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Hi All,

Please see my defence attached and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

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Sorry @DWMB2 but this can be very confusing for newbies like me!!

In any case, I have re-read it all again and have drafted the defence attached. Any support would be very welcome.

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How about this? -

The facts as known to the Defendant:
2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.
 
3. The defendant first heard about this parking charge by post on 05/01/23 and feels harassed by the bombardment of ‘debt recovery’ letters. The Defendant cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4.

The I have added a line at the end of point 13 -

13. The Claimant’s signs have vague/hidden terms and a mix of small font, such that they would be considered incapable of binding any person reading them under common contract law, and would also be considered void pursuant to Sch2 of the CRA.  Consequently, it is the Defendant’s position that no contract to pay an onerous penalty was seen, known or agreed. The defendant denies that the signage at the site is capable of forming a contract. 

The wording seems okay, although I do wonder about the order. I'd say the signage being incapable of forming a contract is a stronger one than the PoFA point, yet is only mentioned 13 paragraphs in. You may want to move this up.

I'm not sure the point around feeling 'harassed' is a strong one, and may distract attention from the more meritorious point that they did not comply with PoFA. The parking company could say that they had no choice but to hire a debt collection company to send you letters as you failed to engage in any correspondence with them on the matter.

I can make this a separate point number 5 -
The defendant first heard about this parking charge by post on 05/01/23 and feels harassed by the bombardment of ‘debt recovery’ letters.

You seem to have taken out the important bit, and left in the unimportant bit. Your strongest argument (in my opinion), is that the signage at the site was not capable of forming a contract (the 'forbidding signage' argument). That you felt harassed by the debt collector letters is largely irrelevant when considering whether or not the charge is owed.

You would be wise to try and get ahead of things. Rather than waiting to see what happens, have a look at the MSE guide I linked to and see what comes next, you can start drafting things like your witness statements now.

A fair bit of the content is there, but turning into a more 'Witness Statement-friendly' format certainly won't hurt. IIRC there are some decent examples linked to in the MoneySavingExpert thread. Things such as numbering each paragraph, including a contents page, etc., anything that makes the document easier to navigate during the hearing. I notice the document you uploaded includes hyperlinks - the judge may be looking at a printout of your witness statement and evidence, so might not be able to click links (and even if they could, probably wouldn't), so where you have used links, include full copies of whatever documents they link to in full, as an exhibit in your evidence.

A fair bit of the content is there, but turning into a more 'Witness Statement-friendly' format certainly won't hurt. IIRC there are some decent examples linked to in the MoneySavingExpert thread. Things such as numbering each paragraph, including a contents page, etc., anything that makes the document easier to navigate during the hearing. I notice the document you uploaded includes hyperlinks - the judge may be looking at a printout of your witness statement and evidence, so might not be able to click links (and even if they could, probably wouldn't), so where you have used links, include full copies of whatever documents they link to in full, as an exhibit in your evidence.

After a long delay due to family issues and other various tasks in the way I have written my appeal and attached it. I have a court date now which is 02/05. I would welcome any comments before I send it to the courts.

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