Civil Enforcement Ltd

Sabrina17

Hi all

I received a Claim Form dated 21 Feb 2017 from CCBusiness Centre regarding a debt for over £300 to Civil Enforcement Ltd (CEL).

I was working away and did not open the letter until 18 March 2017. As soon as i received this, I contacted the number of 01158225020 on the form and made a payment to CEL as I am in the process of applying for a mortgage and could not let this go on my credit file.

I have no idea what this debt is from and I have never received any letters other than this Claim Form. I thought I would pay this and dispute it after as I do not want anything to appear on my credit file.

I called the Courts on 20 March in the morning and they told me that no Judgement has been entered against me and as I have paid it, I should be fine.

Low and behold, a Judgement was entered against me on 20 March 2017, two days AFTER I paid this so called debt. This is also live and active on my credit file. Although it was paid on the 18th.

I called the Courts again and paid £15 for them to inform CEL I have paid and to cancel the CCJ via a N41 form. The courts told me this can take up to 6 weeks for CEL to respond.

I cannot get hold of CEL to dispute the debt as there number is an automated pay line and they have not responded to any of my three emails. I need CEL to inform the courts the debt is paid and for them to remove CCJ. I will try and get my money back by disputing this but this is not my main priority.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to speed this up. My mortgage application is in and if they run another check on me it will all fall through....

Coupon-mad

Email the BPA and complain about CEL applying for judgment when you had already paid:

aos@britishparking.co.uk

state in the email that it breaches the Code of Practice regarding professionalism and that this is stopping your mortgage application. Put the claim number in the email and also copy in CEL:

appeals@ce-service.co.uk

info@ce-service.co.uk

...so they can see you have complained to their Trade Body.

BTW you could have got this set aside (wiped) by paying £255 to the court for a set aside. Your circumstances would have achieved that.

Registered keepers can't be held liable by CEL so it wasn't to be paid and would have been just as quick and would have removed it. Or you could have paid £100 for a set aside 'with consent' of CEL but that would have involved paying them as well (nasty, seeing as you are not liable).

Sabrina17

I have done this today. Thank you

taz128

Hello

The above details sound depressingly familiar, has anyone ever had a helpful response (i have just submitted my complaint today) from BPA ?

Also does anyone have a view on what actions can be taken against CEL for not informing courts about payments made within the specified timescales? So far my our mortgage application has been delayed by around 18 weeks, temporary house rental costs are mounting !

Coupon-mad

taz128 wrote: »

Hello

The above details sound depressingly familiar, has anyone ever had a helpful response (i have just submitted my complaint today) from BPA ?

Also does anyone have a view on what actions can be taken against CEL for not informing courts about payments made within the specified timescales? So far my our mortgage application has been delayed by around 18 weeks, temporary house rental costs are mounting !

Wow. Just wow.

Both you and this OP should write to:

- your MP
- the Dept for Transport (Andrew Jones)
- the DCLG (Marcus Jones)
- Sir Oliver Heald

as per numerous threads, this should not be allowed (such a shame, as CEL are a cinch to beat on appeal, one email and they go away):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5524754

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5524075

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5607970

taz128

Thanks for the hints on who to contact, I will be sending letters off tonight.

Yes you are correct in hind sight we should have been more proactive with the initial parking charge, which is a lesson learned, unfortunately once court papers start arriving is easy to panic, accept the judgement and pay up !

One interesting fact I have discovered is that the Co-op group (who’s car park was involved in the original 18min overstay offence) actually has a department set up to deal with complaints resulting from CEL. The only way I have officially (bank statements don’t count as adequate evidence) verified that the payment was received by CEL was via this Co-op run department.

I find it staggering to believe that a large (supposedly ethically minded) company like the Co-op are not only happily dealing with companies like CEL but also fully aware of the pain they are causing.

Coupon-mad

Co-op employees and customers were apparently sued in their hundreds by CEL, when the Co-op kicked them out and ended the contract over a year ago:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/update-on-michael-schwartz-now-of-civil.html

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/civil-enforcement-limited-discontinue.html

CEL filed hundreds (thousands?) of 'revenge' claims' going through their back catalogue of victims' data and to start with, the Co-op were paying them off when the first victims complained strongly enough...until they realised how huge the problem was, then they started coughing, shuffling their feet and putting their heads in the sand, it seems.

No-one knows what happened with the group of Co-op staff being sued by CEL but the claims were active then never got reported. Some might surmise the Co-op might have been forced to settle them because (perhaps) they knew the employees might sue them afterwards if not. We will probably never know.

The Co-op have got this badly wrong, they know it. If I were you I would consider sending a letter before claim for a three figure sum after all this is over, suing the Co-op and CEL (jointly named) for this harassing, unreasonable and deplorable conduct against a registered keeper over an overstay of a few minutes, no doubt caused by a queue at the till. You have undoubtedly suffered detriment and loss and a claim later on costs about £50 whcih you also reclaim - and I doubt the Co-op want these cases in the national papers.

And if the claim was signed by Michael Schwartz then you should read about what happened to him recently:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5623947

HTH - after you have sorted the immediate problem, come back here to discuss a potential 'revenge claim' (CEL stylee).