Civil Enforcement Ltd - Northampton County Court...

Jonny_Red

Hi all

Hope someone can help me here. I've received a claim form filed by Civil Enforcement Ltd in respect of an alleged claim against me related to the Co-op Car Park in Whitby in July 2012.

I dispute the claim against me (totalling £215) and would appreciate some advice from more learned people than me (which is pretty much everyone!) as to how I can file a defence against this.

I understand that I need to act within 28 days of the date of service on the claim form so I guess i need to get the wheels in motion now.

I gather from reading some of the threads in relation to CEL and the Co-op that I should email the CEO of the Co-op directly. Is this something that I should be doing now whilst formulating a defence against the court paperwork?

Any advice very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Jon

wiogs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5126324

They have been busy

Coupon-mad

Hi Jon, we can help you through this and out the other side unscathed and maybe with your costs paid to you!

The CEO of the Co-op won't help, this is too common now and certainly the complaint to the Co-op is NOT your priority. Is the claim from DEAL or CEL? So many threads like this, please look at other threads, already covered in depth dozens of times. Posters here never lose, CEL almost never turn up as I hope you saw from the links in post #5 of the NEWBIES thread.

Also there are even more threads about this on pepipoo so read LOADS of them, you'll soon be clued up:

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

Acknowledge the claim as your priority. Work on your defence as 2nd (urgent) priority, straight away as you only have 28 days all told, from the court papers. The links in other threads and the NEWBIES thread post #5 tell you how to defend this fairly easily, no sweat. You will not be parted from your money but it takes a bit of reading up on.

Jonny_Red

Hi Coupon-Mad

Thanks for the quick (and thorough) reply.

The claimant detailed on the claim form is DEAL.

I've already had a root around with old threads but will continue to do so to pull together something to respond with. From what I can see from the paperwork I need to send an 'acknowledgement of service' back to them confirming receipt and I understand advising that I intend to defend all of the claim (does that sound right?). Also - how/at what point can i request the case be transferred to a county court closer to my home?

Thanks

J

Coupon-mad

From what I can see from the paperwork I need to send an 'acknowledgement of service' back to them confirming receipt and I understand advising that I intend to defend all of the claim (does that sound right?).

Yes you have got that right. Then you don't wait to hear back (you get nothing back straight away). You have to then follow the AOS with a defence.

Also - how/at what point can i request the case be transferred to a county court closer to my home?

When you get the standard form N180 'Directions Questionnaire' a few weeks after you submit the defence. You are unlikely to find CEL turn up and DEAL have no case against you. If you have never said who was driving (and it's too long ago to recall now of course, not that you have to help the claimant) then July 2012 was BEFORE keeper liability and the POFA 2012 was enacted. The keeper cannot be held liable, not that CEL have ever used a POFA compliant Notice since then anyway, because they haven't! Obviously at no point does the defence mention 'what happened' or imply who was the driver. The defence comes from the keeper.

Anyhoo I suggest reading this which is post #5 of the NEWBIES thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=64350600&postcount=5

the first clicky link there 'Advice' takes you to a summary by bargepole about the forms ,e.g. the N180 and which boxes to tick, what happens when, what to do when.

Jonny_Red

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Yes you have got that right. Then you don't wait to hear back (you get nothing back straight away). You have to then follow the AOS with a defence.

Thanks Coupon-mad. Just a quick point to clarify - with the AOS can I leave the defence section blank and simply register the AOS with the intention of taking the 28 days from date of service to prepare a formal defence?

I think this is what you're suggesting and what the directions of the paperwork I've received state but would be grateful if you could confirm.

Thanks

J

Coupon-mad

Yes that is exactly right.

Jonny_Red

Cool - thanks again.

So... I've read through some threads on this website and elsewhere and understand that as the alleged incident pre-dates the POFA 2012 legislation (incident alleged to have taken place in July of 2012) that DEAL are unable to pursue a case against the registered keeper of a vehicle and that my defence to their claim should be focussed around this. Does that sound right?

I've put together what I think addresses the key points of the claim against me but I'm not experienced in this so I'd appreciate some further advice as to how to take this forward (what I've got is pretty short but I think concise). Would it be best for me to create a further thread on the pepipoo forum to ask for a more experienced/knowledgeable person to give it the once over or can I make a similar request for help here?

Thanks

J

The_Deep

Is it worth engaging a solicitor to attend these CEL/DEAL jollies, they rarely turn up and you can ask the judge for you full costs due to their unreasonable behaviour, especially if their case has no merit, (i.e. pre POFA)?

Coupon-mad

It would if Judges granted full costs in small claims - but I have rarely read of this happening in years on here. So we always say 'no solicitor needed' (many won't touch a small claims case anyway).

Jonny Red, have a look at bluetoffee1878's defence:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5120476

You could copy that and change bits of it to suit - e.g. you should change point 10 to say the event pre-dated POFA 2012 so it is trite law that there can be no keeper liability retrospectively, nor can the defendant be expected to recall, years later, who was driving on one day at a Supermarket in 2012.

You could end the defence with something like:

' This claim is without merit; it is vexatious and unreasonable in the extreme and I invite the court to strike it out without wasting time on a hearing. Further, I intend to claim my full costs and expenses and trust the court will agree. '

hoohoo

If the solicitor is mswarts don't forget to complain to the sra as this is a bogus solicitor. See other threads for email address. Then you can put on your defence; I complained to the sra who confirmed the solicitor does not exist. I therefore ask for the claim to be struck out or alternatively the solicitor cost of £50 to be removed from the claim