Claim received for PCN -DCB Legal / Met parking

fannofler

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Hello, 

I have received a court notice with the claim form for a PCN from October 2023 for parking in an electric bay at my local ASDA. We had ignored the PNC and subsequent letters from Met parking based on common advise online but have received this form (attached) recently. 

The issue date is 9th Jan 2025 and I had done the acknowledgment online on moneyclaim.gov.uk a week later but not sure what the next steps would be. 

The car is registered to my wife but I was driving it that day and incorrectly parked it in a  electric bay (diesel car) . The only defence I have is that the electric charger was out of service when I parked there. 

Any advise on next steps would be appreciated 🙏🙏

KeithP

fannofler said:

I have received a court notice with the claim form for a PCN from October 2023...

The issue date is 9th Jan 2025 and I had done the acknowledgment online on moneyclaim.gov.uk a week later but not sure what the next steps would be. 

The car is registered to my wife but I was driving it that day and incorrectly parked it in a  electric bay (diesel car).

Firstly, let's be clear... it is the named Defendant who must defend themself against the claim.
Hopefully the Acknowledgment of Service was done in the name of the named Defendant.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service('AOS') in a timely manner, the named Defendant has until 4pm on Tuesday 11th February 2025 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 AOS has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

fannofler

Thanks KeithP, I have made the initial draft of the defence email using the template suggested and will send the email to ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk later today. 

Is this all I have to do for now until I receive a response back from them? We am away for 2 weeks from 14th feb so worried in case I miss any letters and deadlines within. 

Gr1pr

You should ideally post your draft of paragraphs 2 & 3 below first,  for checking 

Once you have emailed it as a pdf attachment,  you should be OK on holiday because you probably won't hear anything until march 

You can easily check the claim history on MCOL anyway,  for peace of mind 

Le_Kirk

What is an "initial draft"?  Are you going to show us your edited paragraphs #2 & #3 for critique before you add them in to the template, sending all 30 or so paragraphs by e-mail?  If you read (hopefully you already have) the NEWBIE sticky, you will see that, when your defence is received by the CNBC, they send a copy to the claimant, who then has 28 days to decide whether to proceed or drop it.

Coupon-mad

fannofler said:

Thanks KeithP, I have made the initial draft of the defence email using the template suggested and will send the email to ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk later today. 

Is this all I have to do for now until I receive a response back from them? We am away for 2 weeks from 14th feb so worried in case I miss any letters and deadlines within. 

But which of you is the named Defendant?

fannofler

Coupon-mad said:

fannofler said:

Thanks KeithP, I have made the initial draft of the defence email using the template suggested and will send the email to ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk later today. 

Is this all I have to do for now until I receive a response back from them? We am away for 2 weeks from 14th feb so worried in case I miss any letters and deadlines within. 

But which of you is the named Defendant?

The letter is in my wife's name as she is the registered keeper but I was the one driving (names driver) on the day of the PCN

fannofler

Le_Kirk said:

What is an "initial draft"?  Are you going to show us your edited paragraphs #2 & #3 for critique before you add them in to the template, sending all 30 or so paragraphs by e-mail?  If you read (hopefully you already have) the NEWBIE sticky, you will see that, when your defence is received by the CNBC, they send a copy to the claimant, who then has 28 days to decide whether to proceed or drop it.

2. 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. However, the vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper. The Defendant was not the driver of the vehicle in question on the day of alleged PCN.

3. The Vehicle was parked at local ASDA store car park for shopping purposes. The vehicle was parked in an electric bay but the electric car charger of the bay in question was inoperative on the day, so this did not impact any electric cars who would have needed charging while parked. Additionally, there were plenty of other available electric bays in the car park.  

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The above is what I have drafted, #2 Bold line is the only addition (i will un bold it before sending)
#3 Just states the fact from the day of the event

Many thanks on the feedback so far 

fannofler

The original notice came under my wife's name but having just checked the MCOL website  noticed that I updated it to my name during the acknowledgement of service as I didn't want my wife to go to court should it come to that stage and wanted to deal with this myself (I was the driver of the car during the PCN). Have a made a big blunder here?

KeithP

fannofler said:

The original notice came under my wife's name but having just checked the MCOL website  noticed that I updated it to my name during the acknowledgement of service as I didn't want my wife to go to court should it come to that stage and wanted to deal with this myself (I was the driver of the car during the PCN). Have a made a big blunder here?

That was a mistake.

What does your wife's MCOL Claim History say?
Please show us the full contents - it's only a few lines.
I expect to see that the Acknowledgment of Service was rejected and possibly that the Claimant has sought and received a Default Judgment.

fannofler

These are the screenshots from the MCOL history, I cant see the rejection