CCJ Civil Enforcement ltd response to me following my set aside application

DTDutch

Hi,
I am seeking help because I am receiving calls from Civil Enforcement ltd after making a set aside application and being assigned a court date which is in January. I am now very spooked My statement below which I attached with my set aside application explains everything.!

***Statement attached with my set aside court application:***

This my supporting Statement in support of my application dated 27/10/2019 to:

1 Set aside the Default Judgement dated 27 November 2017 as it was not properly served at my current address;

2 Order for the original claim to be dismissed as the Claimant are not allowed to suggest keeper liability and must have evidence of who was driving!

1. Default Judgement

1.1. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgement against me as the Defendant on 27 November 2017. However, this claim form was not served at my current address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgement until April 2018 when I was doing a check on my credit file. I understand that this Claim was served at an OLD ADDRESS: xxx. However, I moved to a new address in April 2016. In support of this I can provide evidence in the form of a tenancy agreement my landlord showing my updated details.

1.2. I have also never received any previous documentation from the Claimant in this matter and I thus was never able to challenge the Claimant’s claim. I never received the parking invoices and the Claimant never once received a response from me to any of their alleged letters.
The claimant, having carried out this unfair process numerous times thereby victimizing countless registered keepers in this exact manner, should’ve have realised that they were writing to the wrong address.!

1.3. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s correct contact details at the time of the claim. They have used information that was at the time out of date.

1.4. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country. This is a topical issue: I note that the Justice Minister The Rt Hon Sir Oliver Heald QC MP announced on the 23rd December 2016 a consultation and information campaign to help protect consumers from debt claims. The consultation will look at ways to; “better protect consumers who are sent mail to inaccurate addresses and verify addresses again before a claim is sent.” The Minister added that “In the digital age, we must ensure companies pursuing unpaid debts make every reasonable effort to contact individuals, rather than simply relying on a letter to an old address.”

1.5. On the basis provided above I would suggest that the Claimant did not fulfil their duty to use the Defendant’s current address when bringing the claim.!

1.6. Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I thus believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside and I ask the Court to kindly consider the reimbursement of the fee from the claimant should this request be successful.


Order of Events ( Following the discovery of the CCJ)

1.7 Around April 2018, the defendant after several failed credit applications (further elaborated on in part 3), checked her credit file and became aware of the CCJ. The defendant then contacted Northampton County Court to find out details of the Default Judgement. The court kindly provided the defendant with the name and contact number of the Claimant

1.8 Around April 2018, I attempted to contact the Claimant using information given to me by Northampton County Court. I was not able to get through to a member of the Claimant’s staff to discuss, nor did I receive a response to my numerous answer phone messages left on the Claimant’s legal department answer-phone. I also wrote 3 letters addressed to the Claimant requesting copies of the details of the incident. However, I never received a response. I then made a Subject Access Request via a phone call and letter and I was finally sent some details of the incident. However, from the evidence pack was missing evidence of the alleged sign and contract which the claimant accuses the defendant of being in breach of.


1.9 The defendant called the Claimant to dispute the contents of the SAR and stated that it should include all information they held on file, including dates of calls and letters received in order to have as evidence my communications with the Claimant. However, I am yet to receive this information from the claimant. Although, in order to make informed decisions and statements in my defence as keeper of the vehicle, I require copies of all paperwork and pictures of all signs from the Claimant, I have decided to proceed to appeal to have this judgement set aside without any further delay. I only have 2 photos of the vehicle for which I am the registered keeper at the location of the incident and details of the charges, I have no further information of the incident and neither has the claimant provided pictures if the alleged signs at the location.!

1.10 The defendant again contacted the Claimant after the defendant was unable to find “Station Road", the location of the car park the Claimant has stated this alleged breach occurred on. The Claimants, whilst on the phone to the defendant, also made attempts to locate “Station Road” but advised that they are unable to find the exact location of the car park where the alleged breach occurred. I dispute with the Claimant the unreasonableness of their inability to provide the location of where this alleged breach had occurred and that they are not providing any evidence of the alleged contract in breach.

