CEL Letter before Court defence

gavjewson

Hi All,
I have trawled through the forum over the last few days trying to find a suitable defence to submit regarding a parking fine from CEL.
This is the timeline of events;
Mid December i received a letter from a so called solicitors firm called ZZPS stating i owed £190 for an unpaid parking fine, the alleged offence took place back in August but i was never sent anything informing me of the offence.
My car was parked in said car park on the day in August but i was NOT the driver on that day and a ticket was purchased by the driver, I replied to ZZPS via Email stating i had not received any other correspondence regarding this and that i was not the driver on the day.
I informed them that if an offence could be proven the driver would be willing to pay the designated penalty but not the over inflated £190, They replied asking me to call their office to speak to them.
When i spoke to them to explain i had not been given any notification until their letter in December they advised the only way to resolve was to pay the £190 and they could not do anything about it.
I explained that wasn't acceptable they advised i needed to contact CEL direct however they could not give me any contact details due to data protection!
I managed to find a telephone number online which stated someone would be available during working hours only to find its a payment line only ( conveniently).
I then sent them a letter back in January explaining i had not received an opportunity to inform them of the driver or appeal but got no response until May when i received the letter before court.
I have acknowledged this online but need to submit my defence by Sunday 16 June 2019, I want to base my defence on the fact i have not received the correct correspondence within the correct time frame, As far as i am aware the letter before court does not contain all the information it should, is not signed by a legal representative as stated and also the fact i have advised ZZPS and CEL that i was not the driver but they have completely ignored me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance

Redx

advice ?


put some paragraphs into that great wall of text so people can actually read it


thank you

KeithP

Reading you post it looks like you may have received a County Court Claim Form. Is that right?

If so, can you please tell us the Issue Date on that Claim Form, and did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

gavjewson

Apologies i have just tried to explain the best i can.

Thanks for the advice.

KeithP

gavjewson wrote: »

Hi Keith,
Yes it is the county court claim form from Northampton, It is dated 14th May 2019.
I have followed the advice on the forum and have acknowledged it.

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th May, you had until Monday 3rd June to do the Acknowledgement of Service. Did you do the AoS by that date?

If you did the AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 17th June 2019 to file your Defence.

Because 16th June is a Sunday, you have one day more than you thought.


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.

gavjewson

KeithP wrote: »

Reading you post it looks like you may have received a County Court Claim Form. Is that right?

If so, can you please tell us the Issue Date on that Claim Form, and did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

Hi Keith,
Yes it is the county court claim form from Northampton, It is dated 14th May 2019.
I have followed the advice on the forum and have acknowledged it.

Thanks for your reply

gavjewson

KeithP wrote: »

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th May, you had until Monday 3rd June to do the Acknowledgement of Service. Did you do the AoS by that date?

If you did the AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 17th June 2019 to file your Defence.

Because 16th June is a Sunday, you have one day more than you thought.

Hi Keith,

Thanks for the swift response, I will follow your guidance but i am worried it will not be set out correctly, Is there any links to examples i could follow to ensure my defence is suitable?

Thanks again for your time.

Coupon-mad

Have you done a SAR to see what they are going to say they posted in August? Do a SAR even though it won't arrive in time for you to defend, but it will help you at WS & evidence stage.

You need to see what they are going to show as their 'NTK' and you can't prove it never arrived (and they do not have to prove posting, so them showing it will be enough). Hence why this is NOT what you want to do at all:

I want to base my defence on the fact i have not received the correct correspondence within the correct time frame,

Use bargepole's concise defence plus a few lines about the fact you understand the driver did pay & display, and that you do not believe the Claimant complied with the POFA, so they cannot hold you liable. Then end it with this generic ending all about the rogue added costs:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75922229#Comment_75922229

It'll be like putting a jigsaw together and can be done tonight, easily.

gavjewson

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Have you done a SAR to see what they are going to say they posted in August? Do a SAR even though it won't arrive in time for you to defend, but it will help you at WS & evidence stage.

You need to see what they are going to show as their 'NTK' and you can't prove it never arrived (and they do not have to prove posting, so them showing it will be enough). Hence why this is NOT what you want to do at all:


Use bargepole's concise defence plus a few lines about the fact you understand the driver did pay & display, and that you do not believe the Claimant complied with the POFA, so they cannot hold you liable. Then end it with this generic ending all about the rogue added costs:


It'll be like putting a jigsaw together and can be done tonight, easily.

Hi Coupon Mad,

Thanks for all the info and the link sent, I shall crack on with this tonight.

Your help is greatly appreciated, Thanks again.