ECP DCB Legal court claim - Notice of Discontinuance (NOD) Received

OldBloke101

Hi All,

 

Firstly, a huge thank you to all those who have given their valuable time over the years to help those of us caught up in the Parking Ticket Trap. I have followed your advice when needed and it has been an absolute Godsend.

 

So to my query, I am currently in possession of a Letter of Claim and it appears to be genuine and from one of the regular Solicitors that appear on this forum. I have found the post with the reply template and am ready to reply, except for one small issue.

I am not sure whether it really makes any difference or not, but need advice on whether to include some information in the reply under the ‘Reasons for not paying’ section. This information will form part of my defence if this goes to court and I am not sure whether including it in the reply will pre-warn them or whether it might get them to back off.

 

Knowing the Parking Companies read these forums I do not want to post the details and was wondering if one of the Trusted Advisors on here would mind if I PM’d them. I apologise in advance if this is the case, but hope it isn’t. Either way, it will give me a way forward. Worst case I leave the information out, but include it further down the line if this goes that far.

 

Thanks again.

Grizebeck

Who cares if they read it
No one here does 
No need for a pm
You will get a court claim regardless 

Coupon-mad

need advice on whether to include some information in the reply under the ‘Reasons for not paying’ section.

Depends if it is a killer punch such as a double dip ANPR error that ends the case.

Otherwise, no point. The purpose of the LBC response is threefold:

1.  It tells them you are on MSE 
2.  It tells them about any killer point
3.  It is the road to reporting them to HMRC when you get their reply to the VAT question.

OldBloke101

Hi Both,

Thanks for the responses. Not sure if it is a killer punch or not, but it would point out that their claim is factually incorrect in that what they say I owed for the parking is wrong in all the documentation they have sent where it is mentioned at all.

Coupon-mad

I would keep that for your defence.

OldBloke101

Hi All,

Just a quick update.

Sent off the response to the Letter before claim and got back what I guess is a boiler plate response, No VAT etc etc etc.

Now have the actual claim form and about to start the defence process as per the 12 step post..

Just one query. Do I get to see the claimant's submission before I have to submit my defence statement as the detail on the actual Claim Form is very sparse and I am hoping to see that detail as some of it may form part of said defence?

Thanks.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Can you please show us a picture of the Particulars of Claim - with personal detail hidden of course.

Who is the Claimant?

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.


...and this post made just a few minutes ago applies equally to you...
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81011635/#Comment_81011635

OldBloke101

Thanks for the response, I will look at that post.

The Issue Date is the 20th September so today is the Day of Service.

Euro Car Parks is the Claimant.

I haven't done anything yet as I have only just received it and started looking at the Template posts etc.

If I have understood things correctly then I think I have 14 days to file the Acknowledgement of Service and then another 14 days to file my defence. Is that correct? Thanks

KeithP

OldBloke101 said:

The Issue Date is the 20th September so today is the Day of Service.

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th September, you have until Wednesday 9th October 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 Wednesday 23rd October 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 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'.

LDast

OldBloke101 said:

Just one query. Do I get to see the claimant's submission before I have to submit my defence statement as the detail on the actual Claim Form is very sparse and I am hoping to see that detail as some of it may form part of said defence?

No you don't. You have to defend against the allegation in the doc. As you can see, they are woefully inadequate and as such, do not comply with CPR 16.4.

Assume you have never had any communication about this and the Claim form is the first you know about this. Can you plead a defence? Of course you can't.

The long defence covers all the technical failures in the PoC and your para #3 is the bit you can defend on. Answer these questions based on the PoC that you have received:

The "contract" referred to... what was or were the actual term or terms in that contract that you allegedly breached?

Have you been provided with a copy of that contract? If not, how are you supposed to know whether you have breached anything?

It matters not that it was a contract by conduct. If there is an allegation of a breach of contract, then a copy of that contract or the actual wording of that contract must be provided. Has it?

So, what is the wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract which is being relied on?

Do the PoC stay with sufficient particularity exactly where the breach occurred, the exact time when the breach occurred and how long it is alleged that the vehicle was parked before the parking charge was allegedly incurred?

Do the PoC state what proportion of the claim is the parking charge and what proportion is damages?

They are claiming interest. Do you know from what date they are allowed to claim interest from and if so, how do you calculate it based on the information provided in the PoC?

CPR 16.4 is the rule that requires all this information to be provided in a claim. They have not complied with that rule.

So, you can try and submit a defence based on those PoC or you can plead that it is not possible to plead a defence based on such sparse and woefully inadequate PoC and instead give the court a draft order to compel the Claimant to issue further PoC that comply fully with CPR 16.4. To date, no claimant has managed to comply fully with the order and have either discontinued or had their claim struck out.

Coupon-mad

You WANT the sparse POC. That's the point.  But please do the HMRC VAT concerns report first.