URGENT Court Claim Form Received - Civil Enforcement Ltd (CEL)

TheDrummer

Good morning,

I recently received (15th April 2019) a Court Claim Form for a total amount of £262.44 from claimant Civil Enforcement Ltd. Below is a summary of the particulars of the claim they submitted

Claim for monies relating to Parking Charge for parking in a private car park managed by the claimant in breach of the terms + conditions (T+Cs).
Debt + damages to the sum of £170.00
Violation date: 30/12/2017
Time in: 19:36
Time out: 23:25
£17.44 interest (8% p.a.)
£25 Court Fee
£50 Legal representative costs

So far I have followed the details in the newbies thread and emailed the data protection officer at CEL with a SAR request and acknowledged the money claim online and selected the option to defend all of this claim.

What should my next steps be? I'm concerned that they will not respond to the SAR before the 33 days from issue date and I'm not sure how to provide a legitimate defence but have outlined my position below:

I did park in the car park at the time indicated but I had displayed what I believed was a valid parking permit. A friend recently moved to an apartment block nearby and we had wrongly assumed his permit was valid for that car park. As such I did not purchase a parking ticket.

I received a Parking Charge Notice, issued on 26/01/2018 from CEL, date of incident 30/12/2017
I followed their internal dispute process and said that I had a parking permit visibly displayed in the car and provided a picture of the permit
They replied on the 12/02/2018 confirming that the appeal was unsuccessful as they have no record of payment and the picture that I submitted of the permit is not valid in the car park.
I stubbornly refused to reply to any further correspondence knowing that it was a private parking company who could not issue a 'fine' and only 'invoice' me and assumed that they would not be able to enforce it.
The last letter I received from them was a Letter Before Claim on the 24 Aug 2018 until I received the Court Claim on the 15th April 2019.
I'd assumed that they had just dropped the charge after not hearing from me given that nearly 8 months have passed since the letter before claim.

As a matter of principle I want to fight the claim but I'm not sure I have sufficient evidence or grounds for dismissal.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

The_Deep

Debt + damages to the sum of £170.00
£17.44 interest (8% p.a.)
£25 Court Fee
£50 Legal representative costs

They are trying to scam you. If they have not used a solicitor, and they appear not to have, they cannot claim legal representation costs, (ask them for a v.a.t. invoice). They can only claim interest, (if they win), on £100, making the total £125+.

Complain to your MP, they have a nasty surprise in store for these shysters.

On 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these private parking companies. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, and persistent offenders denied access. Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers.

Until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Coupon-mad

So far I have followed the details in the newbies thread and emailed the data protection officer at CEL with a SAR request and acknowledged the money claim online and selected the option to defend all of this claim.

What should my next steps be?

Like everyone else on any defence thread you care to click on!

Most people use bargepole's concise defence, please read any defence threads to see how they adapt it, and do the same for your case. And show us your draft.

And read any CEL defence threads from March/April, by searching the forum. And no, no-one cares about whether the SAR comes back in time for defence, it doesn't matter.

KeithP

TheDrummer, you have told us you received the Claim Form on 15th April 2019.

Can you please tell us the Issue Date on that Claim Form?

TheDrummer

Thank you all for your replies

TheDeep, How can I tell whether or not they have appointed a Solicitor from the Claim Form? All I can see on the form is that it has been Signed 'Civil Enforcement Limited' and below that '(Claimant's Legal Representative)' but with no indication of who that is.
I have also just sent an email to my MP citing the new legislation.

Coupon-mad, thank you for the advice on bargepole's defence, I'll draft something along those lines and reply to this post.

KeithP, apologies for the confusion, the Issue Date was the 15th April 2019.

rachity

I received a Parking Charge Notice, issued on 26/01/2018 from CEL, date of incident 30/12/2017

Was there a windscreen notice to driver, or did you only receive a postal notice to keeper?

TheDrummer

I don't think there was a windscreen notice because I remember being surprised when I received their 'Parking Charge Notice' dated the 26/01/2018.

rachity

(4)The notice must be given by—

(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted

The_Deep

TheDeep, How can I tell whether or not they have appointed a Solicitor from the Claim Form?

A solicitor will have written to you. CEL often do this in house, and will have therefore not incurred legal fees, hence my suggestion that you ask them for a v.a.t. invoice. Their failure to produce on can be raised in court.

TheDrummer

Thank you, its a lease car so would that give them more time to first find out the lease company that owns the car and then the registered driver?

KeithP

TheDrummer wrote: »

...the Issue Date was the 15th April 2019.

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th April, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 20th May 2019 to file your Defence.

That's nearly a whole month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the 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 "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep 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.