Compiling defence document for court against Civil Enforcement Ltd- Advice welcomed

Dessi

I have recently received the claim form from Civil Enforcement Ltd and after posting the Acknowledgement of Service I am in the process of compiling my N9B form. If anyone has any advice they can share it would be greatly appreciated and/ or point me in the right direction to a previous thread. The so called 'contract' breach took place in 2012 if there are any particular BPA guidelines that would have been in place at this time.
Thank you,
Dessi

Quentin

What was the exact date in 2012? (Could be highly significant)

bod1467

Quentin wrote: »

What was the exact date in 2012? (Could be highly significant)

Good question. If the incident was before 1st October 2012 then CEL may be on a fishing trip - there is no keeper liability whatsoever.

Have you identified yourself to them as the driver in any way?

Dessi

Unfortunately I identified myself as the driver in an initial appeal letter back in November 2012. I visited the car park twice in the same day, both for short periods and therefore not in breach of the time displayed on the signage. It was a Sunday and the first visit had simply been to visit the cashpoint so there is no evidence to prove I was elsewhere on the day in question.

The_Deep

So, they are taking you to court on a double dip, they must be out of their minds. All you need say in your defence is, Sir/Madam, I am telling the truth, whereas the claimant is a lying scumbag, case dismissed.

Dessi

They argue that I did not leave the car park in the interim. They argue that I stayed for 3 hours when the 'free' 'contractual' allowance is only two hours.
They are indeed complete lying scumbags!!

ampersand

'an initial appeal letter back in November 2012' - but you still haven't answered bod:
'If the incident was before 1st October 2012'.
#
I may infer NO, but please state exact date of parking event.

Also, cashpoint visit would still leave printable proof trace on your Bank statement. Bank will be able to pinpoint time.

Quentin

All you need do at this early N9B stage is dispute the whole amount and state you do not owe the claimant any money and are not indebted to them in any way at all.


Then see what (if anything) turns up, and then submit a detailed defence if needs be.

Herzlos

But no evidence that the OP left the car park again.

Do CEL use ANPR or was this a window ticket? Do they have photos of the car that show you were it was? i..e. Does their evidence show the car moved?

You've still got the rest of the appeal points, as well as lots of evidence that CEL is a vexatious litigant (there's lists of cases on here where they've failed to turn up, cancelled at the last minute, or produced evidence they their lawyer exists). Who signed their paperwork?

Dessi

It was in November 2012 when I used their car park and the cashpoint is located in the car park so unfortunately doesn't offer any evidence that I left the car park and returned later that day. Typically the cash I had withdrawn was then used to make purchases later that day in a restaurant around 15 miles away. CEL were using ANPR and have provided photographs of my car entering the car park around midday and upon leaving the car park around 3:30pm. They appear unable to acknowledge or produce the photographs of my car leaving at 12:30pm and returning at 3:00pm!! There only appears to be two cameras, one pointing towards the entrance and one pointing towards the exit. These have since been removed but I have photographs courtesy of Google StreetView. I have also taken photographs of the signs from Google StreetView. Mr M Schwartz is the signatory on the paperwork.

bod1467

This should be an easy win. CEL are almost guaranteed to not turn up/cancel the claim close to the hearing date if they see you'll not be a pushover.

This is their classic tactic in their "vexatious litigant" modus operandi.