PCN at Euro car park Crewe / DCB Legal court claim

userno478

1505grandad said:

@userno478 -  just checking  -  are you preparing your Defence?  -  deadline 19th January.

Despite my best intentions, things had run away from me a bit.

I attach redacted claim form

I intend to use the Template Defence from similarly titled thread (thanks for this resource)

Happy to keep mostly as is but, for paragraph 2, does the "delay in bring proceedings.." and "little recollection of events" apply here? (original incident from Oct 2025 - (edit) it's actually 2024!)

^^ADD 'and driver' if admitting that.

NTK was POFA I believe.

Only keeper has been identified up to now. How to address paragraph 3 of POC that refers to driver - if can recall, does driver have to be identified now?

Paragraph 3 draft:

Referring to the POC:  The Defendant is not indebted to the Claimant. The Defendant is not liable and has seen no evidence of a breach of prominent terms. 

The "payment failed" slip has been designed to be liable to be mistaken for a parking tariff receipt, as it was in this case. It uses ambiguous language.

The Claimant is put to strict proof of all of their allegations.
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Paragraph 3 as drafted above has been kept very brief, not mentioning most of the other grounds from POPLA appeal. Do you consider this sufficient or needs fleshing out?

Le_Kirk

With an issue date of 16/12/25 and providing you complete(d) the AoS after 21/12/25 and before or on 04/01/26 your defence deadline date is 4.00 p.m. on 19/01/26

Did you submit AoS between those dates?  What does your status page say on MCOL?
Just use the standard template defence, add "and driver" if you are defending as driver (be aware that a judge may ask you outright at the hearing "were you driving"?)  You then need to answer the specific allegation, in your case "no valid pay and display permit was purchased".  Keep it concise, for example, you did purchase a P&D permit and evidence will be supplied at the relevant stage or whatever the facts were in your case.

Coupon-mad

You could cite Jolley v Carmel 'reasonable endeavours' (search the forum).

userno478

Le_Kirk said:

With an issue date of 16/12/25 and providing you complete(d) the AoS after 21/12/25 and before or on 04/01/26 your defence deadline date is 4.00 p.m. on 19/01/26

Did you submit AoS between those dates?  What does your status page say on MCOL?

Working to this deadline.
MCOL says:

Claim History
A claim was issued against you on 16/12/2025
Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 21/12/2025 at 01:17:40
Your acknowledgment of service was received on 22/12/2025 at 01:07:05

Le_Kirk said:

Just use the standard template defence, add "and driver" if you are defending as driver (be aware that a judge may ask you outright at the hearing "were you driving"?)  You then need to answer the specific allegation, in your case "no valid pay and display permit was purchased".  Keep it concise, for example, you did purchase a P&D permit and evidence will be supplied at the relevant stage or whatever the facts were in your case.

Have not defended as driver in the whole process but as keeper. Obviously court process now. Unsure if the driver question needs to be addressed by me now, or wait for it to crop out up at hearing

userno478

Coupon-mad said:

You could cite Jolley v Carmel 'reasonable endeavours' (search the forum).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74672967/#Comment_74672967
The zendesk link at the end of this post is unfortunately broken. The earlier link in the same post describes the background, although it's a WS and fairly detailed. Trying to follow the advice to keep defence brief but maybe too brief at present...


Paragraph 3 draft
The driver went through all the means of paying for parking, by using the machine, selecting a tariff and using their card. Unfortunately, the machine did not give any indication that there was a problem. The issued "payment slip" is unclear and uses ambiguous terms. It has not been designed so that it is not liable to be mistaken for a parking tariff receipt, against the advice of the Code of Practice.

The driver of the vehicle made reasonable endeavours to comply with  the contractual terms and should not be penalized for any breach (unclear ticketing in this case)

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Coupon-mad

In this case because you were driving and the crux of what happened was that you made reasonable endeavours, then admit to driving at the end of paragraph 2. 

userno478

Coupon-mad said:

In this case because you were driving and the crux of what happened was that you made reasonable endeavours, then admit to driving at the end of paragraph 2. 

Thank you. I'll make that adjustment and look to submit.

userno478

Defence submitted.

Coupon-mad

Great! The claim will end up discontinued before the hearing this year.

Just play the game: follow the easy 8 steps covered in the Template Defence sticky thread. No link is needed to the NEWBIES FAQS thread - which you must also read post 2 of, especially the red heading IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN'. Read that now.

We don't want to know (at all, please spare us) about DCB Legal's reply, or the DQ, or Mediation. All are covered.

What we do collect are pictures of the Notices of Discontinuance for Umkomaas' thread, so we'll see you again in the Summer/Autumn when you strut proudly back here with your win!