County Court Claim Form Received for PCN 2 Yrs Ago - Is it Worth Defending this?

[Linny992]

Please help!! I loaned my car to someone, over 2 years ago, and they incurred a parking ticket when parking in a car park on private land. However, in their defence the car park never used to charge to park there and this was a new system that had been imposed since their last visit to said car park. When the original PCN was received through the post I gave it to the driver who returned to the car park (as they didn't believe you did now have to pay) the signs were very small and practically unreadable and she could immediately see why she hadn't realised that it was necessary to pay to park. In addition to that she went into the shop that she had been visiting at the time, to advise she had received a parking ticket whilst shopping there, and they took her name and vehicle details and said that, as this was a fairly new system, and she had her receipt for shopping, they would contact the parking company and ask that no further action be taken. We assumed this was the end to the matter. We have obviously received further letters from Britannia Parking, which we foolishly ignored believing they were related to a separate car parking notice which I was already dealing with. However, I have now received a County Court Claim Form in respect of the matter. I have gone on line and acknowledged this and I would like to defend this but not sure if it is worth it? Part of me was going to ring and pay it as the driver is in no financial position to make any payments and a County Court Judgement would cause me serious credit issues. However, I feel strongly about this as I feel it was not sign posted to tell drivers that a new parking system had been put in place and the driver had a legitimate reason for using this car park and would have paid had they realised. Has anyone else successfully defended something like this and if so how do I defend it given that the vehicle was there and didn't pay the relevant fee and it was not me driving.

[charitynjw]

Please help!! I loaned my car to someone, over 2 years ago, and they incurred a parking ticket when parking in a car park on private land.
However, in their defence the car park never used to charge to park there and this was a new system that had been imposed since their last visit to said car park.
When the original PCN was received through the post I gave it to the driver who returned to the car park (as they didn't believe you did now have to pay)
the signs were very small and practically unreadable and she could immediately see why she hadn't realised that it was necessary to pay to park.
In addition to that she went into the shop that she had been visiting at the time, to advise she had received a parking ticket whilst shopping there, and they took her name and vehicle details and said that, as this was a fairly new system, and she had her receipt for shopping, they would contact the parking company and ask that no further action be taken.
We assumed this was the end to the matter.
We have obviously received further letters from Britannia Parking, which we foolishly ignored believing they were related to a separate car parking notice which I was already dealing with.
However, I have now received a County Court Claim Form in respect of the matter. I have gone on line and acknowledged this and I would like to defend this but not sure if it is worth it?
Part of me was going to ring and pay it as the driver is in no financial position to make any payments and a County Court Judgement would cause me serious credit issues.
However, I feel strongly about this as I feel it was not sign posted to tell drivers that a new parking system had been put in place and the driver had a legitimate reason for using this car park and would have paid had they realised.
Has anyone else successfully defended something like this and if so how do I defend it given that the vehicle was there and didn't pay the relevant fee and it was not me driving.

The short answer is yes, defend.

Britannia seem to be chasing a fair few of these old PCNs.

Have you been in contact with them at all?

[Linny992]

Thank you for your response. I called them when I first received this, which I'm now regretting but I panicked. I simply asked them if this was a genuine court summons (it looks blurry and just didn't initially seem to be correct) they advised it was. I did advise them that I was not the driver and briefly told them what I have said on here but of course they weren't interested and said I now needed to follow the relevant legal channels unless I paid the full amount there and then

[charitynjw]

No probs....'phone calls probably don't count.

Could you post up copy of the claim form (N1)?....suitably redacted (obscure your personal details, any mention of the vehicle reg no., etc

Or just type it. (+ issue date)

[Linny992]

Please see the Court Claim Form attached. Is the first page sufficient?

[charitynjw]

Lovely, thanks.

Issue date?

[Linny992]

Issue date was 19th February and I acknowledged it online on 28th Feb

[charitynjw]

Ok

Defence to be filed Mon 25th March latest.

Did they send any letters to you in the month or so prior to issuing a court claim?

[Linny992]

I can't recall that they did but I am not certain of that as I stupidly ignored previous correspondence thinking it was related to a different case

[charitynjw]

Send one of these to Britannia requesting all personal data they hold on this matter (+ a copy to their sols if applicable.)

& one of these to the sols....BWL? (or to Britannia if no sols) asking for the same (all data) + a copy of the site signage & a copy of their contrct with the landowner/authorised agent.

Both are free of charge.

Keep copies & get proof of postage.

[Linny992]

Ok I will do that today and come back to update as and when. Thank you so much for your help

[Linny992]

Send one of these to Britannia requesting all personal data they hold on this matter (+ a copy to their sols if applicable.)

& one of these to the sols....BWL? (or to Britannia if no sols) asking for the same (all data) + a copy of the site signage & a copy of their contrct with the landowner/authorised agent.

Both are free of charge.

Keep copies & get proof of postage.

Sorry one more thing I have just noticed as I am about to post my letters is that the guide template says that data protection law states that they have 1 month to respond.

I only have 12 days until my defence has to be filed?

[Linny992]

charitynjw - One more thing I have just noticed, as I was putting my letters into envelopes, and that is that it states that "under data protection law, the information must be provided within 1 month"
I have to post my defence in the next 12 days?

[charitynjw]

No worries.

If they don't send anything to you before the defence needs to be filed, you just say (among other things) that, "as the Claimant failed to disclose any evidence on which they presumably will seek to rely, the Defendant has requested data via the Data Protection Act 2018/GDPR. To date there has been no response"
Something like that.

[Linny992]

No worries.

If they don't send anything to you before the defence needs to be filed, you just say (among other things) that, "as the Claimant failed to disclose any evidence on which they presumably will seek to rely, the Defendant has requested data via the Data Protection Act 2018/GDPR. To date there has been no response"
Something like that.

Ok thank you so much for your help. I have posted the letters today to arrive there tomorrow and will come back on here asap, probably to ask you for more help!! Thank you again