CEL - County Court Letter (in default)

TrickyC89

Hi All,

I've attempted to read through the posts relating to Civil Enforcement Ltd & their use of the 'County Court Business Centre' to find out where I stand but keep seeing conflicted advice, so I'm after some clarification if possible.

I received a so-called 'PCN' from CEL many months ago and proceeded to ignore it as I found the details of the letter to be laughable;
1. A picture of my car driving out of the car park, no faces shown.
2. They have sent letters to my parents address, as that is where the car is registered with the DVLA. I am not on the electoral roll at this address or live there.
3. Amount originally invoiced for is way over the amount of potential lost revenue (£2 loss at absolute most.)

They have sent various letters over the months trying to scare me into paying, which i have rightly ignored. Today, I received (or my parents received) the below letter which they have sent me a picture of.

https:// i1306.photobucket.com/albums/s577/TrickyTris/CEL-Letter-1-min_zpsvzattp8t.jpg
(You'll have to remove the space in the URL as I'm a newbie it wont let me post a direct link!)

How legitimate is this letter? When I research 'County Court Business Centre' I find a huge conflict of "Respond Now!!" or "Ignore them!!" posts and not a single one where someone has received the same letter as me.

What should I be doing at this point? I've read that these guys have managed to give CCJ's to people, despite them operating in a not so legal manner. I cant afford to receive a CCJ as that will effectively put an end to me being able to get on the property ladder in the next 6 years.

Notes:
- I have not responded to a single letter or been in contact with CEL or their fake other 'legal' companies.
- Every single letter has been addressed using the details which they requested from the DVLA, so the address is not where I live or have lived for over a year. (My car is registered & perfectly legal in every way. Only way i have received the letters is by them being forwarded on by my parents.)
- Amount being invoiced/demanded for is far in excess of any potential lost revenue.
- Supposed 'county court' letters have printed 'stamps' on them with very low-res crown court watermarks, which look laughable and very fake. (Even by online scammers standards, they are embarrassingly poor quality!)
- Driver of the vehicle has never been identified.

At this point, I don't know whether to carry on ignoring and see what the next step is for them (I feel they have already skipped a step by sending this letter) or figure out a way of giving these con-merchants their unjustified payday.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated on how to tackle this and ensure I don't receive a CCJ.

Thanks in advance!
TrickyC89

The_Deep

I have not responded to a single letter or been in contact with CEL or their fake other 'legal' companies

I suggest that you engage with them from now on.

court watermarks, which look laughable and very fake. (Even by online scammers standards, they are embarrassingly poor quality!)

Nevertheless, they are likely to be genuine. You ensure you do not receive a CCJ by not ignoring letters from a court, and you would do well, imo, to reregister your car at your real address.

Read some of Parking Pranksters blogs to learn the rules of the game into which you have been dragged. So far you seem to have done everything you should not have done.

Le_Kirk

Here is your link made live: - http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/TrickyTris/media/cGF0aDovQ0VMLUxldHRlci0xLW1pbl96cHN2emF0dHA4dC5qcGc=/?ref=


This looks to be a CCJ and needs paying within one month if you do not want your credit record trashed. If you do have valid reason(s) why you should not pay it you need to follow the instructions at bottom left of the letter.

TrickyC89

Thank you Le_Kirk.

@The Deep - Thank you for your response. Could you shed any light on what this letter actually is or where it is in the county court process? Am I right in assuming this is in no way a CCJ yet but more a final 30-day chance to pay them before they go down the CCJ or bailiff route? For such serious letters, they provide very little insight into what they actually mean and the processes involved.

I'll take a look at the Parking Pranksters blog to see if that can shed some light on my position.

Thanks again!

Le_Kirk

TrickyC89 wrote: »

Thank you Le_Kirk.

@The Deep - Thank you for your response. Could you shed any light on what this letter actually is or where it is in the county court process? Am I right in assuming this is in no way a CCJ yet but more a final 30-day chance to pay them before they go down the CCJ or bailiff route? For such serious letters, they provide very little insight into what they actually mean and the processes involved.

I'll take a look at the Parking Pranksters blog to see if that can shed some light on my position.

Thanks again!

That is a CCJ, not a final chance, it requires paying within a month of 7th Jan 2019. Maybe you posted again before I had finished editing my previous post.

KeithP

TrickyC89 wrote: »

Could you shed any light on what this letter actually is...

That definitely is a County Court Judgment.

It says across the top "Judgment for Claimant (in default)".

You have ignored a Claim Form. It states "You have not replied to the claim form".

You have failed to Defend the claim against you.

The case has been awarded to the Claimant.

You now owe the Claimant £290.21.

What else do you want to know?

Redx

that letter is a definite CCJ due to you ignoring all the paperwork

you have one month from the date on the letter to pay it IN FULL, or your credit rating is trashed for 6 years

also, if you do not update your V5C and/or DRIVING LICENCE address with the DVLA, you face a possibility of up to £1000 for each one

you ignore these letters at your peril, which is why you now have a default CCJ in your name

Umkomaas

Unequivocally that is a CCJ about to explode in your face if it's not paid. You could challenge via a set-aside, but that will cost you £255, with little chance in my view of recovering that from CEL even if you actually win a set aside. There's no guarantee a Judge will grant a set aside given that you've been ignoring correspondence all the way along. Then you've sent £255 shooting into a black hole and you still owe £290 CCJ.

I've attempted to read through the posts relating to Civil Enforcement Ltd & their use of the 'County Court Business Centre' to find out where I stand but keep seeing conflicted advice, so I'm after some clarification if possible.

I've never read conflicting advice about CEL. Categorically fail to deal with one of their PCNs and you will end up with a CCJ - it is their well reported Modus Op, a deliberate business strategy in greater use than by any other PPC.

I received a so-called 'PCN' from CEL many months ago and proceeded to ignore it as I found the details of the letter to be laughable;
1. A picture of my car driving out of the car park, no faces shown.
2. They have sent letters to my parents address, as that is where the car is registered with the DVLA. I am not on the electoral roll at this address or live there.
3. Amount originally invoiced for is way over the amount of potential lost revenue (£2 loss at absolute most.)

1 - that's the nature of ANPR images, not designed for facial recognition, they simply record vehicle registration numbers.

2. You need to urgently update (2 separate notifications) the DVLA on your new address for both your V5C (logbook) and your driving licence. DVLA can issue real fines for non-compliance with their rules - up to £1,000 a throw.

3. The issue that private parking charges should only reflect actual loss was blown away by 6 of 7 Judges in The Supreme Court (ParkingEye v Beavis) over 3 years ago.

You should always treat with absolute seriousness any correspondence that suggests you owe a third party money. Always check it out at the earliest opportunity. I'm afraid you've left this all too late.

The_Deep

If you feel aggrieved you can complain to your MP as it is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business.

Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

Coupon-mad

Supposed 'county court' letters have printed 'stamps' on them with very low-res crown court watermarks, which look laughable and very fake. (Even by online scammers standards, they are embarrassingly poor quality!)

Oh dear. That was your downfall. You ignored a claim form from the CCBC. It wasn't a fake, CEL don't send them.

The_Deep

The Court Service is obviously strapped for cash. Their performance also leaves much to be desired, and my local court rarely answers the telephone.