1.11 The Claimant has not carried out its duty to provide the evidence for this alleged incident for which the Claimant has unreasonably held me, the defendant, responsible and adversely impacted my career prospects as I am a financial services contractor and this often requires a clean credit file in order to secure a job offer. As a Financial Services employee with a Masters degree in Accounting and Finance, had the claimant carried out their duty to contact the defendant and had I been aware of the invoices or even the impending CCJ, I would have acted promptly and attended the hearing to defend myself!

1.12 I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s correct contact details. As aforementioned, according to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The defendant has not provided evidence of the signage or evidence that the vehicle was in breach of the signage. The Claimant has failed to provide the defendant with the location of the carpark and the claimant has failed to identify the location of “station road" where the alleged breach occurred. Therefore the Claimant has failed to provide the defendant and the court with sufficient evidence to support their claim.

Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I thus believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside.!


2. Order dismissing the Claim

2.1. I further believe that the original Claim by the Claimant has no merit and should thus be dismissed. I understand that the Claimant is a Parking Company which seeks to claim for “Parking Charge Notices” which the Claimant believes are due as a result of an alleged breach of contract for parking by a motorist.

2.2. If the Claimant has obtained details of the vehicle for which the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, and used those details to make a claim for a “Parking Charge Notice’’, I thus dispute the claim in its entirety as I do not know the wording of the contract nor do I know the means by which the contract was alleged to come into force.

2.3. If the Claimant can evidence that the alleged incident relates to a vehicle for which the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant must comply with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Otherwise, the Claimant is required to prove the driver of the vehicle they claim was involved in the alleged incident. I submit that the Claimant cannot provide such evidence and further submit that the Claimant does not include ‘Protection of Freedoms Act 2012’ wording on the Parking Charge Notices they issue and therefore cannot hold the Defendant automatically liable for the alleged incident merely for being the Registered Keeper of a vehicle.!

2.4. A requirement of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is that any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant must be served within 14 days of the date of the alleged incident. Since I have not received any documentation from the Claimant prior to finding out about the Default Judgement, I submit the Claimant will not have complied with the requirements of the Act and thus cannot claim this charge against me as the Registered Keeper in any case.

2.5. I further submit that the Claimant’s claim is without merit due to substantial issues in law. This is for the following main reasons:
a) Lack of Standing by Claimant: The Claimant is unlikely to be the landowner of the car park in question, and will have no proprietary interest in it. This means that the Claimant, as a matter of law, will have no locus standi to litigate in their own name. Any consideration will have been provided by the landholder, and only they would have been able sue for any damages or trespass.

b) No Loss Suffered by Claimant: Their claim is presumably based on damages for alleged breach of contract. It is a fundamental principle of English Law that a party who suffers damages through breach of contract can only seek through court action to be put back in the same position as they would have been if the breach had not occurred. In order to do so, they must demonstrate their actual, or genuine, pre-estimate of loss. I submit that no loss has been suffered by the Claimant as a result of any alleged breaches of contract on the part of any motorist of the vehicle of which I am the Registered Keeper. I further submit that any loss to the landholder (which would be the only party able to claim such losses) would be at most a few pounds.

c) Claimed charge is an Unenforceable Penalty: I further submit that the Parking Charge that the Claimant claimed, given it is not based on any loss suffered due to the alleged breach, is nothing but an unenforceable penalty.

d) No contract with the claimant: Any contract must have offer, acceptance and consideration both ways. There would not have been consideration from the Claimant to the motorist; the fee for parking benefits the landowners, not the Claimant. Therefore, there is no consideration from the motorist to Civil Enforcement Ltd.

e) The Claimant is one of a number of parking firms who are known NOT to use Schedule 4 of the POFA wording in their notices so in law, CANNOT hold a keeper liable.

f) Where a PPC chooses not to use the provisions of the statute that Parliament introduced in 2012, for parking firms to have keeper liability but ONLY with full compliance with Schedule 4 , their only other way to have a cause of action is if they have evidence of who was driving.!

g) The Claimant uses ANPR (which is not CCTV and only captures VRNs) it is certain they will not know who was driving. The House of Commons at the reading of the POFA Bill in 2012 and the POPLA Lead Adjudicator in the Annual Report 2015 in an article called 'Understanding keeper liability', have both confirmed the trite law that a keeper cannot lawfully be presumed to be the driver on private land and is not somehow 'responsible' for the conduct of a driver on private land, under any other aspect of law.

