Cel court defence! Urgent help needed please!

parkingdefence

Dear all,

Thank you in advance for your help and guidance. I have already spent many hours reading the newbies thread here and it has been really helpful. However, i am new to this and so it has been a bit of information overload. I apologise in advance if i am repeating anything that has been said before or not doing things exactly right. Go easy on me

Background: I received a claim form from the county court a few weeks back. I work away from home but luckily i caught it in time. The issue date was 21/11/18. i have already completed my acknowledgment of service online as per advice on this forum leaving the defence space blank. From my understanding (correct me if i am wrong), i have till monday 24/12/18 to submit my defence (33 days from issue date). I am in the process of constructing my defence based on various forum advice and previous defence from pargepole and coupon-mad. I would appreciate any further pointers that are specific to my case (which is described below).

Particulars to my case: The private land in this dispute did not have clearly marked bays. Furthermore they used ANPR camera to see the registered car entering and exiting after half an hour to issue a ticket that was posted to the registered keeper. No PCN was stuck to the windshield. Furthermore, the NTK had only an entry photo and exit photo with no photo of the car parked not displaying a "valid permit". I have obtained photos of the signage as well as photos of the private land with no parking bays and was wondering if i should post them here?

My defence so far (Still a work in progress):
1/ The Claim Form issued on the 21st November 2018 by Civil Enforcement Ltd was not correctly filed under The Practice Direction as it was not signed by a legal person. The claim does not have a valid signature and is not a statement of truth. Practice Direction 22 requires that a statement of case on behalf of a company must be signed by a person holding a senior position within the company and state their position, yet the form only states that it has been issued by Civil Enforcement Limited as the Claimant's Legal Representative. If the party is legally represented, the legal representative may sign the statement of truth but in his own name and not that of his firm or employer.

2/The allegation appears to be based on images by their ANPR camera at the entrance and exit to the site. This is merely an image of the vehicle in transit, entering and leaving the car park in question and is not evidence of the registered keeper having parked and 'Not Displaying a Valid permit'

3/ Due to the sparse details on letter to keeper, the equally lacking and embarrassing Particulars of Claim (POC) and the complete lack of any Letter before Claim, this Claimant afforded the Defendant no opportunity to take stock, obtain data, copy letters, and images of the contract on signage. There has been no chance to even understand the allegation, let alone discuss or dispute it prior to court action, as should have been the case under the October 2017 pre-action protocol for debt claims.!

4/ The ‘land’ which forms the basis of the current claim consists of a poorly marked ‘private land’ with no allocated parking spaces with and no signage describing the restricted area of parking. Given this lack of clarity regarding how or where vistors are allowed or not allowed to park with a parking permit, no contract can be construed from the Claimant's signage, under the contra proferentem principle.

5. Accordingly, it is denied that the Defendant breached any of the Claimant's purported contractual terms, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

6. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorization from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.


7. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100. The claim includes an additional £X ( upwards of 80 pounds-did not want to state the exact amount incase it can be identified) , for which no calculation or explanation is given, and which appears to be an attempt at double recovery.

8. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

Thank you.

KeithP

parkingdefence wrote: »

I received a claim form from the county court a few weeks back. I work away from home but luckily i caught it in time. The issue date was 21/11/18. i have already completed my acknowledgment of service online as per advice on this forum leaving the defence space blank. From my understanding (correct me if i am wrong), i have till monday 24/12/18 to submit my defence (33 days from issue date).

Yes, your dates are almost spot on.


Did you do the AoS before 10th December?

If so, then with a Claim Issue Date of 21st November, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Thursday 27th December 2018 to file your Defence. A few extra days due to Christmas court closing dates.

That's longer than you thought, 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 suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. 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'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If it is not, then chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of [URL="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread[/URL] to find out exactly what to do with it.

parkingdefence

Thank you for comment KeithP. Much appreciated. I did the AOS a week before the 10th so it was in good time. Any advice on the defence statement? And should i post photos of the parking signage and the private land?

Redx

1) its not a statement, its a DEFENCE , nothing more

as we tell every other poster who comes here, the defence should be bespoke but can be based on examples by other members or any people with legal training like BARGEPOLE

people like KeithP and myself etc rarely if ever comment about a legal defence , you dont want comments from anyone except those qualified enough to comment on your defence, and/or somebody who uses common sense and smarts to spot obvious mistakes or errors etc in a defence

If I see something like an obvious error or mistake, I will point it out, as will many others on here, it may be grammar, it may be spelling, or a wrong date etc

but it wont be about what your legal arguments are

however, if BARGEPOLE or somebody similar takes a red pen to your defence, or rewrites it, then take heed (he has done this to half a dozen this year) - but this is not a legal aid forum, so you may get NO feedback on the legal content of the defence

you need to look at his defences because yours does not contain his header or footer , so there are 2 glaring omissions that stand out to me

I explained this recently in this thread and post

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=75126216&postcount=46


your evidence like photos etc are what are needed for your WS + EVIDENCE stage, in a few months time

parkingdefence

Thanks Redx. I agree that input from non-legal experts can muddy the water. But from yours and others experience here, any pointers as to where someone defended an ANPR or parking on land that is not well marked out with bays? The signage stated "permit holders only. Visitors must obtain a permit from reception" then in smaller letter underneath If you park without a valid permit, you agree to pay £100." surely this does not constitute an agreement?

bboylost

:beer: just came across your post , I think your defense is pretty much on point, I am having the similar situation like you fighting against the scumbag CEL, I think I will just copy and paste your well written defense and tweet it a bit as my defense for my case.

Base on my research , they will most likely pull off the case right before going to the court , they are just trying their luck to default win the case by the defendant ignoring the claim form !

As long as you write something "reasonable" on the defense (which I think what you wrote is pretty good to me), I think they will just give it up.

By the way, what is "AOS" ?

Good luck with your case! :beer:

nosferatu1001

Permit holdes only means they do not offer parking to anyone who is not a permit holder.
You cannot forbid something then later claim you Offered it.

parkingdefence

By the way, what is "AOS" ?


AOS is "acknowledgment of service". It's what has to been done within 14 days of notice once a claim is received from county court to inform them that you will be defending it.


nosferatu1001- has that ben successfully used in the past as a defence? thank you

nosferatu1001

Yes - forbidding term / forbidding contract is the phrase to look for.