HELP Urgent Review of wording to defence section - EURO Car parks fine Claim Form

Mangoes123

Hi, please can I have help with review for section 3 from the template?

For context, im brand new to the forum and have previously tried appealing, emailing etc before coming across advice here. 

Appeal process has included photographs of machine fault, alternative parking the driver seeked and communication that the driver was not the owner (in appeal, mentioned driver was daughter,  but correspondence has continued to owner and CCJ to owner) 

Claim issue date: 28 May

Acknowledgement of service: 5 June

3. [EXPLAIN IN YOUR OWN WORDS...NB: defences are written in the THIRD person as 'the Defendant', not 'I did this' nor 'my/me']. 

The Defendant was not the driver at the time of the alleged contravention and the Claimant was made aware of this during the appeal. The Defendant understands that the driver attended the car park in good faith intending to pay but discovered that all visible payment machines were not working, and used alternative parking.
3.2 The driver has photographic evidence of the machine fault including video at the time, which showed the machines were inoperable. After several attempts to pay and capturing photographic evidence of the fault, the driver decided to leave and park at an alternative car park nearby, where payment was made. A copy of the parking receipt from that location was included in the appeal to Euro Carparks, but the Claimant dismissed the explanation without considering all evidence.
3.3  Euro Car Parks' appeal portal prevented uploading the video due to file size restriction. Attempts were made to follow up via email, but responses were not forthcoming.
3.4  Multiple attempts were made to contact the claimant on this matter, including emailing the video to the only contact option on the Euro parks “info@eurocarparks.co.uk” and a phone call to DCB Legal on 12 May 2025. The defendant representative was told that no communication be continued unless the defendant provided explicit written authorisation, which was in the process of being arranged when CCJ was issued. This shows good faith and transparency in communication.

3.5 The driver was accompanied by independent witnesses, who were able to provide written statements confirming the attempts to pay and subsequent decision to leave and park elsewhere.

3.6 Furthermore, public reviews on Google show that broken machines and payment issues have been a long-standing problem at this site, suggesting the operator was aware of persistent faults and failed to remedy them.

3.7. The claimant has provided no evidence of a valid contract being entered, and in order to comply with parking regulations, the driver parked the vehicle at an alternative parking nearby and payment was made to that car park. The account claimed is wholly disproportionate and does not reflect any actual loss or harm.
I wanted to double check:

As the driver has been mentioned, can I still use the template? Is there something else from the template I need to remove?Should I email the evidence pack and video proof to the DCB Legal and/or as part of the defence email?

Coupon-mad

You don't email DCB at defence stage anyway and no evidence goes at this point.

CCJ to owner

They don't have a CCJ!

They have a claim form. Show us the POC.

Mangoes123

Coupon-mad said:

You don't email DCB at defence stage anyway and no evidence goes at this point.

CCJ to owner

They don't have a CCJ!

They have a claim form. Show us the POC.

Here’s the claim form  

Car1980

The Defendant was not the driver at the time of the alleged contravention and the Claimant was made aware of this during the appeal.

Did you transfer liability by naming them?

Coupon-mad

Same advice as here, just needs some wording tweaks:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81504645#Comment_81504645

Mangoes123

Car1980 said:

The Defendant was not the driver at the time of the alleged contravention and the Claimant was made aware of this during the appeal.

Did you transfer liability by naming them?

I honestly cannot remember if driver was explicitly named in the appeal (it was submitted via a portal September 2022 and unfortunately I don’t think I took a screenshot - I’ve tried finding this). The drivers email address was used to contact / share the video that wouldn’t load in the portal (email included reference number) 

Car1980

I'm assuming not. I'd use below as your paragraph 3. Evidence for the broken machine is important, but the main things is that no contract exists (this is a particularly idiotic claim that will be discontinued, but it shows the lack of due diligence from Euro and their bulk litigator b*itches):

3. The Defendant was not the driver at the time alleged. The driver will supply their own witness statement.

3.1. However, the Defendant understands that the driver parked and visited the machine on site in order to pay. The machine was faulty however and would not accept payment. The driver therefore left the site and parked elsewhere, which is exactly what the Claimant instructs drivers to do in this situation.

3.2 Therefore no contract ever existed between the Claimant and the driver. No payment could be made, no payment was taken and no consideration was exchanged. No contract ever existed to be breached. 

Coupon-mad

Then add what I linked.

Mangoes123

Thank you, I’ll redraft it based on the link and the section 3 

The driver will supply their own statement 

At what stage will the driver supply statement? It won’t be part of the defence, is that correct? 

Coupon-mad

Please read IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN in red capitals (screaming at everyone with a claim to read it!) in the second post of NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST. 

  

Mangoes123

Hi, sorry this might be a bit of a stupid question

I have sent the defender to the email, I have an automated response saying they will reply in 10days. Does this mean the defence is submitted or I need a specific response? 

many thanks