CEL set aside hearing... Help please!

Redx

s1morgan said:

The parking offence allegedly took place on the 19th June 2017. I did not receive any PCN between then and October 2017 (when I moved) which questions if they had ever sent anything at all.

Unfortunately I am not well articulated or knowledgeable in this field so I am having to guess, I can only give my own truth.

it comes from your post I have quoted and highlighted above

a SAR reply will remove any need for guessing what they did and when , to who and at which address , because you stated that NO paperwork was received between the incident date and the date you moved, in which case , where did it go ? , as Umkomaas pointed out , it goes the the RK address obtained from the DVLA

Coupon-mad

Don't use that ANCIENT example that says 'no loss caused'! 
STOP.

Go and read the two set aside example threads linked in the NEWBIES THREAD (top of this forum, search it for 'CCJ set aside' (takes you to that section) and read the 2 examples in the second post of that sticky thread (all about how to win in court).  

Then read the thread by @Chucky1000 as that's an even more recent win.  The entire claim was struck out and he was complimented on his defence (see his thread and copy/adapt it for yourself).

do I have a chance of winning this if I continue to the hearing and reject the consent offer?

YES, and winning the whole thing and paying nothing to CEL - and hopefully getting your £255 ordered to be paid by CEL.  We are seeing that more commonly.

Should I accept the consent offer? 

NONONONONONONO!!

Clear?

CEL is run by an ex-Wonga 'barrister'.    No paying them. 
STOP CONTACTING THEM.

If you follow the examples I've said (NO LINKS, go find them!), you can get the whole thing struck out and your money back, but DON'T copy that truly ancient example you found that lists stupid numbers like 2.5.2. and stupid ideas like 'no loss'!

Do you realise this hearing is NOT about the story of what happened? 

THIS first hearing (of a possible two, unless you can get a slam-dunk win aganst the whole claim first time!) is about proving you moved and that you were not hiding from CEL and were 'there to be found' all along and that CEL failed to take any reasonable steps to check your address before filing a claim, e.g.:

- changed your DVLA address and went onto the public version of the electoral roll? 
- Took out a loan, etc., which would have shown up had they bothered with a 'soft check' of your credit records? 
- Were easy to find on social media?
- they had reason to believe you had moved, because hey got no replies to letters and shoud have checked;
- did they have your email address from an earlier appeal and could have contacted you when they got no replies to letters?  That's another good point.  

That is what this hearing is about.  Plus you need to have a decent defence as well (but that's secondary).

Is it a telephone hearing, if so, you need to email some evidence to the court to add to your 'bundle' for the hearing, and you need to do that urgently tomorrow - proof you moved, etc., and all the same sort of stuff used successfully by @Chucky1000

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP., it can cause the scammer extra costs, and in some cases, cancellation. 

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 later this year,

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

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/of these Private Parking Companies.

s1morgan

OK, thank you for all the help and advice, how does this sound?

DRAFT ORDER

In the County court at XXXX

Claimant: Civil Enforcement Limited

And

Defendant: XXX

 

IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated 21/05/2018 be set aside.

2. Costs to be reserved.

3. Unless the Claimant serves a copy of the Claim Form on the Defendant by 4 pm on [date] paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £255 and the claim shall be struck out.

4. If the Claimant serves the claim form as directed in paragraph 3 the Defendant shall file and serve a defence by 4pm on [date].

5. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £255 plus the Defendant's costs for attending the hearing.

6. That all enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application

 

 

I am XXXXX and I am the Defendant in this matter.

This my supporting Statement in support of my application dated 07/07/2020 to:

· Set aside the Default Judgement dated May 2018 as it was not properly served at my current address;

· Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £255 as reimbursement for the set aside fee;

· Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

 

1. DEFAULT JUDGEMENT

 

1.1 I learnt of the existence of this claim on 5th June 2020 when carried out a health check my Credit File after being refused credit.

 

1.2 I understand that the Claimant has obtained a Default Judgement against me as the Defendant on 21/05/2018. I understand that this Claim was served at MY OLD ADDRESS (XXXXX) and not served at my current address (XXXXX) where I had moved in October 2017. Confirmation of this will be provided at any set aside hearing, in the form of email acknowledgement of change of address from DVLA.

 

1.3 I have never received any previous documentation from the Claimant in this matter and I was never able to properly challenge the Claimant’s claim. Further I put the Claimant to strict proof that they did post such communications to the Defendant’s current address.

