Cel parking defence help

bmw25

KeithP - I was not given physical forms as they sent it to a OLD address, when I called up with a reference the staff at the business centre emailed me black N forms for which I would need to fill one out and send back depending on what I wanted to do.

This is what was sent with the blank forms:

If you are returning your claim response or any claim response forms to the court by email then you MUST state the phrase ‘CLAIM RESPONSE’, together with your claim number, in the subject line of your email. Please note all full admissions must be sent directly to the claimant or their solicitor.

Thank you for your enquiry,

Please read these notes carefully - they will help you decide what to do next.

Court staff can help you complete the reply forms and tell you about court procedures. They cannot give legal advice.
If you need legal advice you should contact a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau immediately.
You must respond to this claim form within 14 days of the date of service. The attached forms may be used for that purpose.
The date of service is taken as 5 days after the issue date.


If you agree with all of the claim and wish to pay it now
Take or send the money, including any interest and costs, to
the claimant. The address for payment is on the front of the
claim form. You should ensure that the claimant receives the
money within 14 days of the date of service. There is further
information on how to pay below.


If you agree with all of the claim and are asking for time to pay
Complete the admission form (N9A) and send it directly to the
claimant within 14 days of the date of service. Please see the
address on the front of the claim form to which documents are
to be sent. Do not send a copy to the court.
Filing an admission may result in Judgment being entered
against you.


If you admit only part of the claim
Complete the admission form (N9A) and the defence form
(N9B) and send them both to the court within 14 days of the
date of service.


If you disagree with the claim or if you want to make a claim against the claimant (counterclaim)
You must send either the completed acknowledgment of
service form or a defence to the court within 14 days of the
date of service. If you send the acknowledgment of service
you must send a defence to the court to arrive no later than 28
days from the date of service.


Registration of Judgments

If this claim results in a Judgment against you, details will be entered on a public register, the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines. These details will then be available for credit reference agencies to pass onto credit grantors and others seeking information on your financial standing. This will make it difficult for you to get credit. A list of credit reference agencies is available from the Registry Trust Limited, 173/175 Cleveland Street,
London, W1T 6QR.


Costs and Interest

Additional costs and interest may be added to the amount claimed on the front of the claim form if Judgment is entered against you. If Judgment is for £5,000 or more, or is in respect of a debt which attracts contractual or statutory interest for late payment, the claimant may be entitled to further interest.

How to Pay

• payments must be made to the person named in the address for payment box quoting any reference and the court case number.
• do not bring or send payments to the court - they will not be accepted.
• you should allow at least 4 days for your payments to reach the claimant or their representative.
• make sure that you keep records and can account for all payments made. Proof may be required if there is any disagreement. It is not safe to send cash unless you use registered post.
• a leaflet giving further advice about payment can be obtained from any county court.
• if you need any further information you should contact the claimant or the claimant’s representative.

Please note: The attached form(s) contains fillable form fields.

bmw25

Thanks for letting me know of this, I didn’t get any username or password provided to me as I never got the original application form with credentials on it, my ex partner sent the original forms back as it was sent to her address.

bmw25

This in all honesty I can’t as I have to refer back to the fact that i never received a application form from them it was sent to an old address which ex partner sent back to them, when I called up they were vague on details and just sent me blank forms, I wasn’t given any information on when the date is.

bmw25

Hi KeithP

I have called the county court business centre they said they have received my acknowledgment form and I have until the 16th February to represent them with my defence.

How should I move ahead now ?

KeithP

bmw25 wrote: »

Hi KeithP

I have called the county court business centre they said they have received my acknowledgment form and I have until the 16th February to represent them with my defence.

How should I move ahead now ?

Then I can only suggest you work with the date that they have given you.

In post #12 above, you can ignore the first part of those notes they have sent, down to the heading 'Registration of Judgments'.


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 not 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 the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

bmw25

Thanks KeithP your a god send mate !!

nosferatu1001

So now you must get on with your defence.
Post 2 gives you an EXAMPLE defene. Read it to understand how it is laid out, and how it is CONSTRUCTED - it makes statements and arguments. It does not include evidence. I tis not a narrative.

Find CEL threads - search by post - 2018 or onwards only
Do not elaborate overly. Concise defences read better to a court and while theyre hard, are worth doing.

bmw25

Hi KeithP

Can i get some help with some defence templates as i don'tknow which one i should use as i can see some are being used against electronic payments by phone apps and the other is to deny i was ever there..

I sent a SAR request by post recorded delivery as the admin at CEL would not provide an email and requested this in writing,

I do not know what data or evidence they hold on me as like i said i don't remember parking in that parking area.

Redx

you wont get any help here on your defence until you have drafted it and posted it below (nobody here will do it for you, so be warned)

this is a self help forum, you draft it and post it, and hopefully people will critique it and help you to hone it, same as everyone else who has a court claim for a pcn


if you wont or cannot do this , then you need to pay a lawyer to do it for you (wont be cheap either)

bmw25

This is a draft which i have got at the moment will the suffice for myself ?

In the County Court Business Centre
Claim Number:

---

Between:

Civil Enforcement Limited v

---

I am

---

, the defendant in this matter and previous registered keeper of vehicle

---

. I currently reside at

---

.

I deny I am liable for the entirety of the claim for each of the following reasons:

1. The Claim Form issued on 16/01/2019 by Civil Enforcement Limited 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. And 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 compliant ‘Letter before County Court Claim’, under the Practice Direction.

b) This is a speculative serial litigant, issuing a large number of identical '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. The Claim form Particulars did not contain any evidence of contravention or photographs.

e) The Defence therefore asks the Court to strike out the claim as having no reasonable prospect of success as currently drafted.

f) Alternatively, the Defendant asks that the Claimant is required to file Particulars which comply 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 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.

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 as there was no clear, transparent information about how to obtain a permit either inside or outside the site) is the sum on the Notice to Keeper. They cannot pluck another sum from thin air and bolt that on as well when neither the signs, nor the NTK, nor the permit information mentioned a possible £267.00 for outstanding debt and damages.

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 (or even admin) costs' were incurred. I deny the Claimant is entitled to any interest whatsoever.

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. None of this applies in this material case.

6. In the absence of any proof of adequate signage that 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 that 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) 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:
It is believed Civil Enforcement 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. No legitimate interest - this distinguishes this case from the Beavis case:
This Claimant files serial claims regarding sites where they have lost the contract, known as revenge claims and it believed this is one such case. This is not a legitimate reason to pursue a charge out of proportion with any loss or damages the true landowner could pursue.

9. 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.

10. 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.

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

(a) Failed to disclose any cause of action in the incorrectly filed Claim Form issued on 12th June 2017.

(b) 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.

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.

Signed
Date