Claim Letter for Parking Ticket

[Joelnffc6]

Hi guys…

I have received a claim letter from the county court regarding an unpaid parking charge from 2018. The car park belonged to my employers at the time who were McDonalds and I was doing a shift at another store which is why I wasn’t on the system for the cars that are allowed to stay in the car park.

For years I’ve been getting letters about the parking charge and kept sending them to my former employers to get it cancelled, however after being told every time that I would get cancelled no one ever did it for me. I have no received a letter from the court saying I owe £305 or I could get a judgement against me.

As I was an employee at the time and was parked in the car park during my shift I had a perfectly legitimate reason to be there however now I’m panicking as it’s too late to cancel the parking charge.

I understand I have two options:

1. Pay the £305 and try and claim it back from McDonald’s which isn’t a guarantee that they would give it me back.
2. Submit a defence and hope the court rules in my favour

I’m looking for some advise to see what would be best to do, for example if I submit a defence do I stand any chance of getting the decision in my favour or is it a waste of time. The last thing I want is a CCJ on my credit file especially when it’s something that isn’t my fault. However I’m leaning towards the option of paying it as I’m not sure how to submit a defence and whether it will even be considered.

I’d appreciate any advise please, this is my first post so if it’s in the wrong place or anything I’m sorry.

[R0b]

Hello

First, if a court does not find in your favour then you have one month from the date of the judgment to pay up before any CCJ is applied to your credit file. If you have a legitimate reason for being there, then you have a defence - which would be based on around the fact that you're an employee of the owner of the land and therefore had actual if not implied authority to park there. So, what's the harm in defending the claim and then if you lose pay up anyway and make sure to have money set aside to cover the total amount claimed.

Alternatively, you could pay up now and try to recover the amount from McDonalds which may result in you have to submit a separate claim and there's no guarantee. If you were going to try and claim against them then you are better off bringing a counterclaim against them in the same proceedings (and you have to pay less) - the cost of that would be £59. They would have to file a defence or admit your counterclaim but I think if it got to this stage, I would expect that they will probably pay up or settle with the car parking company to drop the claim, unless they argue you had no authority to park there.

We can help you draft the defence but you will need to do some evidence gathering and you will also need to login to MoneyClaims Online and acknowledge the claim. This gives you 33 days from the date of the claim form to file a defence and/or counterclaim.

Let us know what you want to do.