2.6 I also therefore submit that the Claimant is in breach if data and did not have a valid reason to apply for my keeper data from the DVLA:

a) the operator contract with the DVLA only allows them to obtain data for parking contraventions and not for briefly stopping. The defendants car is photographed using ANPR Cameras which capture a registration number upon entering and exiting a car park. The Claimant has not provided any evidence that the vehicle on the pictures was parked at the car park for the alleged duration. The time stamps of the 2 pictures provided may have been taken when the vehicle was entering and exiting the car park on two separate occasions as is common when picking up and dropping of a passenger. The Claimant has made no efforts to provide evidence that the vehicle was parked at the car park. The evidence provided by the claimant only indicates that the vehicle was entering the car park at those times. Public record indicates that the use of ANPR cameras for such purposes is ineffective as they do not provide evidence of parking or of the duration of a vehicles presence at a car park but rather only of a vehicle presence at 2 separate times.!

b) My name and address information (together with other information) is classified as personal data within the meaning of s1(1) of the Data Protection Act (DPA). The Claimant has misused this data by attempting to claim a charge when there is no possibility that a lawful reason exists.!

c) This is therefore a breach of data principle 1 (data must be used lawfully) and 2 (data must only be used for the purpose provided).

d) The case of Vidal-Hall v Google Inc [2014] EWHC 13 (QB) provides authority that misuse of personal data is a tort and that damages may be non-pecuniary. The case of Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd [2013] All ER (D) 199 provides authority that a reasonable sum for compensation would be £750.

e) The case of VCS v Phillip, claim number C9DP2D6C Liverpool 07/12/2016, while not binding, concerns a motorist sent a parking charge for briefly stopping at Liverpool Business Park. The signage there has the equivalent forbidding wording to the signage in this case. The judge ruled that no contract could exist and therefore data had been wrongly obtained from the DVLA. This is therefore a persuasive case that a DPA breach occurs when a parking charge is not legitimately pursued, and that a sum of at least £250 is compensation for pursuing a purported parking charge when there is no reasonable prospect of success.

2.7 In summary, and to stress the point that there is growing anger at the dubious practices of private car parking companies of which I believe I the Defendant has fallen foul of, I would also like to draw the attention of the court to a debate in Parliament on 21st March 2017 that focussed on the relationship between the DVLA and private car parking companies, and the latter’s access and (mis)use of data. In the debate the Rt Hon Steve Double MP commented that “We need to look at the relationship the firms have with the DVLA. In my view, they are abusing their privileged relationship and their access to drivers’ information.”!

The Rt Hon Kevin Foster MP surmised that “We got rid of the cowboy clampers in the last Parliament. The suspicion is that the cowboy clampers have now become the cowboy finers and cowboy invoicers. Although they may wish to leave their spur marks on car parks across the country, I hope the Minister will be clear what action will be taken to ensure that they have to ride off into the sunset for good.”

2.8 The Claimant did not issue a penalty charge notice, but a private notice based on contract law and the Claimant needs to:

a. show evidence that they have complied with the POFA or alternatively, show evidence of the driver's identity, to prove that this is the right defendant

b. set out the facts on which it is asserted that the claimant has a cause of action against this defendant, and!

c. identify the 'relevant obligation' of the defendant to pay parking charges and the 'relevant land' on which the parking is said to have occurred

d. state whether the claim is in relation to a 'relevant contract' or in respect of an alleged trespass or other tort (as per the POFA 2012 Schedule 4)

e. disclose full particulars and a contract, in order to evidence a claim in law

f. evidence how a parking charge which the BPA Code of Practice sets a ceiling for, of not more than £100, has escalated to a brazen attempt at triple 'recovery' despite the POFA also stating that a keeper can only be pursued for the sum on the Notice to Keeper (double recovery not being allowed).

