Court Claim Form - Advice Needed! Help

cjsnorky

Several years ago I followed the advice on this forum and ignored a parking fine … it was in a Co-Op car park!

Roll the clock forward a few years and I have now received Court Papers (a Claim Form) to advise that Civil Enforcement Limited are taking me to court (Barnet Civil and Family Court Centre) for the sum of £215.

What do I do now??

I intend to defend the claim as I was not the driver of the car on the day in question - so could not have entered into a contract with them!

This is pre POFA as the date in question was 26/01/2012 … so it is my understanding that I do not have to disclose who the driver was - right??

Is it sufficient to fill the Court Form Defence section with - "I was not the driver" and then turn up to court to say that?? Or should I also get a statement from someone I was at work with that day to prove that it could not have been me??

Help - please! The court paper is dated 14/07 … but just picked it up as have been away on holidays!

Any help greatly appreciated!

Northlakes

There are loads of cases here and on Pepipoo.
Gan on Pepipoo has some defences which are pure poetry.

Redx

read post #5 of the NEWBIES sticky thread, plus any links

then as stated above, do a search of this forum and pepipoo for the dozens of similar threads and follow the same advice etc as in those, you arent the first one , just one in a very long line

as its pre pofa2012 then they can only chase the driver, not the RK , so no naming the driver

I can assure you that nobody has been fined here, only a court can do that and up to now it hasnt been to court

its a speculative invoice , so call it that from now on, especially on any paperwork, do not use the F word in your court papers , use the I word

and complain to the COOP too , as they have some of their own on the go

it may have been issued in Barnet but that is because its their local court, you can have it heard near you, later down the line (so you dont need to travel to Barnet)

Umkomaas

'I wasn't the driver' won't be anywhere near enough. If you turn up at court with a one-line defence, I wouldn't put much money on your chances of winning!

Follow advice re NEWBIES sticky post #5 from Redx and do some research on PePiPoo where there have been a good number of CEL/DEAL cases discussed recently - as per Northlakes' post.

cjsnorky

Ok I'll do that - BUT - I'm not sure why "I wasn't the driver" isn't sufficient a defence if I can prove I really wasn't the driver!

At the time I had 3 cars (I can prove that too!) so it's not like I had one car so had to be driving!

Surely the onus is on the claimant to prove that a contract existed - and if I turn up with a statement from a witness who I was at work with at the time of the alleged offence then that is proof that no contract can have existed! No??

If I was accused of entering into any other contract when I was clearly some place else I doubt any court would give the hearing the time of day!

Dr._Shoe

cjsnorky wrote: »

Ok I'll do that - BUT - I'm not sure why "I wasn't the driver" isn't sufficient a defence if I can prove I really wasn't the driver!

At the time I had 3 cars (I can prove that too!) so it's not like I had one car so had to be driving!

Surely the onus is on the claimant to prove that a contract existed - and if I turn up with a statement from a witness who I was at work with at the time of the alleged offence then that is proof that no contract can have existed! No??

If I was accused of entering into any other contract when I was clearly some place else I doubt any court would give the hearing the time of day!

This is true.

Innocent until proven guilty is a fundemental basis of English Law.

I doubt it will even get to court. Do you actually have a date for the hearing? I'm betting you don't.