Request for help with defence - Parking Control Management Claim issue 8/10/24

KZIN81

Hi there,

I have received a Claim Form issued 8th October. I have just completed the acknowledgement of service and wanted to ask for help with my defence, which is due at the end of October or so.

I have used the template and followed the advice as far as I have understood it, so just wanted to ask for help on wording. Principally, is my (5.) sufficient information? Fact is I don't know who was driving. This is what I have so far:

1.  The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was in breach of any term.  Further, it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as agents) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the boilerplate text in the Particulars of Claim ('the PoC').

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

2. The Defendant draws to the attention of the allocating Judge that there is now a persuasive Appeal judgement to support striking out the claim (in these exact circumstances of typically poorly pleaded private parking claims, and the extant PoC seen here are far worse than the one seen on Appeal).  The Defendant believes that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course, with the Overriding Objective in mind.  Bulk litigators (legal firms) should know better than to make little or no attempt to comply with the Practice Direction.  By continuing to plead cases with generic auto-fill unspecific wording, private parking firms should not be surprised when courts strike out their claims based in the following persuasive authority.

3. A recent persuasive appeal judgement in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44) would indicate the PoC fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4(1)(e) and Practise Direction Part 16.7.5. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that 'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. The same is true in this case and in view of the Chan judgement (transcript below) the Court should strike out the claim, using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4. 

The facts known to the Defendant:

4. 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. 

5. The vehicle with registration XXXX XXX is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper, although as the alleged conduct took place over eighteen months ago and no correspondence has been received in regards to this it is difficult to know who was the driver. The defendant does not recognise the address of the alleged conduct.

The numbers then go on from 6 (changed from 4) as per the template.

Thanks so much for any help. 

 

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

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

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th October, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 10th October, you have until 4pm on Thursday 7th November 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'.

KZIN81

Here is a copy of the claim form. Thanks in advance for your help

[Image removed by Forum Team]

Castle

You have left your claim number and password showing!!

KZIN81

Castle said:

You have left your claim number and password showing!!

Thanks - now removed. heres the claim form. Thanks everyone for support

Coupon-mad

Defence looks fine.  You may wish to search for and bookmark the other Moorside Legal threads to compare notes as you work your way through the process to see this scam off.

KZIN81

Coupon-mad said:

Defence looks fine.  You may wish to search for and bookmark the other Moorside Legal threads to compare notes as you work your way through the process to see this scam off.

Thanks for this. I'm reading up. Is the best policy to wait to file defence or does it make no difference when I do this, other than cutting short my own time to reasearch/prepare? If my defence looks ok is it a reasonable idea to send it now.

Gr1pr

There is no reason to wait if your defence is complete, but do not miss the deadline by KeithP above 

KZIN81

Gr1pr said:

There is no reason to wait if your defence is complete, but do not miss the deadline by KeithP above 

Thanks for your advice everyone - defence now sent and acknowledged from claim responses email. I'll update on this thread when I hear back should I need any further help. Thanks again

KZIN81

Hi all, after submitting my defence I have now received this correspondence from Moorside Legal. They have included copies of the Parking Control Managment parking charge letter (Februray and March 2023) and the Trace Debt Recovery letters following that (June July 2023) None of which I have any recollection of having seen before although they are addressed to me correctly. In my defence I state that I havent received corespondence on this matter before which is true to the best of my knowledge. Thoughts? Advice? Kind thanks to anyone able to help

Gr1pr

File it and continue with the 12 steps in the defence template thread, you are now waiting for the N180 DQ form to be posted from the CNBC in Northampton