PCN, Summons and Limited Company Options

[vegnomeat]

A long story kept short.
My Limited Company has received a County Court summons from BW Legal acting for Premier Park Limited. They are claiming £129.22 in respect of the PCN, £60 contractual costs, £25 court fee and £50 legal representatives costs.

The Company owns the car and I let my Dad drive it and apparently he may have parked where he maybe shouldn't have over four years ago. The Company has received lots of letters from Premier Park Limited about this issue and they have simply been binned. Then today the Summons turned up.
Does the Company have a defence at all?
Regards and thanks in anticipation.

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[ostell]

Post up the pcn and let's see what it says. Redact identifying data but leave dates.

Is the car owned by your company or is it leased from a hire company?

Claim should be the original pcn, the court fee of £25 and £50 solicitor.

Have they claimed against "the registered keeper / driver"? The registered keeper, as a body corporate, can not be the driver.

This post has been edited by ostell: Thu, 18 Jul 2019 - 13:21

[vegnomeat]

Hi, Thanks for your speedy reply.

The car was owned by a leasing company and leased to my business. The lease expired over two years ago and the car was returned.

The defendant is listed as the Limited Company, no references to an individual are made so they are claiming against the Limited Company.

I don't have a copy of the PCN I'm afraid.

Regards

[ostell]

First acknowledge the claim using the details and password on the form. Nothing in the defence,nothing. This gives up 33 days from the date of issue to get your defence to the court.

Letter to solicitor, from the company, demanding copies of all the documents they intend to use in court , in order to narrow the issues between you. As they will have the items to hand you expect them by return or within the next 7 days.

As this is a lease car then to be able to hold the keeper, your company, liable they have to include with the PCN copies of the hire agreement and the origi al PCN to the hire company. They normally fail to do this and so cannot hold the keeper liable. POFA 14 (2) (a). This is your major point of your defence

As the defendant is a body corporate then it could not possibly have been the driver.

Find a defence on here and modify it to suit. Post here for critique before you send.

It's not a summons, it's a civil claim form

Next time don't ignore, especially if it's a lease car and you have the obvious appeal if the driver is not known

This post has been edited by ostell: Thu, 18 Jul 2019 - 14:44

[vegnomeat]

Thank you for your help. I have acknowledged the claim and written to them for any documents that will be used in court.

Regards

[Redivi]

Where is the company registered ?

A problem you have is that any hearing will be at Premier's local court not your own
Travel and a hotel could make it an expensive day out whether or not you're successful

Premier can pursue the company for all the charges if it can persuade the court that the driver was involved in company business

One possible approach is to make a "Without Prejudice Save to Costs" offer for the original PCN, the £50 solicitor fee and the court fee
BWL usually describes the £60 charge as initial legal costs that can't be recovered in the Small claims Court
If Premier doesn't better the offer at a hearing, it can be stung for the costs

For future reference, never bin any document that even hints at the possibility of a debt or the risk of legal action

[vegnomeat]

After I acknowledged the claim and filed a defence and they still went ahead and issued a summons, further to the summons the the District Judge ruled the case would be heard at my local County Court. I requested that the case be heard at my local County Court.

Following this Judgement I today received a Notice of Discontinuance from Premier Park's solicitors bw legal.

All's well that ends well.

Regards

[Fluffykins]

Check that the discontinuance has been communicated to the court.

[The Rookie]

After I acknowledged the claim and filed a defence and they still went ahead and issued a summons, further to the summons the the District Judge ruled the case would be heard at my local County Court. I requested that the case be heard at my local County Court.

Eh?
No one issues summons for county court cases, that's for criminal cases.

What defence?

As above, check with the courts, it's not unknown for PPC's to tell a defendant they are discontinuing but not the court, leaving the defendant to sort out the resulting mess after they lose due to not attending the hearing.

This post has been edited by The Rookie: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 - 14:08