the AOS today so I believe I have around the 1st September to complete my defence.

A Defence filing deadline will never be on a Sunday.

With a Claim Issue Date of 30th July, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 2nd September 2024 to file a Defence.

That's four 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'.

Gr1pr

If I remember correctly the claimant was ECP and filed as usual from DCB Legal 

I don't think that you have told them who was driving 

The advice by KeithP above should be followed 

Redact ( hide. ). the VRM in the POC on the left, and also redact ( hide. ) the MCOL password on the right too , white card will suffice for this, then hide the top half of the claim form, take a picture and post it here, ensuring that all personal information and data cannot be seen ( hence using white card etc. ). There is no problem in posting a correctly redacted picture ( hence why you had the original thread deleted. )

The template defence by coupon mad will suffice, with a few changes to paragraphs 2 & 3

Emily1275893

Yes you are correct about it being ECP and filed through DCB Legal. I never received any original notices of fine from them I only ever received one in January 23 to my old address asking for £170. I then stupidly sent euro car parks an email saying I have never received an appeal letter and I wish to do so, stating I did attend the car park that day but I paid for a ticket and tried to pay for another when I went approx half an hr over the time limit for many different reasons such as me not being able to get my baby into the car because of the bay . They didn't acknowledge but kept on sending more threatening letters. In hindsight I realise I never should've sent that email 

Coupon-mad

Just use the Template defence, like everyone else in all the other court claim threads.  State in para 3 what happened but don't admit overstaying.

Emily1275893

Thanks , so does it not matter if they have it on camera that I did leave the car park half an hour after my ticket ended ? Also should I not state I tried to buy another ticket to cover the excess time but couldnt due to the card machine not working? 

Gr1pr

Leave explanations for your witness statement that you will submit in several months time, that is the time for any stories etc

They have to prove their case, you don't, plus you definitely shouldn't help them 

Emily1275893

Does it normally get as far as having to give a witness statement? 

Umkomaas

Emily1275893 said:

Does it normally get as far as having to give a witness statement? 

In a good number of cases, yes. But, in most cases, provided you follow the requirements of the court process, as DCB Legal are involved, these are the likely outcomes. Read the first few posts, then look for those involving 'your' PPC. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Emily1275893

The facts known to the Defendant:

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. The defendant had a scheduled visit at Stockport Job Centre and parked in the car park in question that day. After driving around for over 10 minutes the defendant finally managed to reverse into the only spot available with a tree stump in the bay. After struggling to get her baby out of the car and the pram out of such a tight spot the defendant went on to purchase a ticket for 1 hour. Upon returning to her car before the hour was up, she noticed a car had parked even closer to her which caused a delay in getting her baby and transport back into the vehicle.

4. The car park is extremely hard to manoeuvre even a small vehicle in, the bays are not clear, and some are on inclines on angles or obstructed by trees and other objects, delaying parking and making it especially hard If you need to open all doors for children or to unload.

5. The defendant never received any letters from the parking company until January 2023 where there was no option to appeal just to pay the inflated fee of £170 which she assumed was a scam.

That's what I've written but it doesn't sound good

Emily1275893

I am struggling wording the paragraphs you have to edit from the defence template.. does anyone know where i can find similar cases so i can have a look at how they've worded it? ive tried looking through the forum but can't find anything similar?