DCB Legal Claim defence

Just_Cruising

Hi All,
Long time lurker and beneficiary of all the good advice here. Have deterred several begging letters to date, but this one has got as far as a claim. I did the MCOL AOS yesterday (2/11/24) and have adapted the defence template from Coupon-Mad as recommended on post 2 of the Newbies thread, and I would appreciate any feedback on my defence before I submit that.

As a background summary, I was captured by an ANPR camera arriving into and exiting a shopping centre car park and I was unaware that the car park had a time limit, so I ended up being 41 mins and 35 mins over the supposed allocated time limit of 2 hours free parking on two occasions. I have moved house, so the correspondence took some time to catch up to me. My defence is as follows, I was thinking of leaving it at this, but am wondering if I need to go digging around in bank statements from that time (although expect purchases would have been on an old credit card for which information could be hard to find). Any feedback would be appreciated, many thanks. Have also pasted page 1 of the claim form below.

 

And this is the Claim I received:



Thanks again, keep up the good work.

Just_Cruising

The NTK contains two close-up images of the vehicle number plate for each occasion. Neither of these images contains a date and time stamp “on the photograph” nor do they clearly identify the vehicle entering or leaving this car park (which is also not identifiable in the photos as of any particular location at all).

Gr1pr

Please note 

No Exhibits. ( Evidence. ) are emailed with the defence , its text only, so any pictures and bank statements etc are submitted to your local civil court a few weeks before the hearing, so next year when you submit your bundle to the lawyers and local court 

Paragraph 2 needs more words regarding the driver, and driver, but not the driver, OR,  but the defendant cannot recall who was driving. ( So don't leave it blank as you have done. )

For 3,  the small font, especially the £100 etc is about poor signage, legitimate business as a paying customer 

But on a side note, drivers should ALWAYS read the signs, never assume, Always check, like the police do, the ABC mantra

Just_Cruising

Thanks, so I take it I can't sneak a picture in the document so they can see directly what I mean when I'm making my point. Shame, but thanks for the pointer - will keep it to text only. 

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 29th October, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 2nd December 2024 to file a Defence.

That's over 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'.

Just_Cruising

Thanks KeithP.
Following the advice on the second post on the NEWBIES thread, I've taken the entire post from Coupon-Mad's post here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs/p1

I'm only adapting para 3, and haven't posted the full template as I'd guess you all know it well.

Coupon-mad

Yep.

And you can embed an image if you want.  Anything goes in small claims.

fisherjim

Why would you state this it does not help your case, in fact it might be held against you IMHO:

"Although the defendant has attended this retail park on many occasions"

Just_Cruising

OK, updated. (Slightly horrified by how quickly a week has gone by). Should I also post the NTK?

Coupon-mad

Too much information that isn't in the POC.  There is no "time indicated" in the POC.

Don't use the word 'assumed'.

Don't show a picture of the sign.  That's helping them and you are not yet required to show evidence.

Just_Cruising

Thank you. Changed Para 3 to:

3.  The signage in the car park indicates there are parking conditions, but the headline on the sign is that the park is for “customers only”. Although the Defendant has attended this retail park, he and his family are always a customer of the outlets.