Directions questionnaire in small claims

[BielsaGod]

Hi, hopefully somebody may be able to help me. My 85 year old disabled father in law is being mercilessly and I would say cynically pursued by a parking company via their associated law firm, for an unpaid parking charge. They are intent on pursuing it and have written advising they intend to proceed but invite us to settle out of court asking us to phone them. They have attached a copy of form N180. I notice it is an old form and not the new one released in June 2022, and has not been sent to us by the court.

My questions are - does it matter that they have used an out of date form and do I wait for the court to contact us before we have to fill out and return our own form?

I can’t help but feel they are pulling every trick to get some kind of cash out of my father in law, using the intricacies of the system to confuse and intimidate him. I honestly don’t believe they will win their case if it were to go to a hearing or even mediation.

any advice is appreciated.
thanks, Pete

[EXC]

I'll give ostell and atticus a shout for you.

In the meantime can you provide a bullet pointed timeline of the events leading up to this?

[BielsaGod]

Thanks,

During Covid restrictions in 21 my Father in Law and Mother in Law, both 85 and disabled went to a local retail park and parked in a disabled bay. They thought they had 3 hours but it was restricted to 2.5 according to the signs which they hadn’t seen, and that included for disabled badge users. They stayed for 2 hrs and 52 minutes.

- we appealed and it was rejected
- we tried to pay the charge to avoid stress to parents although we were furious with their decision.
- The reference enabling us to had been lost in a house move
- We contacted parking company to ask for reference to enable payment
- they ignored repeated requests and when we finally found reference they had increased the charge.
- contacted them repeatedly to explain and try and pay the lower charge but automated systems throughout just referred us to the appeal decision. They didn’t listen to our point at all
- we wrote and explained again and said we would not pay until they gave us the means to pay the original charge
- they increased it again and handed to bailiffs who weren’t interested in what had happened.
- They are now suing Father in Law through small claims court for £255 and we have submitted a defence.
- they have now written to say they have viewed our defence and intend to proceed and have enclosed a form N180, I assume to demonstrate how serious they are!
- They advise however that they may accept an out of court settlement and invite us to call them via their payment line!!!!
- it is the pre June 22 form they have sent and we have heard nothing from the court themselves asking us to fill out directions questionnaire.

The parking company, bailiffs, and law firm are all the same outfit. They prey on vulnerable people and make everything as difficult as possible to maximise their income. Scumbags and we are prepared to fight them on behalf of our parents.

My Q is do I have to do anything now or should I wait for the court to contact us? Is the fact they have sent an out of date form to us before they have been asked by the court to do so, something we can use against them? Strikes me that they are trying to obfuscate in order to get a cheeky oayment knowing they will probably lose their case.

thanks all.

[atticus]

If you are able to do this, there is no harm in you downloading and completing the form, and then sending it to the court and the other party.

ostell knows more about the technical aspects of parking cases than I do - I am still reading and learning!