2.9 Absent the above being produced in short order, the Defendant asks the court of its own volition to strike out this claim and to order the Claimant to refund the Defendant's costs for attending (travel, parking, compensation & damages at a value deemed reasonable by the Court for the significance of the adverse impact of unreasonably obtaining the default judgement against the defendant as stated in part 3 of this statement.!
The Court is invited to dismiss this Claim, and to allow such Defendant’s costs as are permissible under Civil Procedure Rule 27.14.


3 Additional Statement regarding the Impact of the claimant’s actions on the defendants life and mental wellbeing

3.1 The Claimant’s course of action has impacted the Defendant immensely by firstly, ruining my credit score which at the time was very good and as such crippling the defendant financially and preventing the defendant from being able to obtain credit with reasonable interest rates at a most difficult time in the defendants life. The impact of the Claimants actions on the defendant mental health. I discovered the CCJ around an incredibly stressful period when myself and my son had to have xxx surgery at xxx hospital for a genetic condition called xxx. (Evidence of surgeries attached).
During this time I became aware of the likelihood of becoming unemployed after notifying my project manager of mine and my son's upcoming surgeries and applied for credit so prevent going into financial difficulty. I believe it is around this time that I discovered the CCJ. During this time, shortly after my surgery, I also started to face a lot of difficulty with the DWP when I applied for income support. I am a Dutch National and because of the new benefits system universal credits, and Brexit, although I have lived studied and worked in the UK since July 2006, the DWP was suddenly unable to confirm my eligibility for benefits. (Evidence of DWP legal issues attached)

3.2 I became unemployed on 3 April 2018. My surgery took place mid April 2018 and my son's was scheduled to take place in May. However, his surgery was postponed just a few days prior due to emergencies at the hospital. My son's surgery was rescheduled to July. This meant that between my surgery in April 2018 and my son's recovery at the start of August 2018, I was unable to work as I wasn’t able to find a new job where I would be able to take a long period off to look after my son during his recovery. When my son recovered, he was due to start foundation the following month. At this point, I now had to find a part time job or be able to afford after school child care in order to work full time again. Because I had at this point been unemployed, I did not have any money for after school childcare. And there are no part time Business Analyst jobs. I applied for several part time administration, customer service and any jobs that I am overqualified for. However, because I am overqualified (I have a Masters in Accounting and Finance) I wasn’t getting any response.!

3.3 Following several failed credit applications, I checked my credit file and discovered the CCJ. I contacted the court after discovering the CCJ to query the CCJ and was given the number for the claimant's office. I called several times but to no avail, my call were not answered. I finally got hold of claimant's office and asked for further information regarding the incident and why they had obtained a CCJ against me. However they were unable to provide evidence of the parking sign or the location where the alleged breach had occurred. This spiralled me into a fragile state of mind as I did not know what to do next.

3.4 So, the stress and the difficulty of trying to prove my status in the UK in order to receive financial support at a time when we needed it the most, the shock of discovering the CCJ and the claimants inability to clarify where and what contract I had breached and the difficulty finding a job had an adverse effect on my mental health that it came to a point where I couldn’t sit through the few interviews I did get without breaking down.

3.5 As a single mum with a professional career as a Business Analyst, having always worked full time since my son was 9 months, I found myself without any income, possibility of credit and dwindling mental health. My dispute with the DWP is ongoing and taken such a toll on me that I couldn’t mentally handle the extensive research and work required to simultaneously battle the CCJ. My son was 3 years old when the issue with the DWP and the claimant started. In September 2018, after my son’s recovery, he started school. I had to push the CCJ to the back of my mind as I couldn't even identify or understand why the claimant had obtained one against me and what parking "contract" I had breached or where to begin. Although, prior to the CCJ, I had a very good credit score, I couldn’t obtain any credit during this hard period.!

