DCBL / Euro Car Parks defense advise / check

Meh_pcn

Hi, I have recently received a County Court Claim Form through.

So, a quick summary of the background:

I had a PCN through in October of 2022, since then I've just ignored and binned everything that came through the door. Recently I had an LBC come through the door, my response was to pause the claim for the 28 days and what has followed is now obviously the County Court Claim form.

The issue date is 16/09/2024 and I performed my AOS on the MCOS portal yesterday - 24/09/2024 so all in good time!

The POC detail that I was parked for longer than the maximum period allowed. - I'll upload a redacted image of the claim form shortly.

I am well aware of now having to submit a defense to the email address detailed in another post and have downloaded the template defense.

The particulars of the parking event were that I was parked there on the date in question whilst visiting a nearby venue to attend a meal. At the time of the "parking event" I hadn't realised that the car park was even managed so the bulk of my defense lies within the fact that signage wasn't clear. Other factors include that it was dark upon parking and if I recall raining that evening.

Upon returning to the site following receipt of the PCN it was clear there were some signs, namely the first one that you encounter at the enterance of the car park being affixed to the front wall of the nearby supermarket, which appears more to be akin to an opening hours sign. The car park is relatively dark at night and whilst there are signs high up on the lamp posts dotted around the car park, they are not immediately obvious from a seated position in a car, a great many of them are far further into the car park than I ventured and factoring the rain and a hunched semi-run into the venue I just didn't spot any of them.

So I'm looking for abit of advise on 2 fronts; the first being how to consolidate this best to formulate paragraph 3, and secondly whether in the specifics my claim whether the template defense is suitable as is, or whether there are any sections to remove or modify to suit.

Thanks in advance!

Meh_pcn

A copy of the claim form:

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 16th September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 21st October 2024 to file a Defence.

That's over 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 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'.

By the way, there is no letter 's' in the word Defence.  

Meh_pcn

Haha yeah I did re-read and think I've spelt that incorrectly.... the joys.

I have spent some time reading the defence post, the element I am struggling with is with respect to how best to consolidate my thoughts in paragraph 3. The draft I've come up with is:

3. The defendant acknowledges that his vehicle was parked in the location on the date identified within the PoC. He parked his car whilst attending a meal at a nearby venue. The defendant recalls it being a car park that he doesn't use with any remote semblance of regularity whatsoever. He further recalls it was dark and raining on the evening of the vehicle being parked. The defendant advises he parked at the location without any knowledge of it being subject to any conditions and can only surmise this to be due to ambiguous and unclear positioning of signage.

What are your thoughts on the paragraph.

Does the standard template defence cover my specific situation free from any contradiction?

Coupon-mad

Looks fine. Yes the template defence works.

They'll discontinue in 2025 before the hearing.

Meh_pcn

Great stuff, thank you!

I'll bung that in tomorrow and sit tight there on in.

Thanks 👍 

Meh_pcn

So, I've had a Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track come through in the post today with a hearing date. 

On balance is it likely that the next step sees the trial fee not paid and the case struck out, or is it more likely that this will be discontinued after the fee has been paid by DCB Legal?

In terms of my own next steps, I've filed my defense and directons questionnaire already, is there anything else I need to do at this stage?

Thanks,

Coupon-mad

Meh_pcn said:

So, I've had a Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track come through in the post today with a hearing date. 

On balance is it likely that the next step sees the trial fee not paid and the case struck out, or is it more likely that this will be discontinued after the fee has been paid by DCB Legal?

In terms of my own next steps, I've filed my defense and directons questionnaire already, is there anything else I need to do at this stage?

Yes, work on your WS on the assumption that the hearing will go ahead (it won't!).

And answer the phone if DCB Legal call. It'll be a laugh.

I'd tell the clueless 'legal' kiddie to hurry up and send a Notice of Discontinuance and what a shame it is that they don't they are clearly struggling to secure a legal job that actually does something useful for society...

Meh_pcn

Aha thank you for that! Do they tend to fail to pay the court fee leading to it being thrown out or wait until close and then move to discontinue?

Is there a standard WS pinned anywhere that I can adapt?

Haha yes I'll certainly be waiting for the call, should make for an entertaining 5 minutes!