Customer Parking Only, Court Defence Ready to go... (CEL asking for £318)

jj_parking

In 2018 I parked in an Indian restaurant car park that had a sign saying 'customer parking only', with no other signs that I could see, received a PCN in 2018 that has escalated to a court claim now. I went into the restaurant and paid for food which I have proof of in the form of a bank payment.

They want £318+, and I have followed the defence thread to the letter. I have acknowledged the claim but now need to submit my defence. My point 3. is

"3. On the alleged ‘violation’ date of 09/10/2018, the car park in question had signage with the words ‘Customer Parking Only’, the Defendant parked in the car park, immediately entered the restaurant (NAME OF RESTAURANT), and purchased a meal. A bank payment for this purchase has been saved and recorded. The signage was inadequate to make it clear to the driver that a VRM must be entered or registered anywhere, both in terms of visibility and what is said, to form a contract."

The company is Civil Enforcement Ltd - the only trouble is that I can't find their legal team email, and the Template Defence thread says to copy these in when I submit the defence via email, can anyone help me here? 

The date of issue was 25/03/22 and I acknowledged the claim on 30/03/22, so I still have a couple of weeks to submit this.

I was also worried because the thread states I need to get confirmation that my email was received, what if I never receive this? 

Thank you for any help or guidance.

Fruitcake

Concentrate on getting your defence to the court. Sending it to CEL is belt and braces so that is a secondary issue. You should get an auto response from the CCBC, but ring them up if you don't receive it by the following working day.
Send a copy of the email to yourself. If you and the court receive it then on the balance of probabilities, so did CEL, and in any case it isn't your job.

Don't use the word violation. Say something like, "the material date" instead.

In addition to the inadequate signage, mention there was no such signage visible inside the restaurant, and the defendant was not instructed to input a registration number by any member of staff.

What did the restaurant owner say when you complained?

Have you complained to your MP as well?

jj_parking

Fruitcake said:

Concentrate on getting your defence to the court. Sending it to CEL is belt and braces so that is a secondary issue. You should get an auto response from the CCBC, but ring them up if you don't receive it by the following working day.
Send a copy of the email to yourself. If you and the court receive it then on the balance of probabilities, so did CEL, and in any case it isn't your job.

Don't use the word violation. Say something like, "the material date" instead.

In addition to the inadequate signage, mention there was no such signage visible inside the restaurant, and the defendant was not instructed to input a registration number by any member of staff.

What did the restaurant owner say when you complained?

He kept having problems with people complaining, he said not to pay it, but evidently didn't actually cancel it, I doubt he even knew how. It's under new ownership now though. It's now a normal pay and display car park, I'm guessing because of the complaints they have received about this scam.

Thank you for your help.

Fruitcake

Have a look on Google Streetview to see if there are any historic images from around the date of the alleged event that might help.

Coupon-mad

The CEL email is knocking around somewhere here on other CEL threads.  Something like 'legal@ce-services...

Defence looks fine, agree with @Fruitcake - just these changes needed:

Don't use the word violation. Say something like, "the material date" instead.

In addition to the inadequate signage, mention there was no such signage visible inside the restaurant, and the defendant was not instructed to input a registration number by any member of staff.

KeithP

jj_parking said:

The date of issue was 25/03/22 and I acknowledged the claim on 30/03/22, so I still have a couple of weeks to submit this.

With a Claim Issue Date of 25th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 27th April 2022 to file your Defence.

That's nearly three 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

jj_parking

I have just submitted my defence and received an automated response 'AUTO RESPONSE DO NOT REPLOY - CCBC AQ Acknowledgement'. - I guess this is the acknowledgement I require.

Now I will wait for the Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC.

Fruitcake

Did you send a copy of the defence to the claimant as a precaution? There have been several instances where the CCBC has failed to do this.

jj_parking

Fruitcake said:

Did you send a copy of the defence to the claimant as a precaution? There have been several instances where the CCBC has failed to do this.

I have found legal@ce-service.co.uk on this forum. Shall I forward my email to them? 

KeithP

jj_parking said:

Fruitcake said:

Did you send a copy of the defence to the claimant as a precaution? There have been several instances where the CCBC has failed to do this.

I have found legal@ce-service.co.uk on this forum. Shall I forward my email to them? 

Yes.             

Le_Kirk

KeithP said:

jj_parking said:

Fruitcake said:

Did you send a copy of the defence to the claimant as a precaution? There have been several instances where the CCBC has failed to do this.

I have found legal@ce-service.co.uk on this forum. Shall I forward my email to them? 

Yes.             

These have all worked for CE: -

office@ce-service.co.uk

Legal3@ce-service.co.uk

dataprotectionofficer@ce-service.co.uk