Free Traffic Legal Advice

I received a parking fine back in October last year when I was parked in a car park that a pub / restaurant shares with a couple of office buildings in Birmingham. I was at the venue (The Highfield, Edgbaston) all day for a work event, and I paid for parking using RingGo. Because I made payment, I couldn't understand why I had received the fine, but it appears that I parked in a spot that belonged to one of the offices rather than the venue I was in, completely unintentionally. The venue's section of the car park was not full, as were the office spaces, this was just a genuine mistake where I parked in the wrong spot. The photos from the claimant (DCB Legal) show signage that I was in the wrong space.


I have moved house since the fine was issued and haven't informed the DVLA or the parking company / debt collection company, so the letters are going to my old address. Luckily I am in touch with the person living in the address and they have passed the letters on to me.


Today I have received a letter from the HM Courts & Tribunals Service saying a claim has been made against me, and if I don't respond to the claim, the claimant could request a CCJ. I'm looking for advice on this, and what is my best course of action here. The debt has now also increased to £264.16, which I simply cannot afford to pay, and as this was down to a genuine mistake and I did pay for the parking, I don't feel like I should pay it out of principal either. But at the same time I definitely do not want a CCJ to be issued against me. I have attached pictures of the letter received, but haven't included the response pack as I believe this to be standardised.

Any advice you can give me on how to handle this is much appreciated.

If you follow the advice, you will not be paying a penny to UKPC. You may want to redact the claim number and the MCOL password.

With an issue date of 25th June, you have until 4pm on Monday 14th July to submit your defence. If you submit an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) before then, you would then have until 4pm on Monday 28th July to submit 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

Otherwise, here is the defence and link to the draft order that goes with it. You only need to edit your name and the claim number. You sign the defence by typing your full name for the signature and date it. There is nothing to edit in the draft order.

When you're ready you combine both documents as a single PDF attachment and send as an attachment in an email to claimresponses.cnbc@justice.gov.uk and CC in yourself. The claim number must be in the email subject field and in the body of the email just put: "Please find attached the defence and draft order in the matter of UK Parking Control Ltd v [your full name] Claim no.: [claim number]."

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No: [Claim Number]

BETWEEN:

UK Parking Control Ltd
Claimant

- and -

[Defendant's Full Name]

Defendant

---

DEFENCE

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 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 CPR PD 16.7.3(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 do not provide clarity on whether the Defendant is sued as the driver or the keeper of the vehicle, as the claimant cannot plead alternative causes of action without specificity.

4. The Defendant attaches to this defence a copy of a draft order approved by a district judge at another court. The court struck out the claim of its own initiative after determining that the Particulars of Claim failed to comply with CPR 16.4. The judge noted that the claimant had failed to:

(i) Set out the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions relied upon;

(ii) Adequately explain the reasons why the defendant was allegedly in breach of contract;

(iii) Provide separate, detailed Particulars of Claim as permitted under CPR PD 7C.5.2(2).

(iv) The court further observed that, given the modest sum claimed, requiring further case management steps would be disproportionate and contrary to the overriding objective. Accordingly, the judge struck out the claim outright rather than permitting an amendment.

5. 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 for the Claimant’s failure to comply with CPR 16.4.

Statement of truth

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Signed:


Date:

Draft Order for the defence

Thank you so much for your help b789 - I've done as you have said and will await a response - fingers crossed that is the end of it!

Rather than redact more information from the letter and reupload the images, I've removed them completely for now.

Hi @b789

I've received notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track, saying that the defendant has filed a defence, but a copy of which is not enclosed.

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind:

- Please can you advise how I should fill out the attached N180 document?
- The initial letter says I must file my response with the court office 'and serve copies on all other parties' - please can you advise how I do this?

Please also let me know if there's anything else I should be aware of that I may not have considered.

Appreciate your help with this as ever.

Thanks,
Connor