Gladstone ‘Letter Before Claim’

noobie247

Afternoon all,

Just an update on this, I have just spoken to the issuing court office and no attempt has been made by Gladstones to get this cancelled, so I would assume they seem happy enough to take this further.

The CCJ needs to be paid by the 6th, so what would you guys advise now?

Get in contact with the court and make the payment myself with regards to having it set aside, or as its so close to the date to make the payment for the CCJ and then go down the route of getting it back?

Thanks

Quentin

You have left your full name on display in this thread

Additionally you look to have inadvertently used your real name as your forum name

You need to edit your post to remove your name, and ask MSE to change your forum name to something completely anonymous

noobie247

Thanks for pointing that out, removed.

KeithP

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noobie247

I will be applying for the CCJ to be set aside today (I will double check that Gladstones haven't done it again at around 11am).

Would you advise to get in contact with a solicitor also?

noobie247

N244 Form, Question 9.

"Who should be served with this application"

Notes state "please indicate in the box provided who you want the court to send a copy of the application to, and their address for service"

Do I put Gladstones in here or the Claimant, the parking company?

nosferatu1001

Gladstone's as they handled the claim. Same as when buying a house your conveyancer is contacted and not you directly.

Gladstone's has likely not seen anything

You MUST SHOW US YOUR DRSFT ORDER
This is fairly obvious - it's what you want to the court to Order

1) judgment of x date set aside as claim was never served
2) costs summarily assessed at £255 for hearing plus 4 hours at £60 per hour to attend the hearing, due to claimants unreasonable behaviour in filing a claim contrary to good faith and knowingly making a false statement
3) claim struck out as having no reasonable chance of success

Something along those lines. Hopefully you understand this
You also need a witness statement and ideally a short one page defence to the underlying claim.

KeithP

Look at this post for a sample Draft Order:

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=74474585&postcount=9

noobie247

Thanks, this was the template that I had found yesterday while searching.

I have filled it out but have the following queries:

What dates do I put in 3 and 4? The CCJ was issued on 06/07/2018 if this helps

Where do I mention the extra costs including mileage, parking and 5 hours etc? Is this included on a seperate sheet? I see it is mentioned in section 5 but there isn't a final tally.

noobie247

DRAFT ORDER

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT: Northampton County Court

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LIMITED (Claimant)

And

XXX (Defendant)

CLAIM No: XXX

IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated 06/07/2018 be set aside.

2. Costs to be reserved.

3. Unless the Claimant serves a copy of the claim form on the Defendant by 4pm on XX/XX/18 paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £255 and the claim shall be struck out.

4. If the Claimant serves the claim form as directed in paragraph 3 the Defendant shall file and serve a defence by 4pm on XX/XX/2018.

5. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £255 plus the Defendant's costs for attending the hearing.

6. All enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

WITNESS STATEMENT

7. I am XXXX and I am the defendant in this matter. This is my supporting statement to my application dated 3rd August 2018 requesting to:

a. Set aside the default judgment dated 06th July 2018 as it was defectively served using an old address.

b. Order for the claimant to pay the defendant £255 as reimbursement for the set aside fee.

c. Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

DEFAULT JUDGMENT

8. I understand that the claimant obtained a default judgment against me on 6th July 2018. However, it was not served at my current address, therefore I was not aware of the county court judgment until a few weeks ago when I checked my credit file using Experian. I understand that this claim was served at XXXX. However, I moved to a new address in September 2016. Please see my name on the electoral register (Annex A).

9. I received a !!!8220;letter before claim!!!8221; from Gladstone Solicitors on 1st December 2017 explaining how their client has to follow the new protocol to debt claims since it was past 1st October 2017. I pointed out various breaches of the applicable Practice Direction !!!8211; Pre-action Conduct and also the new Pre-action Protocol for debt claims. I then stated that this letter should be treated as a formal request for these documents.

10. At the end of this letter I stated that I had moved address and that I had been sent their !!!8220;letter before claim!!!8221; by the occupiers of my old address. Please note that I also had my new address listed in the top right hand corner of the letter.

11. A response was sent to my new address dated 4th January 2018, with which I acknowledged in my 2nd letter to Gladstones. My 2nd letter was sent on 10th January 2018 and was the same as the first letter, stating that it should be treated as a formal request for the documents etc. Again, my new address was in the top right hand corner of the letter.
12. I found out about this CCJ when checking my Experian credit report. At this point I contacted the Registry Trust and then the issuing court.

13. I believe the claimant has behaved unreasonably by not ensuring they used my correct contact details. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. Gladstones persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results in an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system.


14. Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. Therefore, I believe that the default judgment against me was irregular and I respectfully request it is set aside.


ORDER DISMISSING THE CLAIM

15. I further believe that the original parking charge notice has no merit and should thus be dismissed. The claimant is a parking company which seeks to claim for parking charge notices which the claimant believes are due as a result of an alleged breach of contract for parking by a driver.

16. The claimant has obtained details of the vehicle for which the defendant was the registered keeper and used those details to raise a parking charge notice. I dispute this charge in its entirety as I do not know the wording of the contract nor do I know the means by which the contract was alleged to have come into force.

17. If the claimant can evidence that the alleged incident relates to the vehicle RE10 CNK any notice to keeper issued by the claimant must comply with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Otherwise, the claimant is required to prove the driver of the vehicle they claim was involved in the alleged incident. I submit that the claimant cannot provide such evidence and further submit that the claimant does not include (Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) wording on the parking charge notices they issue and therefore cannot hold the registered keeper of the vehicle automatically liable.


18. I further submit that the parking charge notice is without merit due to substantial issues in law. This is for the following reasons:

a. No Loss Suffered by Claimant: Their claim is presumably based on damages for alleged breach of contract. It is a fundamental principle of English Law that a party who suffers damages through breach of contract can only seek through court action to be put back in the same position as they would have been if the breach had not occurred. In order to do so they must demonstrate their actual or genuine pre-estimate of loss. I submit that no loss has been suffered by the claimant as a result of any alleged breaches of contract on the part of any driver of the vehicle of which I was the registered keeper. I further submit that any loss to the landowner (which would be the only party able to claim such losses) would be minimal.

c. The Charge is an Unenforceable Penalty: I further submit that the parking charge is nothing but an unenforceable penalty as it is not based on any loss suffered due to the alleged infraction.

d. No Contract with the Claimant: Any contract must have offer, acceptance, and consideration both ways. There would not have been consideration from the claimant to the driver. Therefore, there is no consideration from the driver to Civil Enforcement Ltd.

19. On this basis I believe that the claimant has not provided any reasonable cause of action and thus the claim should be dismissed in its entirety.

20. In order to make informed decisions and statements in my defence as former keeper of the vehicle I will require copies of all paperwork and pictures of all signs from the claimant.

Statement of Truth:
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


Evidence list

Annex A !!!8211; Electoral Roll
Annex B !!!8211; Copies of letters sent to Gladstones