ANPR Ticket, Court Claim Form Received. Only defence is the parking meter would not take the money!!

mtbmb · 20 July 2019 at 2:11PM

Hello to all you very helpful people.

I have read the forums over the last few months but now need advice if the case is worth defending, Have gone through Letter of Claims etc and now at Court Claim Form stage.

In summary:
ANPR ticket received from Premier Park Ltd, date of ticket is 28/6/15!! On the day, The driver attempted to pay for parking for 1 hour, but all of the change was just spat out of the machine every time (only a small car park with 1 machine). Stupidly, without realising it was ANPR, the driver just left the car there anyway and went for a walk.

Ignored all the initial threatening debt collection agencies. Now BW legal have taken it on 4 years later. So far followed the procedure, received their Letter of Claim, replied stating I had asked for SAR from Premier Park Ltd and said this claim would be defended.

SAR received, 2 photos of my car entering and leaving the car park at 12.49 and 13.50.

Now received the Northampton County Court Claim Form (total of £264.80) and a letter from BW Legal stating "Following an expiry of a pre-action protocol letter before action, we have now issued legal proceedings"....

Is the parking machine not taking the money a defence? I'm not so sure. And does 2 photos of my car entering and leaving (not parked) form sufficient evidence for them? I received the Court Claim on 17th July, I have not yet completed the AoS on the MCOL as I'm unsure if this is even worth defending.

Thank you very much in advance.

The_Slithy_Tove · 20 July 2019 at 2:42PM

mtbmb wrote: »

Is the parking machine not taking my money a defence?

It's one line of defence. Of many. There'll be plenty more. Was the Notice to Keeper POFA compliant? Probably not. Is the amount they are seeking reasonable. No way, considering the original charge was likely to have been £100, how can they justify £264 now (they can't).

Of course you defend. Do the AOS now (don't enter anything in the defence). Then read post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky, follow the links, and start putting together your multi-pronged defence.

Surely the SAR contained more than just the photos.

BTW, edit your post to be sure the identity of the driver is not revealed. Refer only to the "driver" or the "keeper".

KeithP · 20 July 2019 at 3:18PM

You tell us that you received the Claim Form on 17th July, but what is the Issue Date on the Claim Form?

mtbmb · 20 July 2019 at 3:23PM

KeithP wrote: »

You tell us that you received the Claim Form on 17th July, but what is the Issue Date on the Claim Form?

Sorry, issue date is the 17th on the claim form, not the actual day I had it in my hand.

KeithP · 20 July 2019 at 3:27PM

mtbmb wrote: »

Sorry, issue date is the 17th on the claim form, not the actual day I had it in my hand.

With a Claim Issue Date of 17th July, you have until Monday 5th August to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 19th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Sign it and date it.
Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep you under pressure.
Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

mtbmb · 20 July 2019 at 3:34PM

I will try and find info on the POFA regulations for notice to keeper. I don't have the original, but in the SAR, Premier Park have included previous correspondence, one of which being original PCN, is this the notice to keeper?

The SAR included a lot of what I would call "packing out material":
1. A copy of all disclosable personal data concerning you which we believe we hold
2. A copy of our SAR checklist detailing our due diligence process
3. A copy of our Data retention and deletion policy
4. A copy of our privacy policy
5. A copy of our other supplementary information summary in accordance with GDPR regulations

In addition, just a copy or original PCN, reminders and my email to their DPO.

Then BW Legal responded to my letter of claim response, (this is my error from original post now edited) essentially dismissing what I said and attached 2 large photos of the car entering and leaving with time stamps.

I will look at #2 post to build a defence and process my AoS.

mtbmb · 20 July 2019 at 3:39PM

Thank you. I go away on holiday on 9th August so will ensure defence is sent in advance of that. I am way until 25th of August, is that likely to cause any issues with completing the DQ? Is it something that is emailed to me from CCBC or do I need to be at home to receive it. So essentially ignore the DQ sent from the claimant and wait for the CCBC?

BrownTrout · 20 July 2019 at 3:50PM

With regards to the DQ simply log onto money claim online see when they have sent you a DQ under recent transactions and when it has email a completed one which you can fill in online then use sign on pdf ..no need to print defences or dq forms

The_Deep · 20 July 2019 at 3:55PM

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

mtbmb · 20 July 2019 at 4:05PM

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Is the amount they are seeking reasonable. No way, considering the original charge was likely to have been £100, how can they justify £264 now (they can't).

Of course you defend. Do the AOS now (don't enter anything in the defence). Then read post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky, follow the links, and start putting together your multi-pronged defence.

Just re-reading bargepoles "Court Claim Procedure" he suggests if the judge finds in favour of the claimant, the defendant will have to pay the amount on the claim form plus £25 hearing fee.....makes defending this case all the more daunting. So that will be £264 plus £25. I was planning to include part of my defence to state the extra charges are unjustifiable.....

Coupon-mad · 20 July 2019 at 6:51PM

I was planning to include part of my defence to state the extra charges are unjustifiable...

Of course, and I'm sure bargepole would agree with that.

It's a standard argument and a matter of damage limitation if the Judge is not with you on the actual defence (rare here) at least if people feel they are about to lose, they know how to point out that the £60 and £50 add-ons are both lies and to object to the amount of interest, caused only by the PPC dragging their fee and sometimes trying to charge interest on the whole sum, rather than the £100 charge in dispute.

It is only a £100 charge, as you've seen from the 'abuse of process' costs wording.

ANPR Ticket, Court Claim Form Received. Only defence is the parking meter would not take the money!!

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