Hello all. I’m hoping for some help regarding a ParkingEye county court summons. The background is I was falling asleep at the wheel of my car late at night on the motorway while driving home from a meeting at the other end of the country, so pulled into the nearest services for a nap and a coffee. I was aware of the two-hour parking limit and so set my phone alarm, but was so tired that it didn’t wake me and I overstayed my welcome. There were signs but I didn’t make any attempt to read them because I was aware of the two-hour rule and had no intention of staying longer. I did purchase coffee during my stop and the car park was virtually empty so I’m quite sure I did no harm, especially with it being an alternative to falling asleep in the fast lane. Thus far, I haven’t done the right thing with this ParkingEye saga and this latest development has had me in tears wondering how the heck I’m going to get rid of it without sacrificing my credit rating or my sanity. I run my own business and the last year has been tough, extremely tough. I’m up to my eyeballs in debt and have been working 18-hour days for months trying to stave off bankruptcy. Thankfully there is now light at the end of the tunnel but the last few weeks it’s really started to catch up with me. My head’s mashed, I’ve become an adrenalin-fuelled zombie and I’ve just packed my child off to her grandmother’s for a few days to try and catch up. It’s like I’ve thrown everything I’ve got at keeping our heads above water this year to avoid defaults and CCJs - and then along comes ParkingEye to slap one on me anyway for oversleeping in a car park. I don’t want to sound like a whingebag in explaining that, or to sound like I think sympathy will get me anywhere with ParkingEye. What I mean is I haven’t had either of the things one needs to get rid of ParkingEye: time, or money. So when their initial demand dropped onto my doormat my response was “no chance”. No chance am I paying £60 (upped to £100 for any dawdling) for 45 minutes parking when I can barely afford food or childcare. Yet I can no more afford the alternative: days of researching a fight-back. But appeal I did. I spent hours researching this forum and others, stated my legal arguments (primarily genuine pre-estimate of loss), but was so hacked off at being made to drop everything and respond to their demands in their timescale that I’m afraid it did deteriorate into a bit of a rant towards the end which in hindsight I regret. I may have suggested they take me to court, without having thought through the fact I don’t have the time or energy for that sort of fight. Needless to say it got rejected. So I set aside a morning to write my POPLA appeal but after a whole day of researching reams of information on legal arguments I took the decision that I couldn’t waste a third day on it, that I wouldn’t complete the appeal, that I couldn’t get it done properly before the deadline and that surely they wouldn’t take it all the way to court anyway. Instead I contacted ParkingEye’s client, the motorway service station, in the hope they might help this to go away quicker. I spoke to two duty managers and they were actually quite approachable and listened and promised to pass my details to the site manager. I haven’t had a response but didn’t chase them up, hoping they might have called off their dogs without feeling the need to inform me and so waited to see if I heard from ParkingEye again. Wishful thinking that was. The letter before county court claim is still sitting in my in tray, and of course now the actual claim form from Northampton County Court has arrived. Much as it would stick in my throat to do so, if I had the ever-increasing sum of money needed to make this go away I would, shamefully, pay it. I haven’t got spare days to research, prepare, write, attend court and fight yet more stress without driving myself into a big hole. I don’t think I even have the mental capacity to get my head around the legal arguments anymore but as a company director I cannot afford a CCJ against me. So I’m going to have to find the will and the time to fight this aren’t I? And hopefully I’ve made a start by posting this today. But goodness do I resent this pressure at having to defend myself from for such a miniscule crime that had no bad intentions behind it. Apologies for such a long post. Any general advice would be appreciated, but specifically I’m hoping for guidance on: Now it’s got to court summons stage, does the landowner still have the authority to call it off or is there no turning back now? Does anyone know if any public safety arguments have been made in court in similar cases when a tired driver overslept after trying to do the sensible thing and pull off at motorway services? Is there any defence in that angle at all? My main concern is the CCJ. Is the only way to guarantee avoiding one to pay up without going to court? Or to agree with the claim? Are there any clear lines of defence on this one that I might have missed? Thanks for reading and for a very helpful forum.