CEL Claim Form - Advice on Defence Please

Loadsofchildren123

Berribear wrote: »

I would like to get in touch with CEL to complain about backdating the PoC. Does anyone know CEL's email address, I've searched on their website and on here but couldn't find it. If no one knows it I'll ring them tomorrow and ask for it

Use the postal address on the Claim Form.

Berribear

Loadsofchildren123 wrote: »

Use the postal address on the Claim Form.

Okay will do its going in the post first thing tomorrow

I'm emailing my defence tomorrow.....just one question before I do:- I've noticed the claim form has a shortened version of my first name, does this have a bearing on anything??

Lamilad

ust one question before I do:- I've noticed the claim form has a shortened version of my first name, does this have a bearing on anything??

No. (10 characters minimum is annoying sometimes)

claxtome

Slight missing word in the first paragraph (sorry can't comment on wording):

Regarding Claim Form XXXX I am writing to complain that the Claimant have deliberately backdated the Particulars Of Claim

Berribear

Here is the final version of my Defence.


Please could the board regulars review and confirm it is okay to send to the Court?:-




I, XXXXX, deny I am liable to the Claimant for the entirety of the claim for each of the following reasons:-


1. The Claim Form issued on the 10th October 2017 by Civil Enforcement Ltd was not correctly filed under The Practice Direction as it was not signed by a legal person but signed by “Civil Enforcement Limited” (Claimant’s Legal Representative)”.

2. This Claimant has not complied with pre-court protocol (as outlined in the new Pre Action Protocol for Debt Claims, 1 October 2017). As an example as to why this prevents a full defence being filed at this time, a parking charge can be for trespass, breach of contract or a contractual charge. All these are treated differently in law and require a different defence. The wording of any contract will naturally be a key element in this matter, and a copy of the alleged contract has never been provided to the Defendant.
a. There was no complaint “Letter before County Court Claim”, under the Practice Direction
b. This is a speculative serial litigant, issuing a large number of “draft particulars”. The badly mail-merged documents contain very little information
c. The Schedule of Information is sparse of detailed information
d. The Claim Form Particulars were extremely sparse and divulged no cause of action nor sufficient detail. The Defendant has no idea what the claim is about – why the charge arose, what the alleged contract was; nothing that could be considered a fair exchange of information. Furthermore, the Claim Form Particulars did not contain any evidence of contravention or photographs. These documents, and the “Letter before County Court Claim” should have been produced, pursuant to paragraph 6 of the Practice Direction – Pre Action Conduct. This constitutes a deliberate attempt to thwart any efforts to defend the claim or to “take stock”, pursuant to paragraph 12 of the Practice Direction. Again, this totally contradicts the guidance outlined in the new Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (2017), the aims of which are:
i. “Early engagement and communication between the parties, including early exchange of sufficient information about the matter to help clarify whether there are any issues in dispute
ii. enable the parties to resolve the matter without the need to start court proceedings, including agreeing a reasonable repayment plan or considering using an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedure
iii. encourage the parties to act in a reasonable and proportionate manner in all dealings with one another (for example, avoiding running up costs which do not bear a reasonable relationship to the sums in issue) and
iv. support the efficient management of proceedings that cannot be avoided”.
e. The Defence therefore asks the Court to strike out the claim as disclosing no cause of action and having no reasonable prospect of success as currently drafted


f. Alternatively, the Defendant asks that the Claimant is required to file Particulars with Practice Directions and include at least the following information:
i. Whether the matter is being brought for trespass, breach of contract or a contractual charge, and an explanation as to the exact nature of the charge
ii. A copy of any contract it is alleged was in place (e.g. copies of signage)
iii. How any contract was concluded (if by performance, then copies of signage maps in place at the time)
iv. Whether keeper liability is being claimed, and if so copies of any Notice to Driver / Notice to Keeper
v. Whether the Claimant is acting as Agent or Principal, together with a list of documents they will rely on in this matter
vi. If charges over and above the initial charge are being claimed, the basis on which this is being claimed
vii. If interest charges are being claimed, the basis on which this is being claimed.
g. Once these Particulars have been filed, the Defendant asks for a reasonable time to file another defence.

3. The Claimant failed to meet the Notice to Keeper obligations of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Absent such a notice served within 14 days of the parking event and with fully compliant statutory wording, this Claimant is unable to hold me liable under the strict “keeper liability” provisions.
a. Schedule 4 also states that the only sum a keeper can be pursued for (if Schedule 4 is fully complied with, which it was not, and if there was a “relevant obligation” and “relevant contract”, fairly and adequately communicated, which there was not) is the sum on the Notice to Keeper.

4. The Claimant has added unrecoverable sums to the original parking charge. It is believed that the employee who drew up the paperwork is remunerated and the particulars of claim are templates, so it is simply not credible that £50 “legal representative’s costs were incurred.

5. This case can be distinguished from ParkingEye v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 (the Beavis case) which was dependent upon an undenied contract, formed by unusually prominent signage forming a clear offer and which turned on unique facts regarding the location and the interests of the landowner. Strict compliance with the BPA Code of Practice (CoP) was paramount and Mr Beavis was the driver who saw the signs and entered into a contract to pay £85 after exceeding a licence to park free. As far as I can ascertain, based upon the very vague particulars of claim and complete lack of evidence and photographs, and without having been furnished with the alleged signage “contract”, none of this applies in this material case.

