CEL County Court Papers

Gazza456

Hi.
My son received papers for a parking fine from 2016, and need some assistance to decide if this is worth defending. He had a puncture and pulled into the (Parking Eye) car park to change the spare wheel (this was the safest place to do this as in a town centre). He had no intention of parking in the location, but took him 25 minutes to change the wheel which was over the 15 minutes allowed. The fine came through at £100 but £60 if paid immediately. We appealed to POPLA in 2016 which was unsuccessful. Since then, there have been letters from ZZPS and Wright Hassell (And others), until CEL got involved. We received a litigation threat, and now have received court papers.

I have looked at various threads, and many of the defence wordings mention signage points which I am sure this car park has appropriate signs. I have read that CEL don't turn up, so am happy to defend this. The amount being claimed is now £278 in total so any assistance on the best course of action would be appreciated.

The_Deep

The amount being claimed is now £278 in total so any assistance on the best course of action would be appreciated.

Why so much? Even if the PPC took him to court and won, unless they engaged a solicitor, the most a judge would award them is unlikely to be in excess of £150. They may have shot themselves in the foot here by being greedy. Ask them to itemise the amount.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P.
for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the House of Commons recently

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41 recently.

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

nosferatu1001

This doesnt make sense

It cant be a parking eye car park, and now CEL getting involved. PE and CEL are seprate and do not work together.

Obviously - newbies thread, post 2. Takes you through the ENTIRE process
First step is the defendant MUST (and ONLY the defendant) MUST acknowledge the claim, ONLINE, today.

Tell us the date of isue.

KeithP

What is the Date of Issue on the Claim Form?

Can you please post the exact text in the Particulars of Claim box on the Claim Form?


Also, have you used your real name as your forum username?

If so, you would be well advised to get your forum username changed to something completely anonymous.

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Gazza456

Thanks.
The issue date is 1st October 2018. I have entered the AOS online.
The particulars are:
Claim for monies relating to a parking charge for parking in a private car park managed by the Claimant in breach of terms + conditions. Drivers are allowed to park in accordance with T+Cs of use. ANPR cameras and/or manual patrols are used to monitor vehicles entering + exiting the site. Debt + damages claimed the sum of 236.00
Violation date: 14/06/2016
Time in: 10:32 Time out: 10:57
PCN ref: Ref xxxxxxxxxxx
Car registration no. Xxxxxx
Car Park: xxxxxxxx

Total due - 236
The claimant claims the sum of 279.24 for monies relating to a parking charge per above including 43.24 interest pursuant to S.69 of the county court act 1984
Rate 8.00% pa from dates above to 28/9/18
Total debt and interest due - 279.24

Court fee - 25
Costs - 50
Total amount - 354.24.

Redx

and exactly WHO is the claimant ?


the claimant issued the original PCN and NTK, plus that same company initiated the debt colelctor letters too, plus this MCOL as well


PARKING EYE and CEL are 2 different companies, so one of them is bogus and needs removing from this thread

Gazza456

Another question.....the claimant is CEL. The car park owner is a club that is now closed. I assume that CEL have taken over the debt. Is this allowed? CEL have only featured in the last few months. How can they be allowed to claim when it was not their land?

Gazza456

Sorry, I may have been mistaken about Parking Eye. I cannot find any reference to them. Maybe I assumed it was them.

CEL were never the claimant until recently. We had letters from ZZPS, Wright Hassel etc, but then nothing for ages until CEL.

Redx

I dont think you know the score on this

a PPC is contracted by the landowner or retailer , and no one company cannot take over the pcn from another company

but a landowner can change from one company to another, but any pcn that was issued stays with the company that produced it

I think you are mistaken on who issued the original PCN (it wasnt Parking Eye)

if CEL issued the original pcn, then they are the claimant , not Parking Eye

so I think you are confused , so check the original pcn and see whose name is on it


if it was CEL then , and is CEL now, than focus on CEL only

KeithP

garethedmunds456 wrote: »

The issue date is 1st October 2018. I have entered the AOS online.

With a Claim Issue Date of 1st October, and having done the AoS in a timely manner, you have until until 4pm on Monday 5th November 2018 to file your Defence.

Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as described here:

1) Print your Defence.
2) Sign it and date it.
3) Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4) Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
5) Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6) Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
7) Wait for your Directions Questionnaire and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Gazza456

You are correct regarding my lack of knowledge on the topic!
We don't have the original PCN so cannot remember who issued it, although I cannot recall it coming from CEL.