Civil enforcement charge

Green_mile

Overstayed parking on 2 sept 2012 august bank hol monday got parking enforcement letter from civil enforcement ltd liverpool 10 days later asking for payment of £75 or £150 if not paid within 14 days.
The retail park in question is free parking for 3 hours.
Ignored this, got final reminder "before legal action" ignored this.
Heard nothing more until last sat 13 April over 7 months from date of incident stating my "debt" now had "additional costs" (?) total £265
Attached was particulars of claim- statement of truth box not completed and claim form N1 to Northampton county court also not completed stating total amount claimed £425 which they say they intend to submit on 25 April
Usual frighteners ie threat of attachment of earnings order, third party debt order etc which I know can only be implemented if it goes to court and I lose and refuse to pay.
They say they are willing to accept £150 paid only via a phone no to save my debt escalating!
If they are so sure they can get £265 out of me why would they be willing to settle for less, as I don't think compassion exists in their vocabularty?
Has anyone any constructive advice on how I should proceed? Time is of the essence, do I ignore this latest threat or send a letter of some kind?

trisontana

The best thing for you is to enrol on PePiPoo:-

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

Where you will find people who will help you with what appears to be genuine court papers, which you must not ignore. Civil Enforcement have been dishing out court papers a lot inh the last few weeks and the posters over on PePiPoo will help with your defence,

Stroma

I don't think it is a claim, yet ! How on earth they can justify £425 is beyond me though, if it is a claim phone the court on Monday to make sure it's genuine. Or if through mcol login on the link and reference to say that you intend to fully defend the claim and ask for a further 28 days to defend it.

And as suggested put this on pepipoo as well, because its likely if its not a claim now it will be. This company is making a lot of claims right now, they will probably not be around in six months IMO

trisontana

And a lot of the claims they are making date back months, many (as above) from before October and thus not subject to POFA.

Green_mile

WOW I never expected such fast replies so many thanks!!
The attachments look like photocopies but then some copies these days are very like the originals and as I said they have not filled in statement of truth which I know they would have to if submitted to court
I'm aware that this was dated before the change ie registered owner is responsible for any charges but it's still a bit scary getting letters like this, I've never had anything like this before, it's unnerving.
Will now look at pepipoo as suggested
Thanks to everyone who replied, anyone advise writing a Martin Lewis don't harass me type letter?
I too can't understand how they can justify such charges, after all they have not incurred a loss for the parking space as its free anyway so I don't see why I have a " debt" to pay

Stroma

Don't write anything to the parking company at all, as this is before pofa 2012 ticket there is the burden of proof of who was driving, if that wasn't the registered keeper, and they make a claim on the RK then that is something that can be added to the defence.

You only respond to the claim only, once you know it is one keep to the timeframes , never ignore that and take advice from here and pepipoo, don't try this alone even if you know the small claim process, the defence from the guys over on pepipoo will probably mean they will drop the claim.

Coupon-mad

Do not respond to this letter as they will then know they have flushed out a 'live one' who is reading their letters and is concerned enough to reply - but by replying you'd give it away that your are clearly not a barrister, solicitor, MP, Police Commissioner or anyone official that would worry them. So stay anonymous, just a name and address among thousands of others they are trying this letter on.

We have seen them use this threatening letter a lot - but actual small claims are very very rare - and defendable with pepipoo's help. So if a small claim was really attempted you could get help from a forum with expeerience of this exact defence. Gan on pepipoo has written half a dozen against CE and none have gone to a hearing (yet) as it's more likely CE are looking for bad defences or people daft enough to actually ignore real Court papers from Northampton (which hands them a 'default win' on a plate!).

But you haven't got a court claim from Northampton so do nothing.

By the way, was the 'overstay' for any reason connected to an elderly/infirm passenger/driver or anyone with any longterm medical condition - not just a mobility issue, (or even a passenger who had to take longer due to nursing a baby)? Any of those situations would mean there was NO OVERSTAY as such situations require a service provider and their agents to make a 'reasonable adjustment' of time - and harassment in this situation is illegal.

Green_mile

Ok point taken I'm going to sit this out and see what happens wait to see if real court papers arrive with details filled in and claim no
Worse case scenario I can then go thru pepipoo?

Coupon-mad

Green_mile wrote: »

Ok point taken I'm going to sit this out and see what happens wait to see if real court papers arrive with details filled in and claim no
Worse case scenario I can then go thru pepipoo?

Exactamondo!

Don't lose any sleep over it, Gan on pepipoo and others there, have experience of writing defences for the very few people who actually get a Small claim issued. I've not seen a recent pepipoo-defended case actually go to a hearing, but we have seen the PPC fold and give up when they see the defence, or even go ahead then not turn up!

Green_mile

Oh didn't reply properly, it was purely an oversight on time, we were shopping/ eating, it was a bank holiday so time was not an issue, if you know what I mean, thanks for your concern.