Napier Parking County Court Claim

I think a degree of misunderstanding has arisen about the "jurisdiction" issue not assisted by the OP who has equivocated slightly and has hopped from using "my" to "my friend". The subsequent discussion about submitting a defence has confused things further.

"Jurisdiction" does indeed relate to what and how a court can hear but in order to get as far as a court hearing (even if that just amounts to the obtaining of a default judgment) the court has to be satisfied that a claim has been properly served on the defendant.

A defendant who resides within the UK but outside of the jurisdiction (which is just England & Wales) so in other words Scotland or Northern Ireland can be served by "normal" means (postally) but the permission of the court must have been obtained in advance.

If the defendant resides outside of the UK then it is possible for them to be served (again with the court's permission) but the costs become extremely high generally because personal service has to be effected, usually by a process server who may well have to supply a notarised affidavit to prove service (anyone who has had to have documents notarised recently will have an idea of the likely costs that entails) and have copies of the documents he served sealed. This is not a cheap exercise and for the recovery of £143 just isn't a viable option.

I suspect that the proceedings have been issued using Moneyclaim Online (otherwise known as MCOL) and Northampton have failed to intercept the case because their postcode database is not bombproof. Gladstones have not included any additional charge for obtaining the necessary permission which leaves two simple options. Either the address at which the claim has been served is within the jurisdiction and it is just the defendant who isn't or they have not obtained the necessary permission.

The OP needs to let us know the following:

1. Is the address at which the claim has been issued within England and Wales or elsewhere within the UK?

2. When the OP states that "his friend" "...is outside the jurisdiction" does he mean that they are on holiday, an extended trip or genuinely resident elsewhere?

3. Was the claim issued by MCOL Northampton; The CCMC Salford (although I think we can rule that out as the claim is for a fixed amount) or a local county court?

Without this further clarification I suggest that there is actually little more advice that can be offered and the advice to prepare and file a defence is, for the moment, redundant.

Patrick_O'Neill wrote: »

1. Is the address at which the claim has been issued within England and Wales or elsewhere within the UK? - yes the claim has been issued in England

2. When the OP states that "his friend" "...is outside the jurisdiction" does he mean that they are on holiday, an extended trip or genuinely resident elsewhere? - my friend works nights and i offered to help him in obtaining advice on how to resolve the matter.

3. Was the claim issued by MCOL Northampton; The CCMC Salford (although I think we can rule that out as the claim is for a fixed amount) or a local county court?- the claim was issued by County Court Business centre , Northampton however it states all documents and payments should be sent to Gladstones Solicitors limited cheshire


many thanks

I apologise. My first question was badly worded. I think we were already aware that the claim had been issued in England. What I am driving at is whether or not the address the claim has been served at is in England & Wales.

I appreciate that you are trying to be discreet but that doesn't help in this situation. If you friend normally resides in England & Wales (the jurisdiction) and the address at which the claim has been served is his normal residence then there is no jurisdictional issue here.

If the contrary is true then there is a jurisdictional issue that it would appear Gladstones have failed to properly address.

Ok. So it would appear that the claim has been issued via MCOL. Just to clarify, in the box to the centre-right of the front page of the Claim Form are there details that would enable your friend to log on to acknowledge and deal with the claim? (I'm not asking you to divulge those details here simply to confirm that they are present).