Free Traffic Legal Advice

I was issued a parking charge notice from UKPC with the reason for issue being 'Parked in a permit area without displaying a permit'

I appealed this PC in writing and via post, on the grounds that I was not parking, I was unloading and was not causing any obstruction. The time stamped pictures from UKPC show a period of 2 minutes, I left the spot in around 5 minutes.

The vehicle was a hire car, so there was a delay between the PC being issued and me receiving it in the post. I did not receive a response to my appeal, and have seen no further correspondence until receiving the County Court Claim Form almost 10 months later.

Please could you offer advice on how to respond to the claim - do I agree and pay despite my original appeal, or do I disagree with the claim? I am worried that my original appeal would not stand and therefore I would end up in court, however I am unsure as to whether they have followed all necessary steps.

Many thanks,
BMatt

Thanks for your response.

I unfortunately do not have the original document, but from memory it was a Notice to Hirer, however this was just a single form with payment/appeal info on the back, and did not include any of the other information you have quoted re copy of the hire agreement etc.

Again, I do not have a copy of my appeal as I sent this in writing (a lesson learnt to keep this in future!) I did admit to driving the vehicle, as I stated that I was unloading rather than parking.

There was no period of parking defined, i believe they only quoted the time at which their photo was taken.

I apologise I can't provide any more specifics as I don't have the original PC (I am able to access it online if that helps, however there is little info)

Please see attached copy of the claim form, let me know if you need anything else.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-6URN66pciK9sMpv7d1qy9-fyuzkJr1N/view?usp=drive_link

Your link is set to private...

If you follow the advice you receive here, you will not be paying a penny to UKPC. Is the Claim Form addressed correctly to you at your current address? If so, with an issue date of 14th October you have until 4pm on Monday 3rd November to submit your defence. If you submit an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) before then, you would then have until 4pm on Monday 17th November to submit your defence.

You only need to submit an AoS if you need extra time to prepare your defence. If you want to submit an AoS then follow the instructions in this linked PDF:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvqu3bask5m0zir/money-claim-online-How-to-Acknowledge.pdf?dl=0

Until very recently, we never advised using the MCOL to submit a defence. However, due to recent systemic failures within the CNBC, we feel that it is safer to now submit a short defence using MCOL as it is instantly submitted and entered into the "system". Whilst it will deny the use of some formatting or inclusion of transcripts etc. these can always be included with the Witness Statement (WS) later, if it ever progresses that far.

You will need to copy and paste it into the defence text box on MCOL. It has been checked to make sure that it will fit into the 122 lines limit.

1. The Defendant denies the claim in its entirety. The Defendant asserts that there is no liability to the Claimant and that no debt is owed. The claim is without merit and does not adequately disclose any comprehensible cause of action.

2. There is a lack of precise detail in the Particulars of Claim (PoC) in respect of the factual and legal allegations made against the Defendant such that the PoC do not adequately comply with CPR 16.4.

3. The Defendant is unable to plead properly to the PoC because:

(a) The contract referred to is not detailed or attached to the PoC in accordance with PD 16, para 7.3(1);

(b) The PoC do not state the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract (or contracts) which is/are relied on;

(c) The PoC do not adequately set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts the defendant has breached the contract (or contracts);

(d) The PoC do not state with sufficient particularity exactly where the breach occurred, the exact time when the breach occurred and how long it is alleged that the vehicle was parked before the parking charge was allegedly incurred;

(e) The PoC do not state precisely how the sum claimed is calculated, including the basis for any statutory interest, damages, or other charges;

(f) The PoC do not state what proportion of the claim is the parking charge and what proportion is damages;

(g) The PoC plead liability only as “driver” or, in the alternative, as “keeper”. The vehicle was on hire. No keeper liability can arise absent strict PoFA Sch 4 paras 13–14 compliance (incl. the mandatory hire documents), which is neither pleaded nor evidenced.

4. The Defendant submits that courts have previously struck out materially similar claims of their own initiative for failure to adequately comply with CPR 16.4, particularly where the Particulars of Claim failed to specify the contractual terms relied upon or explain the alleged breach with sufficient clarity.

5. In comparable cases involving modest sums, judges have found that requiring further case management steps would be disproportionate and contrary to the overriding objective. Accordingly, strike-out was deemed appropriate. The Defendant submits that the same reasoning applies in this case and invites the court to adopt a similar approach by striking out the claim due to the Claimant’s failure to adequately comply with CPR 16.4, rather than permitting an amendment. The Defendant proposes that the following Order be made:

Draft Order:

Of the Court's own initiative and upon reading the particulars of claim and the defence.

AND the court being of the view that the particulars of claim do not adequately comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) because: (a) they do not set out the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract which is (or are) relied on; and (b) they do not adequately set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts that the defendant was in breach of contract.

AND the claimant could have complied with CPR 16.4(1)(a) had it served separate detailed particulars of claim, as it could have done pursuant to PD 7C, para 5.2, but chose not to do so.

AND upon the Court determining, having regard to the overriding objective (CPR 1.1), that it would be disproportionate to direct further pleadings or to allot any further share of the Court’s resources to this claim (for example by ordering further particulars of claim and a further defence, with consequent case management).

ORDER:

1. The claim is struck out.

2. Permission to either party to apply to set aside, vary or stay this order by application on notice, which must be filed at this Court not more than 7 days after service of this order, failing which no such application may be made.

Hi,

I have finally received the following email back - do I need to do anything at this stage?

‘ Good Morning

Having reviewed the content of your defence, we write to inform you that our client intends to proceed with the claim.

In due course, the Court will direct both parties to each file a directions questionnaire. In preparation for that, please find attached a copy of the Claimant's, which we confirm has been filed with the Court.

Without Prejudice to the above, in order to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, our client may be prepared to settle this case - in the event you wish to discuss settlement, please call us on 0203 434 0433 within 7 days and make immediate reference to this correspondence.

If you have provided an email address within your Defence, we intend to use it for service of documents (usually in PDF format) hereon in pursuant to PD 6A (4.1)(2)(c). Please advise whether there are any limitations to this (for example, the format in which documents are to be sent and the maximum size of attachments that may be received). Unless you advise otherwise, we will assume not’

Do I need to respond or do I wait for further instruction?

Thanks!

Thankyou!

Sorry, just to clarify do I wait for them to send me a form or do I just fill in the one you have linked?

Thanks!

Ah okay perfect, thankyou!