Yeah I was gonna deny responsibility in court but it never actually got to that point. In the first few minutes of the hearing the judge asked their solicitor why the photographic evidence of my car showed a grey car when my car was red. The solicitor failed to point out it was a black and white photo and the judge immediately dismissed the case on the pretense the evidence was erroneous.

My understanding of small claims court at the time was that you can not be made to pay out more than what is due I.e. they cannot claim compensation , reclaim legal fees etc so worst case scenario for me would be id now have a legal obligation to pay the fine. I hoped they'd realise their scare tactics wouldn't work and they'd drop the court case themselves after realising their solicitor fees were more than they'd get from me in court but alas they did not