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Messages - Smartdriver

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1
Do you suggest I reply at all, given that it’s now in the court process? This just has the feel of the usual standard threatening letters. I’m tempted just to completely ignore it and let them dig themselves deeper. Or is it worth replying in the hope they give up?

I also think it’s amusing they suggest the driver should have gone home and paid later… firstly the whole point is that because they couldn’t pay they didn’t park and therefore owe nothing. But I bet if the driver had done that they would still have sent the notice anyway!


2
Hi all. I submitted my defence via MCOL.

I’ve just had an email from Moorside Legal saying the below. I presume this is bluff and I should just ignore? What’s the next steps and likely outcome?

Thanks!



‘Dear Smartdriver

Re:        Our Client: National Car Parks Limited
        Our Ref: NCP001/xxx
        Claim Number: N1xxxxxx
We write in relation to the above matter and futher to your claim response dated 26/03/2026.

Please find the details of the private parking charge notice ('PCNs') below.

PCN Reference   Date   Location   Reason
ZPxxxxx
   25/07/2024   Birmingham City Centre Birmingham B5 4AN   Parked without payment of the parking charge
 Your Defence
 
We have reviewed your Defence and respond as follows: -


We note your Defence is what is known as an 'internet defence.' The High Court of Justice has recently addressed such templates used by litigants in person in the case of Stamp & Ors v Capital Home Loans Ltd (t/a CHL Mortgages) & Ors [2024] EWHC 1092 (KB).  We suggest that you review the Judgment and in particular paragraph 37 which states:  “Claimants that rely upon stock templates that are purchased by or given to them and that are nonsensical can expect to incur the Court's displeasure. Those indifferent towards wasting the Court's resources can anticipate having claims stayed or struck out and costs ordered against them. Claims listing elderly statutes and home-made legal labels and maxims can expect to be identified as being totally without merit.”
We dispute that the Particulars of claim are vague. They provide the date (25 July 2024), the site (Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham B5 4AN) and the reason for the breach 'Parked without payment'.
The Notice to Keeper was served to your current residence. You had the opportunity to nominate a driver or pay a reduced fee. You also had the opportunity to appeal and chose not to do so.
If the payment app was not working at the scene, why was a further attempt to pay not tried later on during the day or when the driver had access to internet facilities or wifi.
Copies of signgage and landowner authority will be provided should this matter reach hearing.
The Parking Charge is not a penalty. Our Client is not required to establish loss. The Parking Charge is in place to encourage users of the private land to comply with the terms and conditions, which ensures efficient and safe management of the car park for all users.   
Any additional fees are due to the costs incurred as a result of the debt recovery process and issuing this Claim. These are not unreasonable especially considering you had the opportunity to name the Driver or appeal and you chose not to do so, despite being in receipt of our Client's letters.
 
In view of the above, our Client is satisfied that you are liable for the full amount of the Claim, and we urge you to make payment as soon as possible.

Settlement Proposal

Our Client remains open to settling the matter without the need for the Claim to progress further, and as such proposes the following settlement options:

£200.00 via one lump sum payment payable within the next 7 days; or

£220.00 via 2 monthly payments with the first payment due within the next 7 days.

How to pay

There is still time to make payment to avoid the need for a Court hearing. You can do so in any of the following ways: -

You can call us on 0330 822 9950 to make the relevant payment arrangements. You will need you customer reference number - xxxxxxxx; or
You can make payment via bank transfer to the following account -
Account holder name: Moorside Legal Services Limited
Bank name: Lloyds bank
Sort code: 306541
Account number: 49689760

If you choose to make payment, via bank transfer you must use the following reference as your payment reference xxxxxxxx  to ensure we can quickly allocate the payment to your matter. If you do not, we may not be able to allocate the payment to your matter
If you choose to make regular card payments to us these will be made under a Continuous Payment Authority ('CPA'). This authorises us to take the agreed amount on a regular basis. CPAs can be set up weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. If we are unable to take your payment, we will attempt to take the payment later that day. If that fails, we will reattempt the next working day.
 
If you wish to provide an alternative payment proposal, please contact us within 7 days of receipt of this email.

If the Claim is not settled
 
We hope this matter can be settled without further Court action, however if we are not able to reach a settlement, please be aware that our Client intends to proceed with the Claim.
 
If the Claim proceeds, the Court will ask both Parties to file and serve a Directions Questionnaire, therefore we attach a copy of our Client’s completed Directions Questionnaire and confirm the same has been filed with the Court.

Email Service

As you provided this email address when you defended the Claim, we intend to use it to serve documents on you throughout these proceedings and will do so in PDF format. We will assume you agree to this course of action unless you tell us otherwise within 7 days. In accordance with Practice Direction 6A, if there are any limitations to your agreement to accept service by such means, please let us know within 7 days.

Subject to your agreement, we will also agree to accept email service to litigationteam@moorsidelegal.co.uk.

You may wish to seek independent legal advice.

Yours sincerely

M H’

 


3
Hi all.

Sorry to post again. I need to submit my defence tomorrow, ideally.

Would someone mind looking over my proposed submission (2 posts above).

I would be most grateful! Thanks

4
Hi all.

I wonder if someone would mind having a look at my defence as I need to submit it soon. Any comments, additions etc would be very welcome.

Thanks!

