County court defense help PLEASE

[Twadi]

Hi All,
I have read what I can on this forum but am still at a loss on the best way to defend my case (if at all).

I have received a county court claim (i can not seem to upload a copy of it), dated 22nd for 2 parking infringements on newly developed road.

These incidents are from nearly 2 years ago and I was not the driver at the time. I do not recall receiving a pre-court letter and clearly assumed the best action was to ignore the first letters from National Parking (a mistake due to my ignorance i guess), I don't actually remember getting a letter(s) but am sure they will have copies and would be hard for me to disprove.

So far i have lodged an AOS and selected defend whole claim and am now really stuck with my next step. I realise time is not on my side and am beginning to sweat now.

timeline below
A claim was issued against you on 22/06/2023
Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 05/07/2023 at 14:41:37
Your acknowledgment of service was received on 05/07/2023 at 16:05:08


Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated as the sum in question is sizable, it is for me for sure!

Many Thanks, a troubled member.

[charitynjw]

Hi All,
I have read what I can on this forum but am still at a loss on the best way to defend my case (if at all).

I have received a county court claim (i can not seem to upload a copy of it), dated 22nd for 2 parking infringements on newly developed road.

These incidents are from nearly 2 years ago and I was not the driver at the time. I do not recall receiving a pre-court letter and clearly assumed the best action was to ignore the first letters from National Parking (a mistake due to my ignorance i guess), I don't actually remember getting a letter(s) but am sure they will have copies and would be hard for me to disprove.

So far i have lodged an AOS and selected defend whole claim and am now really stuck with my next step. I realise time is not on my side and am beginning to sweat now.

timeline below
A claim was issued against you on 22/06/2023
Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 05/07/2023 at 14:41:37
Your acknowledgment of service was received on 05/07/2023 at 16:05:08


Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated as the sum in question is sizable, it is for me for sure!

Many Thanks, a troubled member.

If you have none of the Claimant's evidence, how can you defend the claim?
You need to write to the Claimant (or if they're legally represented, the solicitor) pdq to obtain everything that is pertinent.
If you do not receive the evidence before a defence deadline, you could file a holding defence.
You could also ask for & agree to an extension, & if obtained, inform the court of same.

[Twadi]

Thank you for your reply.

I presume it will be DCB legal I contact as they are handling the claim, I shall email them today asking them for 'everything' they have relating to the claim. Is there particular wording or specific terminology I need to use in my email to them?

[Twadi]

If you have none of the Claimant's evidence, how can you defend the claim?
You need to write to the Claimant (or if they're legally represented, the solicitor) pdq to obtain everything that is pertinent.
If you do not receive the evidence before a defence deadline, you could file a holding defence.
You could also ask for & agree to an extension, & if obtained, inform the court of same.

Hi, would this be known as a SAR request, I have seen some templates - would I be able to request say a 7 day time frame for them to reply or is this not the way it works.

Thanks again for your assistance.

[MIKE770]

No regulations state 30 day's

[Twadi]

No regulations state 30 day's

Thank you for clarifying. I will email them an SAR using one of the template, asking for all information relating to this claim. I guess until I have this, I cannot work on any form of defence, as CharityNJW kindly pointed out.

[R0b]

According to the timelines, you have until 25th July to file your defence. You have a couple of options available to you, note my comments in red:

1. File a defence on the basis that you have no paperwork or any documentation pertaining to the allegations so your defence is based on the allegations stated in the claim form. This should be a last resort, but you should start preparing your defence anyway or at least an outline.

2. Request all information relating to the claim from DCBL in accordance with the overriding objective, which is to ensure that all parties are on equal footing and to save time and expense as well as the courts resources appropriately. At the same time you can ask DCBL to agree to extending the time for filing your defence in accordance with CPR 15.5 since this rule allows the parties agree to extending time to file a defence for up to and additional 28 days without making an application to the court. If they refuse or ignore your request without good justification, then you make it clear you reserve the right to make an application for an extension of time and seek costs due to the claimant's unreasonableness. I would say this should be the preferred option.

3. Make an application to the court to extend time for filing a defence and disclosure of the relevant documents for you to consider your position. I would say this should be your second choice, if you can afford the £275 fee which if successful you should be recover from the claimant. But you should give them notice of your intention if you do to allow an opportunity to respond, although bear in mind you are on a short timeline. The time for filing a defence stops when you make the application until the outcome of that hearing has been heard.

[charitynjw]

I concur with R0b & would definitely go for option 2.

[Twadi]

According to the timelines, you have until 25th July to file your defence. You have a couple of options available to you, note my comments in red:

1. File a defence on the basis that you have no paperwork or any documentation pertaining to the allegations so your defence is based on the allegations stated in the claim form. This should be a last resort, but you should start preparing your defence anyway or at least an outline.

2. Request all information relating to the claim from DCBL in accordance with the overriding objective, which is to ensure that all parties are on equal footing and to save time and expense as well as the courts resources appropriately. At the same time you can ask DCBL to agree to extending the time for filing your defence in accordance with CPR 15.5 since this rule allows the parties agree to extending time to file a defence for up to and additional 28 days without making an application to the court. If they refuse or ignore your request without good justification, then you make it clear you reserve the right to make an application for an extension of time and seek costs due to the claimant's unreasonableness. I would say this should be the preferred option.

