County Court Claim From Civil Enforcement Ltd - £277 for 55 mins parking!! UPDATE - CLAIM RETRACTED!

Bear1978

 Hi, i've just received a claim from CEL claim for the total amount of £277.57. The issue date is 8th September. The date of violation was 16/12/2020.

I appealed the original PCN as i was in Swanley Park with my 4 year old son for a total of 55 minutes and wrongly assumed the car park was free (last time i parked there a while ago you didn't need to pay). They had an ANPR camera which caught me.

I originally appealed due to the fact that i felt the charge was excessive and at that time i had been furloughed for 8 months on a salary that wasn't covering my rent...i was in dire financial circumstances. I did try to point out that signage was not sufficient but they rejected that.

Ultimately i offered to pay them £20 to cover the parking charge and some administration costs, they've obviously refused and now issues a court claim against me for an incredible amount of £277.57 (£192.57 claimed, plus court fee and their legal costs of £50)

i have been following your forum to get advice. I don't have any real legal challenge (apart from excessive charges at a time that i cant afford to pay them). I also wrote to the DVLA to check that CEL had the right to obtain my personal details and they responded to say that had authorisation to provide CEL with my address.

Do i have any chance of defending myself against this claim? It's starting to stress me out and i'm wondering if i should just take the hit. It's just so distressing that a honest mistake of not paying a £1 parking ticket will now cost me £277.

Redx

Lack of money is no Defence , don't do the AOS online until next Wednesday or later in the week , you want the full 5 days allowed

The spurious extra charges will be objected to in your Defence and WS , bringing it down to £200 or less , if you lose in court , not £277.57

I would not pay £278 if I could pay less than £200 in a civil court hearing , if I lost , plus you may win and pay nothing , so better for you both ways

Email a SAR to the DPO at CEL attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law to obtain all your data

Do the AOS online next week

Read post 2 and 5 of the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum , start drafting your defence , adapting paragraphs 2 & 3 and post them below , do not post the rest of the defence , leave it unchanged , it's your homework being checked

KeithP

Bear1978 said:

 Hi, i've just received a claim from CEL claim for the total amount of £277.57. The issue date is 8th September.

Hello and welcome to the forums.

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th September, you have until Monday 27th September to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an AoS before 11th September, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 11th October 2021 to file your Defence.
That's over four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Bear1978

thank you so much for your replies...really appreciated.

I've just sent an SAR to CEL's DPO, attached a copy of my V5. I'll file an AOS by friday next week.

Should i draft up my Defence whilst waiting for the SAR response or should i wait to receive it? 

Redx

Bear1978 said:

thank you so much for your replies...really appreciated.

I've just sent an SAR to CEL's DPO, attached a copy of my V5. I'll file an AOS by friday next week.

Should i draft up my Defence whilst waiting for the SAR response or should i wait to receive it? 

Do not wait for the SAR reply , it's of more use for the WS stage in several months time

Get drafting those 2 paragraphs and post only your paragraphs below asap

Umkomaas

Read other CEL threads and note how many actually reach court where the defendant has completed all the elements and timescales in defending the charge - it's somewhere in the region of the square root of SFA. 

But it's not the green light for complacency, you need to work your way through the process; it's not painting by numbers, but neither is it rocket science. 

The NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, takes you through and guides you on the entire court process, including a plan of what to do and when, as well as very helpful templates written by legally qualified and court savvy regular contributors. 

Bear1978

thanks again all...i love this forum!

I've been trying to find a relevant defence template to use for CEL, because i dont have any really legal reply apart from fighting their excessive costs.

I'm just not sure what to put in paragraph 3 apart from the fact that i didnt notice the signs and didn't realise that the car park had parking fees. All the defences i can see mention CEL not following due process but they have sent me the proper PAP notification prior to me receiving the court claim.

Bear1978

I should add i am using the CEL template posted here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs/p1

Redx

That is the correct template , so let us see your 2 & 3 proposals below , this is a gradual process so it's likely that the final version will be better , as we get there

Bear1978

i have this but i don't know if it's enough:

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2.       It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. 

It is also admitted that the Defendant was the driver of the vehicle in question. 

3.  Since the Defendant’s previous visit to Swanley Park, a new ANPR-enforced parking system was introduced in April 2020. The Defendant was not aware of the new parking system and did not notice the signage informing motorists of the parking restrictions.

Le_Kirk

Bear1978 said:

i have this but i don't know if it's enough:

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2.       It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and was the driver of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. It is also admitted that the Defendant  of the vehicle in question. 

3.  Since the Defendant’s previous visit to Swanley Park, a new ANPR-enforced parking system was has been introduced in April 2020. The Defendant was not aware of the new parking system and did not notice the signage informing motorists of the parking restrictions and changes to the system was not prominent.

Just a couple of changes and a suggestion above.