5
I’m about to file my defence. How does this sound?

(I asked ChatGPT to help me write it so would be good if someone could just check its correct)

DEFENCE

1. The Defendant denies the Claimant is entitled to the sum claimed, or any sum at all.
2. The Defendant is the registered keeper of the vehicle but was not the driver on the material date. The Claimant is put to strict proof of the driver’s identity. The Defendant cannot be held liable as keeper because the Claimant has failed to comply with the mandatory requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“POFA”). In particular, the Notice to Keeper was not compliant with POFA paragraph 9, and therefore no keeper liability can arise.
3. The Particulars of Claim are sparse, generic and fail to comply with CPR 16.4 and Practice Direction 16 paras 7.3–7.5. They do not set out the contractual terms relied upon, the conduct said to amount to a breach, the legal basis for the sum claimed, nor the basis on which the Defendant is pursued as keeper. The claim discloses no cause of action and should be struck out pursuant to CPR 3.4.
4. The Defendant’s family member was the driver. The driver attempted to pay for parking but the on-site payment machine was out of order. The driver then attempted to use the advertised mobile app, which repeatedly failed to load and process payment. The driver left the site to find an alternative method of payment, which is permitted under the BPA Code of Practice grace period provisions. No contract was formed because payment could not be made due to the Claimant’s own equipment failure.
5. The Claimant is put to strict proof of the signage in place on the material date, including its terms, prominence, lighting, and compliance with the BPA Code of Practice. The Defendant avers that the signage was inadequate to form any contract with the driver.
6. The Claimant’s added £70 “debt recovery” or “damages” sum is an abuse of process. It is not recoverable under POFA, the BPA Code of Practice, or the Supreme Court judgment in ParkingEye v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67. The Government’s 2022 Impact Assessment confirms that such add-ons are “designed to extort money from motorists” and are unlawful. Numerous County Court judgments have struck out or disallowed these false add-ons.
7. Even if a contract had been formed (which is denied), the Claimant has suffered no loss. The original parking tariff was not paid due to the Claimant’s own failure to provide a working payment mechanism. Any alleged breach was caused by the Claimant’s failure, not the driver’s conduct.
8. The Claimant is put to strict proof of its landowner authority. The Defendant does not believe the Claimant has standing to issue charges or pursue litigation in its own name. A strict chain of authority is required.
9. The Defendant invites the court to strike out the claim as having no real prospect of success and being an abuse of process. In the alternative, the Defendant requests that the claim be dismissed.
10. The Defendant reserves the right to amend or supplement this Defence should further information be provided by the Claimant.

6
The date on the N1SDT form you posted is 24 February.

It tells you that you must respond within 5+14 days, by 15 March therefore.

You either file a defence by this date, or an Acknowledgment of Service, either of which you do through MCOL.

If the latter, the deadline for your defence is a further 14 days, or 29 March.

It is explained on the rear of the N1SDT form.

Since both the calculated dates are Sundays, the deadline will actually be the following Mondays, before 4pm from memory.


Thanks - I am really not sure what needs to be in a defence, vs a witness statement et.  Ideally I want this struck out or discontinued before getting any further so I want to get it right

7
I've looked through various threads and have got myself a bit confused about all of this process, as its all very new to me.

Can anyone give a guide to exactly what and how I need to submit and what the process is, timelines etc (ideally with examples - I've seen example wording in other posts but I don't know enough about this to know how similar my case is?

Assume I know nothing about any of it. Over the last couple of years I've been various lines of attack here and I want  to try to encompass them as best I can

8
Ok… I hadn’t noticed that.

What about all the other comments above about the claim being not detailed, the issue re VAT, boiler plate responses and the like?

Someone said earlier that this will be struck out or discontinued on that basis even if it was in time? It’s a few posts back. Let me know if you can’t see anything with the documents I posted last year.

I’d rather throw everything at them to get them to discontinue.

9
I think the original notice was probably in time, but I didn’t see it for some time as the letter got accidentally put unopened into a box of paperwork and I only found it after the time to appeal.

I’ve had various threatening letters up till now and responded as per the advice above. As expected I just got template nonsense replies.
I was advised to wait till the actual claim arrived, which it now has nearly 2 years down the line. So I think now I need to reply to that properly and swiftly.

I can confirm I have not at any point revealed or even hinted at the drivers identity (this forum has taught me well!). I can also confirm and would testify under oath that the driver was not me.

I just want to try and make it go away as I’m tired of it now.

Thanks!

10
Are the original images visible now?

Let me know if not.

11
Here you go - does that mean that you can’t see the original from my first post? https://imgbox.com/gJup7tKm
https://imgbox.com/wJ4PFPBc
https://imgbox.com/5KDIDJOF

12
Is anyone able to assist with this now I’ve received the claim from the court? I can post a new thread if needed but I know that’s frowned on.

Thanks!

13
Can I just check I don’t know if people can still see the documents I listed last year as Imgur is blocked in the UK now. Let me know if I need to post anything again

14
Well after a year, the claim has arrived.

Can you advise on what  to do now? Presumably the merits of their claim haven’t got stronger in the last 12 months.

https://imgbox.com/EZJFmicu


15
It’s identical word for word to the letter from them I posted in post 19, the only difference is the date. This one is dated 31 March. It appears to be just their standard postal generic fob off response to any email. I can post a picture of it when I get home but I’m not sure it adds anything as you have it already above. Last time I did get an email response as well a couple of weeks later which was marginally more individual so we will see if they do the same this time.

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