3. Make an application to the court to extend time for filing a defence and disclosure of the relevant documents for you to consider your position. I would say this should be your second choice, if you can afford the £275 fee which if successful you should be recover from the claimant. But you should give them notice of your intention if you do to allow an opportunity to respond, although bear in mind you are on a short timeline. The time for filing a defence stops when you make the application until the outcome of that hearing has been heard.

Good afternoon,
I went with Option 2, they agreed to a 14 day extention and have also sent me what they hold on file. They have sent me images of the car, signage copy, map etc and 2 letters, one for each case.
There are no reminder letters or pre-court letters, is this normal and could this be used as my defence?
I am not entirely sure how I let the court know that an extention has been agreed?

Thank you in advance for your continued support.

[R0b]

I've uploaded a template defence which covers a lot of the common issues raised by parking companies but as we do not know what the particulars of claim actually states, I can't comment anymore.

Given that the deadline to file a defence is 4pm tomorrow, all I can suggest is for you to walk through the defence template and complete any missing gaps in square brackets and even though some of the points may not apply, it may be better to get it in as a point and withdraw those non-relevant points at a later stage as there is simply no time to review or edit.

Also if you weren't the driver at the time, is there any evidence that you could prove that you were not driving at the time the PCN incident occurred? If so, you may want to explain why you were not the driver, without giving too much away e.g. The Defendant was not the driver of the vehicle as he/she was out of the country at the time the alleged contravention occurred and evidence will be produced at trial to confirm.

You should be able to send your defence by email to ccbc@justice.gov.uk. In the subject line, you should make sure the format is something like: [Claimant Name] v [Defendant Name] (Claim No. XXXXX) - Filing of Defence. You should receive an automatic email confirming receipt but I woul just read that email and make sure that it doesn't state another email to send your defence, but if it does, make sure you resend to that email address they provide.

Feel free to post up your draft tomorrow if you want one of us to take a cursory glance at it but if none of us can reply before 2.30pm I would suggest you just go ahead and get it filed with the court. You should also send it to the other side also and there may be an email address on the claim form. If there is, send it to them by email.

Any questions, let me know and I will try to answer before tomorrow.

[Twadi]

I've uploaded a template defence which covers a lot of the common issues raised by parking companies but as we do not know what the particulars of claim actually states, I can't comment anymore.

Given that the deadline to file a defence is 4pm tomorrow, all I can suggest is for you to walk through the defence template and complete any missing gaps in square brackets and even though some of the points may not apply, it may be better to get it in as a point and withdraw those non-relevant points at a later stage as there is simply no time to review or edit.

Also if you weren't the driver at the time, is there any evidence that you could prove that you were not driving at the time the PCN incident occurred? If so, you may want to explain why you were not the driver, without giving too much away e.g. The Defendant was not the driver of the vehicle as he/she was out of the country at the time the alleged contravention occurred and evidence will be produced at trial to confirm.

You should be able to send your defence by email to ccbc@justice.gov.uk. In the subject line, you should make sure the format is something like: [Claimant Name] v [Defendant Name] (Claim No. XXXXX) - Filing of Defence. You should receive an automatic email confirming receipt but I woul just read that email and make sure that it doesn't state another email to send your defence, but if it does, make sure you resend to that email address they provide.

Feel free to post up your draft tomorrow if you want one of us to take a cursory glance at it but if none of us can reply before 2.30pm I would suggest you just go ahead and get it filed with the court. You should also send it to the other side also and there may be an email address on the claim form. If there is, send it to them by email.

Any questions, let me know and I will try to answer before tomorrow.

Hi, the only change I have made to the template is adding line 2 and 3 below, and intend to file within the next hour. I read through the template and have banging my head for most of the day.

I am not well versed in legal terminology at all, please advise any amendments I should/could make to the additional points below please.
Relevant facts

1. The Defendant is the registered keeper of a Ford with the registration number XX12XXX (the “Registered Keeper”).

2. The Defendant was not the driver, therefore does not recognise nor agree with any claim.

3. The Defendant being charged with the sum of £xxx, has not been provided with itemised breakdown and/or no summary of amount being claimed. Furthermore, there is a discrepancy between the amount claimed and claimant claim, the claim amount is ambiguous.

Thank you.

[R0b]

In the relevant facts section, you would normally provide facts leading up to the claim of what happened. However, if you do not have much to add about the facts leading up to the claim, then you can remove that completely but make sure the paragraph references are updated throughout the document.

As for point 2, that should really be in the section where it says liability as to the driver and maybe list that as your first argument. I will point out though that that statement is what is known as a 'bare denial' and the rules are, if you deny something, you must explain why. So if you were not the driver and disagree with the claim, you need to explain why you were not the driver e.g. you were in hospital at the time, living abroad, or whatever reason your excuse is for not being the driver. You do not (and should not) name the driver at the time of the incident, that's not your job.