6. In the absence of any proof of adequate signage contractually bound the Defendant then there can have been no contract and the Claimant has no case
a. The Claimant is put to strict proof at the time of the alleged event they had both advertisement consent and the permission from the site owner to display the signs
b. In the absence of strict proof I submit that the Claimant was committing an offence by displaying their signs and therefore no contract could have been entered into between the driver and the Claimant
c. Inadequate signs incapable of binding the driver – this distinguishes this case from the Beavis case:
i. Sporadic and illegible (charge not prominent nor large lettering) of site/entrance signage - breach of the POFA 2012 Schedule 4 and the BPA Code of Practice and no contract formed to pay any clearly stated sum
ii. It is believed the signage was not lit and any terms were not transparent or legible; this is an unfair contract, not agreed by the driver and contrary to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in requiring a huge inflated sum as “compensation” from by an authorised party using the premises as intended
iii. No promise was made by the driver that could constitute consideration because there was no offer known nor accepted. No consideration flowed from the Claimant
iv. The signs are believed to have no mention of any debt collection additional charge, which cannot form part of any alleged contract.
d. BPA CoP breaches – this distinguishes this case from the Beavis case:
i. The signs were not compliant in terms of the font size, lighting or positioning
ii. The sum pursued exceeds £100
iii. There is/was no compliant landowner contract



7. No standing – this distinguishes this case from the Beavis case:
a. It is believed Civil Enforcement Ltd do not hold a legitimate contract at this car park. As an agent, the Claimant has no legal right to bring such a claim in their name which should be in the name of the landowner.

8. The Beavis case confirmed the fact that, if it is a matter of trespass (not breach of any contract), a parking firm has no standing as a non-landowner to pursue even nominal damages.

9. The charge is an unenforceable penalty based upon a lack of commercial justification. The Beavis case confirmed that the penalty rule is certainly engaged in any case of a private parking charge and was only disengaged due to the unique circumstances of that case, which do not resemble this claim.

10. Due to the length of time, the Defendant has little to no recollection of the day in question. It would not be reasonable to expect a registered keeper to be able to recall the potential driver(s) of the vehicle nearly ten months later. In any case, there is no such obligation in law and this was confirmed in the POPLA Annual Report 2015 by parking expert barrister and Lead Adjudicator, Henry Greenslade, who also clarified the fact that a registered keeper can only be held liable under the POFA Schedule 4 and not by presumption or any other legal argument.


11. The Defendant who was the keeper of the vehicle referred to in the Claim sold the vehicle in February 2017, so did not receive a Parking Charge Notice from the Claimant and as such had no opportunity to appeal this baseless charge. If the Defendant had received a Parking Charge Notice they would have advised the Claimant that their charge was misconceived and could have avoided litigation in the first place.

The Defendant denies any liability whatsoever to the Claimant in any matter and asks the Court to note that the Claimant has:


Failed to disclose any cause of action in the incorrectly filed Claim Form issued on 10th October 2017.



Sent a template, well-known to be generic cut and paste “Particulars” of claim relying on irrelevant case law (Beavis) which ignores the fact that this Claimant cannot hold registered keepers liable in law, due to their own choice of non-POFA documentation.





Deliberately backdated the Particulars Of Claim which were served separate to the Claim Form pursuant to CPR Rule 7.4(1)(b). The Claim form was issued on 10th October, stating that the Particulars of Claim would be provided to Defendant within 14 days after service of the claim form. The further Particulars of Claim and covering letter were sent under cover of 27th October. As such, according to Rule 6.3(b) they were served on 30th October (as 28/29 October were Saturday/Sunday). However, they were dated the 11th October


The Defendant believes that the Claimant deliberately backdated the Particulars Of Claim to try to gain an advantage by making it appear that the Defendant had filed their defence late, or by confusing them into having to rush to file their defence prematurely.

The vague Particulars of Claim disclose no clear cause of action. The court is invited to strike out the claim of its own volition as having no merit and no reasonable prospects of success.

I confirm that the above facts and statements are true to the best of my knowledge and recollection.

Berribear

Can somebody please confirm the final draft is okay to send?

Thank you

claxtome

A couple of suggestions for improvement:

a. There was no complaint “Letter before County Court Claim”, under the Practice Direction

Suggest you leave out 'under the Practice Direction' as you go into detail in para d

6. In the absence of any proof of adequate signage contractually bound the Defendant then there can have been no contract and the Claimant has no case

Suggest you reword this sentence as it doesn't read right.

1505grandad

Slight spelling mistake - a) compIAnt

Berribear

As LoadsofChildren has pointed out on the "CEL very active.." post, CEL are in breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, as they don't send a copy of the contract they aledge you are in breach of.


LOC has recommended that if you have received a CEL claim form and received the POC separate, you should write to CEL informing them of this and request a copy of the contract.


You should also write to the court to make them aware of this also and request that it is noted on the court file.


You should also add this information to your defence (if you haven't already submitted it|)


Here is a template letter that LOC has helped me prepare that you can adapt and use:-


Dear XXXXX

Claim number [xxxxxxx]

Regarding Claim Form XXXX I am writing to draw to your attention to the fact that you have failed to provide me with a copy of the contract with the claim you sent.. You are therefore in breach of the Civil Procedure Rules.

The Civil Procedure Rules are quite clear, Practice Direction 16, para 7.3, states that Claimant suing under contract, must provide a copy of the contract with the Claim.

Although you may claim that this does not apply to MCOL claims (the exemption is contained in practice Direction 7E para 5.2A) Practice Direction 7E para 5.2A goes on to say that the exemption does NOT apply if separate Particulars of Claim are served.

As you served the Particulars of Claim separate to the Claim Form, then you are clearly in breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, by not providing me with a copy of the contract you aledge I am in breach of.


This is a serious matter and I will be writing to the court to inform them of this and will ask that it is formally noted on the court file.

I request that you supply me with a full copy of the contract you aledge I am in breach of pursuant to Practice Direction 16 para 7.3 and Practice Direction 7E para 5.2A.

Your Faithfully

XXXXXX

Berribear

Spelling mistake in the above.....should be allege