3.3. Therefore, in order to be able to look after my son and support him during his first year in school, carry out day to day household activities and focus on resolving the issue with the DWP, I had to make the decision to focus on one thing at a time. I couldn’t fight 2 legal battles. I have attached several letters as evidence of the problems I was facing with the DWP. This was and is currently ongoing. However I the DWP has now established that I have had a right to reside in the UK and a right to benefits so it appears this issue will soon be resolved. I have had a few jobs this year however none have worked out and I was recently contracted as a Business Analyst, however due to budget issues, my contract was terminated after only 6 weeks. Having a lights at the end of the tunnel with the DWP, being of better mental health and my current unemployment his has given me the time and opportunity to finally research how to and try to resolve this present issue. I was shocked to learn that I am not the first person victimised but the claimants vicious and financially crippling actions.

The claimant had no grounds to cripple me financially or to subject my family to this trauma. The repercussion of the claimant’s and its peers actions goes beyond that of a decreased credit score..

My situation shows the severity of the consequences the claimants bullying tactics and actions could have in a person's life, mental and overal wellbeing.!

The defendant thus asks the court to issue an order for the Claimant to pay compensation and damages to the defendant at an amount of £5000 or an amount deemed reasonable by the court. The defendant also asks that the court orders the claimant to refund the defendant any Court fees (if the defendant is not awarded help with the court fees as in the enclosed evidence) and travel expenses incurred in bringing this set aside case to the court.

I believe that the Claimant has not provided any reasonable cause for their actions and have failed to provide the court and the defendant with any evidence and thus the claim should be dismissed in its entirety and the default judgement set aside with immediate effect.

Yours Faithfully

Enclosed: Evidence of DWP claims and disputes since 2018 to September 2019
Evidence of defendant and the defendant’s child's surgeries in 2018!
Evidence of Tenancy agreement!

****
Civil Enforcement ltd responded by stating that they will agree to the set aside if I pay £85. They stated that it is a criminal offence that I did not update the DVLA with my current address. Which I am aware of. They also state:!
"As you do not deny being the registered keeper at the time of the violation and because you have not shown any grounds in your application that you have any reasonable prospects of defending the claim, it is our position that your application to set aside judgment will be refused. Even if the application is granted, it is our intention to proceed with the claim against you."

**Should I pay the £85 for an alleged breach for which they can not even provide the location or evidence of? What are the chances that I will lose in court? My address was updated in 2017, isnt it up to the DVLA to fine me the delay?

Thanks in advance

Egf

I’ve got my ccj set aside hearing tomorrow for VCS sending docs to an address my tenants live at. Will let you know how it goes

DTDutch

This is the content of the letter I received from CEL:

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS
Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: Civil Enforcement Limited v xxx
Claim No:!
PCN No:!
We refer to your application to set aside Judgment which has been forwarded to us by the County Court Business Centre.
We note your grounds for setting aside Judgment, which state that you had moved house before the violation occurred. We were provided with your registered address by the DVLA following the date of violation. As you may be aware, it is an offence (punishable with a fine up to f 1000) to fail to promptly notify the DVLA of a change of address.
As you do not deny being the registered keeper at the time of the violation and because you have not shown any grounds in your application that you have any reasonable prospects of defending the claim, it is our position that your application to set aside judgment will be refused. Even if the application is granted, it is our intention to proceed with the claim against you.
However, bearing in mind this process can take time and will incur unnecessary costs for both parties, we will consent to setting aside judgment (to remove it from your record) and to discontinue the claim against you, if you agree to pay the original E60.OO parking charge plus the administration costs and fees we have incurred in trying to recover payment of the PCN, limited to E25.OO, making a total of E85.OO. Each party will bear its own costs of this application. We would have made a similar offer to you had you contacted us prior to lodging your application with the Court.
Please respond by 26/11/2019 confirming that you agree to accept this offer. If the offer is not accepted, we reserve the right to show this letter to the judge on the issue of who should pay the costs of your application.
Yours faithfully,
Legal Team
For and on behalf of Civil Enforcement Limited


