Civil Enforcement Ltd - claim form received

middo2019

Any advice much appreciated :-)

The driver has received a claim form from County Court Business Centre (Northampton) dated 18 July 2019. The driver will shortly be completing the acknowledgement of service.

Are there any templates available to start preparing the defence? The driver would like to build on these templates using the background info below.

Background: 15 minutes of free parking are allowed at this private car park, vehicle entered at 11:48 and time out at 12:06 (18 minutes). However during this period a lorry had reversed into this car park and crashed (knocking down a street pole), therefore not allowing the driver to exit the car park safely until the the lorry had been sorted.

Thanks for any help.

Le_Kirk

Yes, go to the NEWBIE sticky and read post # 2, where you will find 17 prewritten examples of defences for various scenarios.

Fruitcake

Has the driver's identity been given to the scammers? I hope not.

It is not normally advisable to do this since the keeper has protections in law that the driver does not.

Follow the guide to court written by bargepole from post 2 of the NEWBIES. This takes you step by step from LBC to the court date, telling you what to do and when, and giving information about how to fill in forms etcetera.

What happened when you complained to the landowner?
Have you got witness statements from the lorry driver/company and others who witnessed the event?

The delay caused by the accident would form a frustration of contract and can be used in your defence.
Lack of grace period would be another.

Get pics of the site and signage asap. Did an occupant of the car take pics of the accident on the date of the alleged event?

Have you complained to your MP yet?

middo2019

The driver will visit the site tonight and take some photos, and also find out the landowner to make a complaint.

Along with the driver, two further witness statements can be put together backing up the story about the lorry. No photos or details of the lorry company were taken at the time as this dates back to nearly a year ago.

I'll start reading through the guide now and put together a defence for you to take a look at, I looked at some of the examples and wasn't sure which one would be more relevant. I will look further into frustration of contract and also the grace period.

Would you recommend contacting Civil Enforcement Ltd for a SAR? The driver has not been in any previous contact and has ignored all previous correspondence.

Quentin

Yes!

Get the driver to read up on how to deal with this in the newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum

Post#2 needs to be the Bible now a hearing is on the way

It covers claime right through to the hearing (and answers your sar question)!

KeithP

middo2019 wrote: »

The scammers are aware of the driver / keeper.

Did you tell them who the driver was?

If not, how did they find that out?

middo2019 wrote: »

The keeper has received a claim form from County Court Business Centre (Northampton) dated 18 July 2019. The keeper will shortly be completing the acknowledgement of service.

With a Claim Issue Date of 18th July, you have until Tuesday 6th August to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 20th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but please 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.

The_Deep

Has the driver's identity been given to the scammers? I hope not.

I do not think that it matters in this case, clearly any contract which may have existed has be frustrated.

Quentin

middo2019 wrote: »

Thanks KeithP

I'm probably assuming that they know who the driver is, but they've listed a name that is the keeper. Sorry for confusing matters.

Would there be worth at this point phoning Civil Parking Enforcement direct and explaining the situation about the broken down lorry? maybe get them to cancel? Or is it too late at this stage?

Why do you assume that??


NEVER phone them!

Now a claim has been issued you must deal with it as advised

Edit your OP as advised

The ppcs monitor this forum and can use posts in your thread against you

middo2019

I'll work on the defence over the next couple of days and post it here for reviewing... thanks for everybody's advice in the meantime.

The_Deep

Why all this concern about the identity of the driver? Surely it is only relevant in problematic cases?

I see no purpose in concealing it in residential cases, hospital overstays, most BB cases, double dipping, and probably leaving site and broken machine claims.

Obviously one needs the protection of POFA in bye-law cases and not seeing signs and bilking, but this is an open and shut case of frustration of contract, a slam dunk win in court UIIAM.

middo2019

Thanks 'The Deep'... so far I have put together this wording on Frustration of Contract:

"The alleged contract was frustrated by an unexpected incident involving another vehicle reversing into the car park and knocking down a sign post. The vehicle in question was a lorry and had parked directly behind the Defendant whilst they got out the vehicle to inspect the damage. The other vehicle had blocked the Defendant from not only making a safe exit from the car park, but also an exit within the 15 allowed minutes.

Photographs held on the Claimants system showing the Defendant parking clearly show the damaged signpost before and after the incident.

In Jolly v Carmel Ltd (2000) 2 – EGLR – 154, it was held that a party who makes reasonable endeavours to comply with contractual terms, should not be penalised for breach."

Do you have any other suggestions to build on this area?