Parkhouse Court Hatfield- Another Claim .. oh the joys

90Ninety

Firstly I want to thank the creators and contributors to this forum, Keith P and Coupon Mad were particularly helpful in the past .  Its amazing this thread exists and continues to be a cornerstone for fighting unfair parking charges

I'm Back here probably due to lack absentmindedness and lack of imagination. Back in March I inadvertently got distracted and had forgot to get a pay and display parking ticket, while stopping for a coffee and a bite at  Weatherspoon in the Parkhouse Court, Hatfield AL10 9QZ. In that particular carpark the parking is free for 60 minutes providing the number plate is entered and the printed ticket is displayed in car (I don't think there is ANPR), I must of parked here 30-40 times in the past .  in this instance I must of been there just 30-45 minutes and came back to a lovely £60 Windscreen invoice from UKPC. 
Also worth noting is that this carpark is next to a shopping complex but also shared with the residents, though I was not are if the spaces are dedicated to residents. 
Being a student at the time with limited work paying for this would have been a struggle probably . Having not being able to pay this amount, firstly I did try complaining to Wetherspoons however they say the land is owned by the parking company and out of their hands (allegedly even their own staff receive tickets)
 Out of principle of being an unfair amount of money and  generally the shadiness of these so called 'parking management' firms , I decided to wait until a time where I may receive a claim letter, then consider defending. (a daily rate or £20 would seem reasonable in my opinion)

I have been through this process before and had effectively succeeded not having to pay, (due to the claimant not submitting within timeframe). So I am considering again to write up a defense . While I think its technically possible,  I lack the writing acumen to do this convincingly  myself. Also while this is technically my own fault, its still unfair, as I would happily of paid for the hour had I been reminded to pay, could this be an argument on its own ( I feel like there should be a sign saying " Remember to pay before leaving " or generally more memorable signage)

In hindsight should I have just paid the £60 ?   In any case now the claim is £262.72 . Attached are the original PCN and Claim letter 
In a nutshell I am looking for whether this is defendable, and if so get direction on how to defend it, which particular reasons should I consider using in the defense .   

Coupon-mad

Easy peasy. They'll discontinue in the end, regardless of facts of the case because that's DCB Legal's MO. Use the Template Defence which changed in July (we now use MCOL).

Le_Kirk

With an issue date of 14/10/25 and providing you complete the AoS after 19/10/25 and before 02/11/25

your defence deadline date is 4.00 p.m. on 17/11/25