*** some extra notes based on previous responses:***

I got my own place in 2016. However I did not update my address with the DVLA till I believe early 2018. The parking invoice in question occured in February 2017 and at this point my registered address was still my old address which was my mums address. So I did not notify the DVLA on time but as the address was my mums address and only 5 minutes from mine, I did not see that as a problem. My then 1 year old child and I had also just moved 3 times in the space of a year. (3rd time by the police due to a mentally unstable neighbour.) I was working full time as an anti-money laundering Analyst but due to being on 6month contracts could not find a place to rent, although I had offered to pay 3 months in advance. Things were just very uncertain at the time. So I wanted to be certain that we wouldn't be moving again soon before changing my address. Yes, I see that I may have left it longer than necessary to update the DVLA due to my ignorance that there are laws surrounding this.

I do not know why I never received the court letter. I'm not saying that it was never delivered, but I was never in possession of it.

I did not and have not yet paid the £255 application fee as I applied for help with court costs. I am not sure if being assigned a court date means that I will not have to pay the application fee or if I will be required to pay this in court.

I have received a similar invoice in the past which I successfully appealed because the ANPR camera had captured my VRN on 2 separate occasions on the same day. In my appeal I stated that I entered and exited the car park in question twice on that day to drop a family member off and again to pick them up and that the camera was showing the time of my first entrance and 2nd exit from the car park. It was a very small residential shopping area and it is very odd for anyone to spend more than 30min there and so I stated this in my appeal.
With CEL not providing the location and being unable to identify the location of the car park where this occured, I can't even begin to remember what or why I was there and attempt to defend myself.

I am so spooked because CEL have following my set aside application with which I attached the above statement and being assigned a court date, written to me, emailed me and called me every day for a week. I don't think it is fair that they can cripple me so severely for this. However if paying the £85 Is my best chance then I will have to. I am wondering however if they are pushing to "settle" because I have a strong case? Why would they be so concerned with contacting me for an £85 payment if they can win in court?

Please any genuine help and advice will be tremendously appreciated. I've spent months reading threads on this website and following advise for my application.
I couldn't have gotten this far or felt any hope without MSE so I am already very grateful.

Thank you for what you do.

DTDutch

Thanks Egf, all the best tomorrow.!

Coupon-mad

I did not and have not yet paid the £255 application fee as I applied for help with court costs. I am not sure if being assigned a court date means that I will not have to pay the application fee or if I will be required to pay this in court.

If you qualify on low income grounds you will not have to pay the fee so don't be spooked by CEL, you may as well see this through.

You changed your address with the DVLA as soon as you were aware it was an issue (yes?) and whilst it is an offence not to change it, this is nothing to do with the Claimant, not a stick they have a right to wield. That is entirely a matter for the DVLA and you are not being pursued by them and are an upstanding and honest member of society.

The fact is, this Claimant, as usual for them, failed to check your current address properly and you were always 'there to be found'. Having never received a response from you they were never entitled to assume you were still living there - in fact it would be reasonable to assume the opposite - and the DVLA reminded parking firms that they can use tracing agents to find up to date addresses with a basic search.

This Claimant failed to do any of that and are a serial offender, with hundreds of reported cases of CCJs issued by parking firms without taking reasonable steps to check the address for service, most of which involve this Claimant.

If you just look at all the set aside threads here, I'd say 80% are about CEL. It's terrible, and you need to show the Judge that you were there to be found, had changed things like your Council tax, driving licence and insurances and bank account and were on the electoral roll at the new address so there was no fault on your part.

Take Sir Oliver Heald's article with you and all the proof that you were there to be found, such that the claim was not properly served and the Claimant had a duty to take reasonable steps to locate you.

Drop the stuff about 'no loss' that you should not have copied. That does not form part of any defence so if the Judge asks about your defence you can say that the signage used by this firm in 2017 was in small print at all sites and breached the Consumer Rights Act 2015 Schedule 2, paras 6, 10 and 14. As the court has a duty to consider the test of fairness of a consumer notice and the terms, with reference to Schedule 2 of the CRA, as a bare minimum, this assertion gets you over the line to merit a hearing and to be allowed to present a defence to the actual claim once the unfair CCJ is set aside for failure to serve the claim form properly and with the most basic checks.