 

1.4 I have never received any correspondence and at no point prior to 18th May 2018 did I have any contact with the claimant.

 

1.5 I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s current and correct contact details. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The Claimant’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

 

1.6 The claimant was able to obtain my correct and current address after 11th November 2017 to make me aware of the money owed. They did not have the correct address at the time of pursuing the court order as I updated this myself when discovering the claim was linked to my previous address.

 

1.7 I submit that by the virtue of the Claimant sending the letters to my old address, I was not afforded any method by which to appeal, nor any opportunity to get this charge cancelled by the landowner/leasehold business, which I would have done was I aware of the charge.

 

1.8 Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim properly. 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 learnt from the Particulars of Claim that this Judgement relates to a Parking Charge Notice issued on 19/06/2017 in a car park at XXXX in Birmingham. 

 

2.2 On that date I was a member of Easy Gym and was entitled to free parking in the car park upon entering registration details. I parked there on every occasion I used the gym (to which I have supplied photographic evidence), as was the case for all Gym members and customers to the establishment, I was not required to pay for parking. I was allowed the right to park without payment by the Gym membership agreement. Therefore, I was not in breach of any parking conditions as an express permission to park had been granted to the Defendant by the Terms & Conditions when using the gym.

 

2.3 The purported added 'costs' are disproportionate, a disingenuous double recovery attempt, vague and in breach of both the CPRs, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 Schedule 2 'terms that may be unfair'.

 

I.    Alleging that the letters the parking firm sent have caused an additional loss, is simply untrue. The standard wording for parking charge/debt recovery contracts is/was on the Debt Recovery Plus website - ''no recovery/no fee'', thus establishing an argument that the Claimant is breaching the indemnity principle - claiming reimbursement for a cost which has never, in fact, been incurred. This is true, whether or not they used a third-party debt collector during the process.

 

II.  The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred any damages or costs to pursue an alleged £350 debt. The arbitrary addition of a fixed sum purporting to cover 'damages/costs' is also potentially open to challenge as an unfair commercial practice under the CPRs, where 44.3 (2) states: ''Where the amount of costs is to be assessed on the standard basis, the court will –

 

(a) only allow costs which are proportionate to the matters in issue. Costs which are disproportionate in amount may be disallowed or reduced even if they were reasonably or necessarily incurred; and

 

(b) resolve any doubt which it may have as to whether costs were reasonably and proportionately incurred or were reasonable and proportionate in amount in favour of the paying party.

 

III.  Whilst quantified costs can be considered on a standard basis, this Claimant's purported added £60 'damages/costs' are wholly disproportionate, are not genuine losses at all and do not stand up to scrutiny. This has finally been recognised in many court areas. Differently from almost any other trader/consumer agreement, when it comes to parking charges on private land, binding case law and two statute laws have the effect that the parking firm's own business/operational costs cannot be added to the 'parking charge' as if they are additional losses.

 

I therefore respectfully request that the Court sets aside the judgement and dismisses this claim.

 

Statement of Truth

 

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

1505grandad

A heads up:-

"IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated 21/05/2018 be set aside."

"Judgment" is spelt correctly in this context - but you have incorrectly included a middle "e" in the numerous other uses of the word.

Coupon-mad

Looks good now though!

s1morgan

1505grandad said:

A heads up:-

"IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated 21/05/2018 be set aside."

"Judgment" is spelt correctly in this context - but you have incorrectly included a middle "e" in the numerous other uses of the word.

Thankyou! I have corrected this 

s1morgan

I have also included, the photo evidence of an email confirmation, (date stamped)  of when I changed my address along with the photograph (date and time) stamped of me in the gym. 

I hope this is enough! Will get these all sent over to the Court today 

henrik777

Please don't ask for a set aside due to not being served and offer up costs be reserved. If the court holds that service is defective the claimant messed up and should be accountable for your costs in fixing their error.

s1morgan

HI, SOOOO..

CEL did not show up to the telephone hearing. The first thing the Judge pointed out was how impressive my draft order was, THANKYOU everyone for your help! 

The Judge said I have a very good defence, in the fact I shouldn't have had the PCN altogether so the SET ASIDE was granted. 

I am now waiting for CEL to resend em the claim form they had sent to my previous address so I can act and appeal accordingly. 

Iv never had to write a defence before, so I may be back for extra help , but overall CCJ has GONE.