Submitting a defence after getting judgment set aside

[Chezzza]

Hi,

I have had a County court judgement set aside, so that part is out if the way! I now need to serve and file a defence to the court.

I am struggling on what I need to put in the defence and how to write it up, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[efpom]

You are unlikely to get any sensible advice unless you a) post up the particulars of claim and b) the facts you rely on to oppose the claim.

[Chezzza]

Thank you, I knew I should of added particulars! Apologies if I miss anything but I will add the information on:

- The claim is in relation to 3 PCN charges.
- The PCNs were issued on the 22/01/2015, 12/02/2015, 30/04/2015.
- They state I parked on the premises for longer than the allowed time of 2 hours.

I had the court hearing for judgement to be set aside and the judge served in my favour with the condition I file and serve a defence within 14 days.

The reason the judge set the judgement aside was on the basis I have a reasonable prospect of defence:

• I do not dispute being the driver of the vehicle but was parked on the land legally due to working on the premises.
• I worked at Ladbrokes which operated on the site for around 2 years and so had permission from the landowner to park for as long as required. We was provided with a system to register owned vehicles but this often failed and so was issued with PCNs.
• Only the land owner has permission to cancel PCNs (as also stated by the claimant) therefore the protocol was to hand any PCN into the 'cash office'/Whsmiths and they would be cancelled. I followed this protocol but the claimant states they never received any requests for a cancellation from the landowner.

I sent in a copy of my bank transactions showing payment from Ladbrokes in my witness statement for the hearing and this showed I worked for the company but not the particular store.

The main defence, I guess, is I worked on the site and permission was given due to this? I know I need more evidence so I am contacting HR and old colleagues to get a statement from them to say I worked there.

I'm not sure on how write this in a proper/formal defence and how to add in statements/alibi from colleagues or documents supporting a defence.

It has been a huge stress getting to this point and I have managed to get so far with getting it set aside...I now need to get through this next stage and its closer to being over!

Thank you for taking time to read my post and any help/advice/comments are greatly appreciated!

[efpom]

Proposed "Bare bones" defence below. You submit evidence via a witness statement - not needed at this stage:
------------------------------------------
In the - Name of court

Claim No: [XXXXX]

[Claimants Name]

Claimant

And

[Defendants Name]

Defendant

DEFENCE

1.The Defendant received the claim [Claim Number] from the [Name of Court County Court on [Date you received the claim]. A judgment was issued against the Defendant on [date]. The judgment was set aside on [date]. The court ordered that the Defendant serve his defence.
2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.
3.This claim appears to be for a debt due in contract. The Claimant avers that the Defendant entered into a contract by parking on land for a time in excess of that agreed by the contract..
4. The Defendant will say that he was an employee of the landowner. The Defendant will say that he was permitted to park on that land pursuant to his duties and that he did not enter into any contract with the Defendant to park on the land.
5. The Claimant is set to his strict proof that the Claimant entered into a contract with it and in consequence the Claimant be required to prove it’s averment that the money is owed in contract.
6. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of truth
I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.
Signature
Date.