Counterclaim for harassment

setUpon

I'm late to finding this forum but have a decision to make about filing both a defence and counterclaim to a parking charge notice.  

I'm wondering if anyone has experience of pursuing a counterclaim for harassment under Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in light of the repeated, heavy handed

I think in principle all the elements of harassment are met.  

Gr1pr

Harassment is an extremely high bar to get over, so if you consider the usual tactics employed when they are demanding payment of an outstanding unpaid invoice, its unlikely to succeed ( chasing up alleged debts is normally considered to be standard business practice. )

You would have to prove it, in court, with evidence, not just stating your beliefs, but proving that their behaviour was harassment 

Coupon-mad

Yes there have been odd successes but usually counterclaims are dismissed because a creditor who thinks you owe them money is entitled to write to demand it and use a debt collector. So you have no cause of action and would waste the fee.

But there's no dilemma or decision to make re defending the claim. Obviously you defend any private parking court claim.  I say that with 100% certainty despite knowing nothing about your case.

Show us the claim form, redacting the usual 4 things you see in all the other cases here.

setUpon

Yes. Does seem a high bar,  I'm in two minds about whether I feel harassed or indignant - maybe both!  

I personally think there must be a limit to how many threatening letters you can get before a reasonable person would consider it harassment.  Particularly as I tried to correspond to many of the letters but never received replies - just more letters claiming i had ignored their previous correspondence.  Not having had the benefit of this forum earlier, I engaged quite a bit early on.


  

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Who is the Claimant? MET Parking Services Ltd?

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.

setUpon

Thanks Keith. It's MET; issued 16 October 2024.  I've filed the AoS and have a couple of days left to do the next step.  

KeithP

setUpon said:

Thanks Keith. It's MET; issued 16 October 2024.  I've filed the AoS and have a couple of days left to do the next step.  

What about my other question... when did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?

Meanwhile, I'll assume you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 18th October and before 5th November. Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 16th October, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 18th November 2024 to file a Defence.

That's just a few days away but plenty of time to produce a Defence.

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'.

Coupon-mad

If, when you engaged early on, you admitted to driving (or implied it) make sure you say the same in the defence.

setUpon

Appreciate the comments.  Feeling very inclined to formulate a counterclaim.  Will make sure i email the address mentioned.

Umkomaas

setUpon said:

Appreciate the comments.  Feeling very inclined to formulate a counterclaim.  Will make sure i email the address mentioned.

For how much do you intend to counterclaim?  Your counterclaim filing fee will be in proportion to the amount you wish to claim. 

setUpon

Yes that is a tough question.  I've been looking online for guidance on calculating damages for harassment.  It doesn't seem straightforward to quantify.  Not sure how much i'm willing to put on the line in terms of filing fee also.