URGENT HELP NEEDED, PLEASE!
Have just returned home after many days away (taking care of a relative), to find a Court letter dated 9/9/25. Since the 14 day deadline is close, I assume AoS needs to be sent out soonest? I would be grateful for clarification of the cut-off dates, and how to send off the AoS with correct details, please.
This is all due to a Parking Charge notice issued to me as Registered Keeper by Group Nexus(GN), because Driver of vehicle overstayed at a Motorway services car park on 11/12/2024. Driver stopped at Leigh Delamere services due to an attack of Migraine coming on, and needing to take medication to prevent it getting worse. Since a long drive was ahead, and bouts of Migraine affected vision, the Driver decided it was best for safety reasons, to rest a while sitting in the car until the Migraine had passed, before continuing the journey.
Not expecting to stay long, the Driver had not paid attention to time of arrival, was wholly unaware that parking restrictions existed at this site, and was only focused on getting rid of the Migraine attack, to be able to resume the journey. After some time, when the Migraine had receded, Driver went in to use the facilities, purchased a coffee, and headed off.
Until informed of communication received from GN dated 23/01/25, Driver was not aware that free parking was restricted to 2 hours at this service station. (Said not seen any signs near where car had been parked).
GN had sent a Parking charge reminder dated 23/01/25 to me as Registered Keeper, in which they stated that documents dated 19/12/24 & 06/01/25 had also been previously issued. As I had not received those (Christmas time mail issues?), on 30/01/25 I wrote a short letter to GN about that.
Had no reply from GN, but thereafter, debt recovery letters from DcbL followed over next weeks.
As RK, on 03/3/25 I wrote to GN referring to my letter of 30/01/25 not getting a response, and (using advice given on this forum), requesting a copy of original parking charge notice since the burden of proof was on them.
Received very brief letter dated 03/04/25 from CP Plus stating "the time within which to appeal has now expired". I was not aware of this firm's connection to GN until this letter, but was unhappy that they were not following due process, and quite unconcerned that someone had been denied the appeal system.
Letter of Claim from DcbLegal dated 6/8/25 had arrived (again, while I was away), and I had very little time for the response (using advice from this forum's Moderators), which was emailed through on 4/9/25. The automatic reply stated that they "aim to respond to correspondence where required as soon as possible". Nothing thus far.
Now the letter from Courts needs managing, and with so little time to respond I'm in a panic, and desperately need your advice, please.
With grateful thanks in advance.
(PS: Will upload all earlier correspondence for your perusal later tonight).
You can do the Acknowledgement of Service online which will allow some more time to look at the defence.
Thank you very much, DWMB2, for your quick response. My internet connection is sketchy & keeps dropping, so not been able to upload documents yet.
Do I fill in an online form for AOS (ticking box 1) ?
Should that be on
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk as indicated on the material received or AOS CNBC
@justice.gov.uk
Also, with 9/9/25 being issue date on Claim Form, which are the actual deadlines for 14 days, and 28 days? (Unsure if only working days are counted).
Appreciate your help.
Slow down and stop panicking. You have plenty of time. The claim is not even served until 5 days after issue and it is only then that the clock starts ticking. Any deadline that is on a non-working day is advanced to the next working day.
With an issue date of 9th September you have until 4pm on Monday 29th September to submit your defence. If you submit an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) before then, you would then have until 4pm on Monday 13th October 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=0Until 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 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 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.
Thank you, b789, for your comforting message.
As I'm elderly (thus slow), and not technologically adept I decided to buy time by completing the AOS on MCOL.
I have attempted to forward all correspondence received and sent for your perusal, but that has not yet been successful. Tomorrow I will seek to obtain help from a young person to send them on to you.
In the meantime, thanks to you all.
If you have managed to submit an AoS using MCOL, then you can also submit that defence using it. However, I understand your predicament regarding your lack of technological acuity. If you prefer to wait until you can get someone more adept, then it is not a problem.
Having submitted your AoS, you now plenty of time to submit the defence.
Thank you.
Attached are copies of all correspondence received and sent, for your information.
(BTW - Imgur is no longer active for UK users from 30.09.25 so I have found an alternative image hosting website which can be accessed via this link:
)
Thank you. Have you submitted the defence yet?
Hello b789,
Yes, I have now submitted the suggested defence via MCOL.
Does the response come in the post or by email?
I'm away from home for a few days, and am concerned that if allowed response time is less than a week, I might miss the deadline....
I trust the documents forwarded were received?
You do not need to panic.
In due course you will receive a N180 from DCB Legal and, later, a court letter giving you a date by which you have to supply your own. A few days’ absence will not matter, you will still have plenty of time. You may, however, want to prepare your own N180 now but do not submit it yet, per the following guidance:
Having received your own N180 (make sure it is not simply a copy of the claimants N180), do not use the paper form. Ignore all the other forms that came with it. you can discard those. Download your own here and fill it in on your computer. You sign it by simply typing your full name in the signature box.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673341e779e9143625613543/N180_1124.pdf
Here are the answers to some of the less obvious questions:
• The name of the court is "Civil National Business Centre".
• To be completed by "Your full name" and you are the "Defendant".
• C1: "YES"
• D1: "NO". Reason: "I wish to question the Claimant about their evidence at a hearing in person and to expose omissions and any misleading or incorrect evidence or assertions.
Given the Claimant is a firm who complete cut & paste parking case paperwork for a living, having this case heard solely on papers would appear to put the Claimant at an unfair advantage, especially as they would no doubt prefer the Defendant not to have the opportunity to expose the issues in the Claimants template submissions or speak as the only true witness to events in question.."
• F1: Whichever is your nearest county court. Use this to find it: https://www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk/search-option
• F3: "1".
• Sign the form by simply typing your full name for the signature.
When you have completed the form, attach it to a single email addressed to both dq.cnbc@justice.gov.uk and info@dcblegal.co.uk and CC in yourself. Make sure that the claim number is in the subject field of the email.
Hello,
Appreciate the advice, and I will look out for that correspondence.
Apologies if this appears a silly question, but I would be grateful if you could enlighten me on the purpose of the N180 form?
Thank you
The purpose is to provide the court with the necessary information to process your case.
This guide is designed for claims in the County Court where there is a specified amount of money less than ?10,000 on the original claim form being claimed. The
Something of an explanation on the above link.
Thanks for your reply and the link.
Hello Moderators,
Have received acknowledgement from CNBC, of receipt of my defence forwarded via MCOL.
They state
"A copy is being served on the claimant. The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.
Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay."
I have a problem in that I will be away from UK for 5 weeks from November, and am not sure what impact that will have on the normal process from this point on. I certainly do not want the Parking firm to win due to my absence!
(Do the documents forwarded to you earlier this month highlight any aspects that could be used in a witness statement?)
Would be grateful for your advice on how I should proceed.
Many thanks again for all you do.
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