Desperately Need Help Compiling Defence for PCN Court Claim

LADYWORM1

Hi Everyone,

Please help me!

I have looked over multiple threads and the Defence template, to be honest i just feel super overwhelmed and unsure what parts are relevant/should be used. I don't want to look stupid and not taken seriously especially if i add a load of irrelevant info.

Backstory....

I parked in a Euro Car Parks car park back in 2022, the fee is £1.
After running errands i went back to my vehicle, put my 1 year old safely into her car seat and shopping into the car all the whilst on the phone to my mum, ran over to the pay machine in view of my car, paid my £1 entered details and returned to my car. I stupidly did not obtain a receipt, i was flustered at the time, this i regret!
To my surprise a PCN is received in the post claiming i did not pay! I followed their appeal process online, i have NO copy of what i sent as it was done through their website, but i basically explained the above and also added that the car was only a month old i may have got a digit wrong, was there a technical glitch their end? I will be on CCTV running over and putting the £1 into the machine, they replied basically throwing out my appeal and attached Part Registration plates to show none of them are a resemblance to mine, i cant remember if i asked them to check my old REG just incase but I'm sure i would have done. 
REGARDLESS £1 of my money entered that machine that day, surely even if the reg didn't match, if they 'cashed up' that day they would see an extra £1 in there.

Now i have ZERO proof of anything just my word and my very vivid memory of that day (IE being on the phone, having my baby with me, running to the machine) because it has infuriated me since!

i have had letters on and off mainly from DCB Legal but recently received the dreaded Court Claim letter, i have never been to or threatened to be taken to court in my life (I'm 32).

I am determined to fight this as I refuse to pay nearly £300 in fines over a £1 fee which i paid in the first place! But with having no evidence, the fact i did actually pay it (nothing to do with signs) I am worried they will win and i have no defence. 
The stress and worry especially just before Xmas is horrendous.

If somebody can please help me draft a defence i would MASSIVELY appreciate such help

Many many thanks in advance for all help and advice!
ATTACHED IS THE CLAIM LETTER I RECEIVED. 

[Image removed by Forum Team]

MajorDanby

Hi, you need to report your thread and have the above image taken down - it is displaying your personal details.

Follow the template defence editing to include particulars specific it to yourself. Post the changed paragraphs when complete

LADYWORM1

MajorDanby said:

Hi, you need to report your thread and have the above image taken down - it is displaying your personal details.

Follow the template defence editing to include particulars specific it to yourself. Post the changed paragraphs when complete

Hi, thank you for your reply, i thought i uploaded the edited version so thank you for bringing that to my attention i have reported it.
I have looked over the defence template but that is what i need help with as i don't want to take evidence out which i think isn't relevant but actually is and im harming my own defence, does that make sense?
Thank you!

MajorDanby

The regulars will be along soon, but they will need you to have had a go at writing your defence in order to help out. Paragraph 3 of the template defence should be edited with your particular circumstances, the remainder should be retained. I would suggest it may be useful to determine what you said in your original appeal, this can be achieved by making a subject access request via the data officer for Euro Car Parks. Contact details on their website.

@KeithP will normally be along in a short space of time to advise of the timings etc. You will need to file and Acknowledgement of Service.

All detail of the process is available in the 2nd post of the Newbies Thread

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th November, you have until Monday 25th November 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 Monday 9th December 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 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'.

Gr1pr

Then adapt paragraphs 2 & 3 and post your few changed paragraphs below for advice and critique 

Don't post the unchanged paragraphs, but you will be using them all in your final draft 

Save the stories and witness statements for next year at the WS + Exhibits bundle stage, a few weeks before the hearing date 

LADYWORM1

KeithP said:

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th November, you have until Monday 25th November 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 Monday 9th December 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 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'.

Thank you very much for all of your helpful information, i have completed the AOS and will draft the defence over the weekend and input points from the defence example provided. Ill come back here to see if someone can have a quick look over it!

Thank you again and to all who replied and helped me also, i really appreciate it!

LADYWORM1

Posting defence for advice/critique as advised.
Thank you so much in advance for all help received!!

This parking event occurred on October 17th, 2022. The defendant had visited a parking facility and dutifully paid the required £1 fee, as per the new policy that had been recently implemented earlier that year. However, shortly after this transaction, the defendant received a letter from the claimant stating that the fee had not been paid. Perplexed by this accusation, the defendant immediately appealed the decision (the defendant has a copy of this appeal) through the designated website, as instructed in the letter, firmly maintaining that the £1 had in fact been paid.

The defendant then recounts the events that followed, describing how she had returned to her car after running errands, carefully securing her daughter in the car seat and stowing her bags in the boot. It was during this time that the defendant frantically searched her vehicle, hoping to locate the £1 payment, all while on the phone with her mother. The defendant's mother, unaware of the new parking fee, expressed her gratitude for the defendant bringing this to her attention for future reference, the defendant remembers this conversation clearly.

The defendant resolved the issue, located the fee and hurried to the parking machine, located just a few meters away, with the car still in view. There, she inputted the requested information and inserted the £1, before swiftly returning to her vehicle and exiting the car park. Notably, the defendant's actions would have been captured on the CCTV cameras installed in the area, providing potential evidence of the payment.

Despite the defendant's efforts to appeal the decision and provide the precise time frame of the payment, between 2:00 PM and 2:12 PM, the claimant rejected the appeal. The claimant's response included evidence of partial registration numbers inputted into the machine during a different time window, from 1:04 PM to 1:37 PM, which did not align with the defendant's recollection and did not provide evidence of a breach.

Nonetheless, the defendant remains steadfast in her assertion that the £1 fee was duly paid, although there may have been either a potential system error or an accidental typo as the defendant had recently purchased the vehicle, and the registration number may have been unfamiliar. Regardless of the technicalities, the defendant maintains that no breach of the parking rules had occurred, The machine, if cashed up that day, would prove to be over by said £1, as the required payment was made nor did the defendant overstay the allotted time.

Gr1pr

If that is your paragraph 3. ( 2 & 3 need adapting. ) Then it reads like a long witness statement, not a concise defence 

Your explanatory witness statement won't be required until 2025,  possibly in several months time 

Start again, keep it concise, and with numbering 

LADYWORM1

Gr1pr said:

If that is your paragraph 3. ( 2 & 3 need adapting. ) Then it reads like a long witness statement, not a concise defence 

Your explanatory witness statement won't be required until 2025,  possibly in several months time 

Start again, keep it concise, and with numbering 

yes it is my paragraph 3.
i have no idea how to shorten it because everything i have mentioned is important and the only defence points i have, does that make sense? 
ill try, just worry it wont be enough

thank you for your help!

Gr1pr

It is important, for the witness statement, not the defence, the defence paragraph is a legal rebuttal based on the POC on the claim form 

The witness statement is the story, the details of which are above