Also add as evidence the insurance document from that year IF it shows other named drivers, because in 2017 CEL did not use the POFA 2012 Schedule 4 in their Notice to Keeper letters, and could not hold registered keepers liable in law. At all. so, where there is no evidence of who was driving and there was truthfully more than one driver of that car in that year, CEL cannot hold you liable and their claim has no merit at all.

However, in order to properly defend the case, you need to make sure the Judge knows this (below) so say this at the set aside hearing when asking the Judge for Directions for what the parties must do next, as you need all this first, before you can meaningfully defend a claim that just calls the location 'Station Road' which is so generic that even the claimants couldn't tell you over the phone, which town it was in:

The defendant called the Claimant to dispute the contents of the SAR and stated that it should include all information they held on file, including dates of calls and letters received in order to have as evidence my communications with the Claimant. However, I am yet to receive this information from the claimant. Although, in order to make informed decisions and statements in my defence as keeper of the vehicle, I require copies of all paperwork and pictures of all signs from the Claimant, I have decided to proceed to appeal to have this judgement set aside without any further delay. I only have 2 photos of the vehicle for which I am the registered keeper at the location of the incident and details of the charges, I have no further information of the incident and neither has the claimant provided pictures if the alleged signs at the location.

DTDutch

Thank you Coupon-Mad. Please bare with me, as my brain attempts to catch up with you. I hope you'll be able to help me further.
I'll number my questions in an attempt to give some structure to my reply.

In my statement I already stated that I have not had any evidence of the alleged signage.
1- Can I still say in court that CEL used a signage with small print?

Yes I did update the DVLA as soon as I realised that it was a legal requirement. I was also on the electoral roll, council tax, bank, insurance were all registered to my updated address.

I do think that I am easy to find. I moved from Amsterdam 13 years ago and the Dutch Student Loan company was able to trace me at my current address when I didn't update from my mums address.

I acknowledge my responsibility to update the DVLA but can CEL just so easily cripple people financially without ever being held responsible for the damage they have done.. It also affects job prospects too.

If I could find this car park on Station Road I could at least try to remember where I was or what I was doing. I use a limited number of car parks in MK.

I don't think there would have been other drivers named on my policy in 2017 but I'll double check as I've had both my sister and my dad on my insurance in the past.
2 - If there weren't any other registered drivers, can CEL hold me liable on that basis?

3 - There may not have been any other drivers on my insurance. however some drivers with comprehensive insurance are covered to drive other cars aren't they? So wouldn't CEL still have to provide evidence that I was driving at the time?

I had a mechanic get in an accident in my car in Dec 14/15. He had no reason to drive my car miles away from where the car was supposed to be and I only found out about the accident when my insurance contacted me at which point the mechanic admitted being and the driver and settling the claim on his insurance. But I presume this would only help if I could prove that I wasnt anywhere near my car at the time.

4- is my understanding correct that there are 2 parts to this process,
- firstly getting the judgement set aside at the hearing in January, based on the notice not being served properly.
- secondly another hearing to defend the claim?

Just to clarify, CEL stated where the carpark is, Station Road, Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes. However after looking through all the parking maps in MK I wasnt able to find it and CEL themselves stated that they couldnt find it. If their calls are recorded the conversation during which they fsaid that they can not find the carpark exists as evidence, if it would serve a purpose.

5 - Do you have an idea, why CEL have written to me offering to agree to the set aside for £85 and why they were calling me everyday for a week? I'm unable to decide if that is a sign that CEL are aware that they have a weak case or if I'm making a big mistake ignoring them.
I don't want to settle out of principle. This has had a severe and adverse impact on my life over the past 12-18 months.

6 - I've read somewhere that some politician was looking to come down hard on these "parking cowboys". Has there been any progress on that?

Thank you so much for your help so far. I'm familiar with your username and that of a few others. You've helped many others on this forum. It's hard knowing who's advise and opinion to take seriously and who is out to make people feel worse during already trying times. I was very hopeful when I saw that you had replied.

