County Court Claim - No PCN or other correspondence received.

[Guest]

Sirs,

Today, 4 Jan 2020, I received a County Court claim in the amount of £155 for a parking fine on private land.* The County Court letter was issued 30 Dec 2019.

The claimant is Excel Parking Services Ltd.

The County Court Letter is the first and only correspondence I have received regarding the matter.* I have not received a PCN or any other form of notification with respects to the claim.

The particulars of the claim are as follows:

'The claim is for a breach of contract for breaching the terms and conditions set on private land.* The Defendant's vehicle, XXXX XXX, was identified in the XXX XXXXX XXX, Pay & Display Car Park on the 30/01/2019 in breach of the advertised terms and conditions; namely parked beyond the bay markings. At all material times the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or driver.* The terms and conditions upon entering private land were clearly displayed at the entrance and in prominent locations.* The sign was the offer and the act of entering private land was the acceptance of the offer hereby entering into a contract by conduct.* The signs specifically detail the terms and conditions and the consequences of failure to comply, namely* a parking charge notice will be issued, and the Defendant has failed to settle settle the outstanding liability.* The Claimant seeks the recovery of the parking charge notice, contractual costs and interest.'

The amount claimed is £130 plus court fees of £25.

Although I am currently a regular user of the car park in question, during the date outlined in the claim, 30/01/2019* I did not park in the car park (furthermore, I had not used the car park for the period Feb 2018 to May 2019).

I have not been able to appeal against the claim because as stated above, the first this has been brought to my attention is the county court letter received today 4 Jan 2020.

I am unsure how to proceed with the issue considering I was not able to request anything as part of an appeals process.*

The letter has come as a shock and I am worried and concerned.* I did not enter the car park on the date in question, Excel have not contacted me prior to the court letter, provided a PCN or evidence of my vehicle parked in the car park.

How should I respond to the county court letter and Excel?* I do not want to incur any judgements or charges for inaction.*

Regards?

[luxardo]

You have 14 days to respond to this and it's important you do as you will get a judgement in default against you if you do not. Simply tick the box saying you deny the claim and say you have no knowledge of this matter and request particulars.
You will be sent the details and you can decide what to do then. I do stress again it is important you respond within 14 days.

[ostell]

A SAR to Excel requesting all information they have on you. Another letter to the solicitor or if no solicitor another letter requesting copies of all the documents that they intend to rely on in court in order to narrow the issues between you, as expected by the courts. You expect this by return or in any case within 7 days.

Aacknowledge the claim but put nothing in the defence. This gives you 33 days from date of issue to get your defence to the court

[LOAKES]

Thank you both OSTELL & LUXARDO.

For completeness, if EXCEL are not forthcoming with the details and particulars following a SAR request in time to prepare a defence, how would I proceed (bearing in mind I was not in the car park)?

Also, does the fact that I have not received any communication from them other than the county court letter impact on their claim?*