Online Money Claim for alleged vandalism

[westpete9]

Received a claim form for £2k+ with the reason for claim "cost of repair due to vandalism of car......".

The alleged incident has been investigated by the police with no further action after reviewing cctv footage that did not show any vandalism. The police report was submitted 48hrs after the alleged incident.

A 'pre action letter' was received giving 15 days to respond, 6 days before money claim issued, enclosed was a dodgy estimate for repairs, with no means of identifying who the repairers are, and including the sum of £1.86 for Sundries!

The claimant and defendant are known to each other by way of the defendant having previously being going out with xxx who is now the girlfriend of the claimant. The defendant finished the relationship due to her unreasonable behaviour months ago, and wishes to have no further contact with her.

Acknowledgment of service has been filed.

How would you go about defending a frivolous claim like this?

[luxardo]

Respond to the claim and your defence is that you deny that you caused any damage.
The burden of proof is on the claimant. They have to prove "on the balance of probabilities" that it was you who caused the damage.

[Amethyst]

Could you type out the particulars of claim please.

Have you already acknowledged the claim ? ( extended the time to respond to 28 days from service rather than 14 days )

[westpete9]

Reason for claim:
Cost of repair due to vandalism of my vehicle on xx xxxxxxx 2019 by Mr nnnnnnnnn

Timeline of what happened:
xx xxxxxxx 2019* Mr nnnnnnn was seen on cctv vandalising my vehicle

Evidence:
Cctv footage of Mr nnnnnnn damaging my vehicle
Receipts of cost of repairs done to my vehicle

Yes, claim has been acknowledged. As previously mentioned, Police have review all cctv and say no act of vandalism is present.
*

[Amethyst]

Okay. Well he's not put a lot of effort in has he, I wouldn't worry too much, often these claims are bunged in to try and scare you into paying some money over. If you didn't damage the car, he can't claim damages from you and you should follow the court process. The police found no evidence of vandalism so you can state that in the defence however be aware that criminal proceedings would have a much higher threshold than the balance of probabilities for a civil claim. If you did damage the car and there was a fine line between anything accidental and enough to be deemed as vandalism then it might be worth negotiating with him.

Do you know if the car is owned by the claimant?
Is it MOT'd, taxed, insured ? ( you can check on the gov.uk website whether it has current tax and mot )
Was it parked on the street or on private property ? ( his driveway etc?)
What was the alleged damage ?
You have a copy of the 'quote' for work but no copies of the receipts ? or copies of the CCTV ? ( did you view the CCTV or just the police?) He will have to provide the receipts further along in the claim.
Does the CCTV show you by the vehicle where the damage was ? (ie on balance of probabilities could you have caused the damage )
Any photos of the damage ?
Copy of the police decision?
Have you seen the vehicle since the letter of claim or since the claim was issued? Has it been fixed ?
How much (approx.) is the claim for?


First is to file a defence, which basically denies either damaging the car or having any liability to pay for rectifying the damage.
Later you will do a witness statement where the pre-action failings, dodgy quote, sundries, relationship issues etc can be discussed ... photos, evidence, receipts, police report etc etc will be exchanged at that point too.

[jaguarsuk]

Reason for claim:
Cost of repair due to vandalism of my vehicle on xx xxxxxxx 2019 by Mr nnnnnnnnn

Timeline of what happened:
xx xxxxxxx 2019 Mr nnnnnnn was seen on cctv vandalising my vehicle

Evidence:
Cctv footage of Mr nnnnnnn damaging my vehicle
Receipts of cost of repairs done to my vehicle

Yes, claim has been acknowledged. As previously mentioned, Police have review all cctv and say no act of vandalism is present.

Your defence is that you didn't vandalise the car and the police report is supporting evidence which will be submitted with your Witness Statement not the Defence. On your local police service website they'll have a form you can fill out for subject access to the incident to be able to possibly obtain more supporting evidence. It may also be useful to contact the investigating officer to ask them to give a witness statement to the affect that they investigated it and found you not to be at fault for the vandalism.