Claim Form - Napier Parking / BW Legal - Defence Stage

Chucky1234

Hi all

Received a claim form from Napier Parking / BW Legal dated 3 July 2025. I have filed acknowledgement of service today, this gives me until 4 August 2025 to file my defence.

Situation

The situation is Napier / BW allege that the driver parked in the car park for 15 mins and 30 seconds  - over the 15 minute grace period and did not pay for parking. The driver was not aware of any grace period, they arrived in a busy car park on Christmas Eve with two children. The driver had to wait for a parent and child's space to become available or a space large enough to get the children out. After parking, the driver attempted to buy a ticket but did not have the appropriate change and mobile data was poor and the app was not working. The driver proceeded to get back in the vehicle and queued to leave the busy car park. At no stage did the driver leave the car park, and they were in the vehicle for the entire time, except for when they attempted to buy a ticket.

Particulars of claim here: 

 Defence (Para #3)

3. Save as set out below, the Defendant has little or no knowledge or recollection of events on the date stated. The vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper.

The defendant understands the driver arrived at the car park on Christmas Eve when it was very busy. The driver was with two young children and had to wait for a parent and child, or a larger space to become free. When a space became free, the driver attempted to purchase a ticket but did not have change in order to be able to do so. The driver tried to purchase a ticket through an app but poor mobile signal prevented this. As the driver was unable to purchase a ticket, they decided against parking in the car park and queued to get off the car park. The driver never left the car park.

The car park exits onto a main road which is controlled by four-way traffic lights. A cycle of traffic lights at this junction can take multiple minutes in which case the driver was attempting to exit the car park.

The driver was not aware of a 15-minute grace period and this was not adequately signposted. Given the situation with it being Christmas Eve and very busy, plus the fact the driver required a parent and child space and there was traffic to exit the car park.

The defendant vehemently denies that either they formed a contract with the claimant, and in actual fact decided to decline forming a contract with the claimant by deciding to exit the car park.



Advice Required

I would be grateful for any comments on the above, I am planning to submit my defence following the advice on the Newbie thread in the first couple of days of August.

Coupon-mad

"The driver never left the car park."

What?

I think that will be too long. Shorten it.

Le_Kirk

It's not a "leaving car park" issue but a "didn't buy a ticket/cashless voucher" issue  You just need to defend what is in the POC nothing else.  As @Coupon-mad writes, keeps it short and save the narrative for the witness statement stage.

Coupon-mad

I've edited the template defence & swapped some bits around. Start again and add less.

If you must, remove paragraph 10. Easy to make the new defence fit MCOL's box.

Chucky1234

Thank you all for your feedback, please see below my second draft of my defence. I would be grateful for feedback.


3. The defendant did not enter into a contract with the claimant. The car park was extremely busy on Christmas Eve so the defendant had to wait for a space. The defendant subsequently decided to leave the car park without parking or entering into a contract a short while later after not finding a suitable space. 

Coupon-mad

Yep that's good.

And stick around in August to take part in the Government's Public Consultation. We have an important thread about that and we need ALL Defendants to respond to the questions to shape the regulation of this rogue industry.

Please come back in a couple of weeks.

If you want to make a difference snd help inform the Government's final decisions, this is the only chance to do that.