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

DTDutch wrote: »

Thank you Coupon-Mad. Please bare with me, as my brain attempts to catch up with you. I hope you'll be able to help me further.
I'll number my questions in an attempt to give some structure to my reply.

In my statement I already stated that I have not had any evidence of the alleged signage.
1- Can I still say in court that CEL used a signage with small print?

Yes - that you have researched this online and found that
(a) this parking firm are the most common offender when it comes to CCJs that people have to set aside because CEL have taken no reasonable steps to trace anyone, and
(b) their generic signs are extremely wordy, with a lack of 'white space' and the parking charge positively buried in hidden small print, unlike the sign in ParkingEye v Beavis, and
(c) they added a sum that is not recoverable, which you can't specify as you haven't seen full particulars but they usually add £82 that they cannot recover because it is an abuse of process, clearly a disingenuous attempt at double recovery. Normally costs can be added to small claims but NOT by adding 'operational/deb collection' costs to parking charges.
(d) take with you, the court judgments from CEC16's thread and from the Warwick thread with DDJ Joseph who spelt out why parking firms can't add operational costs.

I don't think there would have been other drivers named on my policy in 2017 but I'll double check as I've had both my sister and my dad on my insurance in the past.
2 - If there weren't any other registered drivers, can CEL hold me liable on that basis?

If they complied with the POFA which CEL only rarely did - you would need to get the NTK from them and all photos, from a SAR.

3 - There may not have been any other drivers on my insurance. however some drivers with comprehensive insurance are covered to drive other cars aren't they? So wouldn't CEL still have to provide evidence that I was driving at the time?

Yes, if as suspected, the PCN was 'non POFA' in wording. It is not for you to prove where you were; it is their claim to prove and to make the Judge believe you were probably the driver. Don't assist them in that assumption.

4- is my understanding correct that there are 2 parts to this process,
- firstly getting the judgement set aside at the hearing in January, based on the notice not being served properly.
- secondly another hearing to defend the claim?

Yes but CEL often discontinue before the second one and hope to leave people shouldering the £255 costs.

Do you have an idea, why CEL have written to me offering to agree to the set aside for £85 and why they were calling me everyday for a week? I'm unable to decide if that is a sign that CEL are aware that they have a weak case or if I'm making a big mistake ignoring them.
I don't want to settle out of principle. This has had a severe and adverse impact on my life over the past 12-18 months.

Yes, they want to settle and get some money from you because they know they have been sussed and will lose the case and that a fee of £255 (if you are liable to pay court fees) could be ordered against them to pay! Of course, they don't want that.

I've read somewhere that some politician was looking to come down hard on these "parking cowboys". Has there been any progress on that?

Yes an Act was passed this year and a Code of Practice will be worked on next year, that hopefully aims to rid us of the BPA v IPC crap 'race to the bottom' versions!

rab_noolas

CE have dropped their ludicrous attempts to intimidate me into paying their unjustified claim, after over a year of intimidation and threats they have discontinued court action at the last minute. Can I now sue them for harrassment and expenses incurred in the matter?

The_Deep

They have wasted your time, now waste theirs. Send them an invoice for your time at £19.00 an hour, and 45ppm for mileage. When they ignore follow up with a letter before action,

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/

you then have up to six years to take them to court.

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. 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, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

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

beamerguy

I agree with the Deep

"They have wasted your time, now waste theirs. Send them an invoice for your time at £19.00 an hour, and 45ppm for mileage. When they ignore follow up with a letter before action,"

Harassment is a high bar to bring.

There is a case of them being unreasonable.

You can treat them in the same way they treated you, it's your turn now. And it only costs £25 to issue court action

twhitehousescat

rab_noolas wrote: »

CE have dropped their ludicrous attempts to intimidate me into paying their unjustified claim, after over a year of intimidation and threats they have discontinued court action at the last minute. Can I now sue them for harrassment and expenses incurred in the matter?

are you having a joke ?

I have just re read thru the whole case to understand it before looking at todays update

your case has nothing to do with this one , please start your own new thread