County Court claim from DCB legal Options

[asma]

hi guys
i ignored this private parking PCN and never responded. i guess it is from when i may have parked in leyton mills retail park, e10 to go to asda. the car was parked with one wheel on the white markings (zigzag marking between 2 children parking spaces). Now i have received a claim form from the county court. what should my response be? should i say that i never got any letters and hope the judge would give me a reduced charge?
please help

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[DWMB2]

should i say that i never got any letters and hope the judge would give me a reduced charge?
please help

From your own post it would seem that you did get the letters and chose not to respond. Lying in court would be a very bad idea for hopefully quite obvious reasons.

We'll need to see some of the documents and evidence to offer any in depth advice. As a starter, photos of how the car was parked, the original notice from the parking company, and photos of the signs in the car park

[hcandersen]

I understand DWMB2's point, but actually the first thing you must post is the claim form, redact your name and its reference number but leave everything else. See FAQs for how to post.

You are engaged in a legal process and if you don't comply then you may lose by default irrespective of the underlying issues. The main time pressure is acknowledgement of service of the claim after which you'll have some breathing space.

[DWMB2]

Indeed - wasn't quite awake it'd seem. If you intend to defend then acknowledging service is important and urgent.

See the following post for a decent guide to the whole court process: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discus...omment_64350585

Then for help with any defence, see my previous point.

[Jlc]

…the judge would give me a reduced charge?

Way past that point. Absent a viable defence then you are liable for the full amount, court fees, interest and (limited) costs.

I would assume they've claimed an additional ‘debt collection' fee which should be dismissed by the Judge. But a loss would still be over £200.

Ignoring has you on the back foot - I’d also like to see a photo of the parking. There may be some arguments around that depending on how 'bad' it was.

[Redx]

Pictures are what we need to see, but not personal or sensitive information, so more redactions than asked for are required

For the claim form, redact your name and address, the reference number, the password on the bottom right too, plus redact the VRM as well, leave all the dates, particulars of claim and totals being claimed showing

For the pcn, redact name, address and references, we could do with pictures of the signage on site too

Host the redacted pictures on postimg or imgbb or a similar hosting site and add links

Your proposed defence won't wash, it's not a defence, it may well be perjury if pursued in court, a criminal offence, so no lying

The original letters should not have been ignored but too late now, you created the current worse mess by ignoring the previous one

Let's see some pics first

[asma]

sorry for the delayed response. it took me some time to find the original penalty charge letter.
here are the pictures. the sign which i found on the website provided on the original letter is a bit blurry. i couldn't go to the original site and take a picture myself. may be i will go over the weekend.
you guys are absolutely right in saying that i should not lie to the court but i don't see a defence. should i just go ahead and pay the full amount or is there an alternative.
the reason i ignored the original letters was because of some lame online advice. never mind that now

https://ibb.co/hckccVq
https://ibb.co/b5s4Xs9
https://ibb.co/3f0jwHh
https://ibb.co/ZWYT3Vx
https://ibb.co/fqdF2bt
https://ibb.co/QpcJHQR
https://ibb.co/b2vdXsc

[Redx]

That last picture says its a Parking Charge Notice, not a Penalty charge, a private pcn issued in February this year a couple of days after the bad parking event

The signs, although blurry, will mention parking within a bay and not over any lines or hatchings etc, which is what the pictures show, a parking operatives dream scenario

No you should not pay the £261.64 because they added a spurious charge of £70 to the bill, regularly thrown out by courts, meaning that a loss in court is approximately £200 or less, as mentioned earlier by someone

As the issue date on the claim form is 5th September, login to MCOL online and use the password on the right etc, do the AOS online, Acknowledgement of service, but don't start the defence, only do it AOS and nothing else

Then start drafting the defence by adapting the template defence by coupon mad over on mse parking forum in announcements, after reading her newbies faq sticky thread in announcements on there, post 5 followed by post 2 apply, study that defence template thread posts 1 & 2 carefully, most of the defence has been written for you, so only a couple of paragraphs need adapting

Once your AOS is done. ASAP online, your defence submission date will be 33 days after the issue date, so early October, preferably by the 2nd October, Monday before 4pm, by email to the ccbcaq email address as a pdf attachment, they will then add it to the case file

A few weeks later you will download, complete and email your N180 DQ form to the same email address, nominating your local civil court

If you believe that you should pay a figure as settlement, after the AOS is done email a settlement offer, headed without prejudice save as to costs, starting at say £130, then try to settle for under £200, at say £160, but no higher than £200

Its your choice if you want to settle and have it go away, discontinued, but pointless paying more than £200, might as well take your chances in civil court because a judge may award less than £200 if you lost in court

[Jlc]

It's a more bit than 'one wheel on the zig zags' imho.

Doesn't appear to be an obvious defence - so negotiating seems to be the best way forward.

[The Rookie]

You can't park like that and expect to get away with it anymore, there is also a clear 'commercial justification' in trying to prevent it to ensure those needing extra space have it and it's not blocked by someone elses lackadaisical approach to parking.

As above, absent a strong technical defence which I can't see, I think trying to settle for no more than £200 is a good idea.

Any offer MUST be headed 'without prejudice save as to costs'.