Harassment from Civil Enforcement Limited - Claim from County Court Business Centre

Coupon-mad

I think they meant to re-issue the PCN to you at the time, and got the data wrong.

He should consider a £300 counterclaim for data abuse, and harassment.

See the Simon Clay v Civil Enforcement case:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wzxq4pk7omj22y/Simon Clay v Civil Enforcement Ltd and Fusion Lifestyle_Approved Judgment.pdf?dl=0

Counterclaims are hard to win but only cost £30 or so to put in.  See examples by @Nosy and @Eminowa - needs to be a properly pleaded case in law.

katielo100

Very interesting - thank you. This would make sense.

We will look into submitting a counter claim, is there any risk to this?

Our main worry about taking things any further is risking a CCJ against my husband, I assume this is unlikely since we have clear evidence that they had cancelled the charge related to the overstay on that date and time. We don't want to risk this affecting his credit rating but we also don't want to give into their bullying and intimidation.  

We had assumed that there was some kind of administration error and that the duplicate PCN was reissued accidentally / this would be rectified, this is why we appealed again and again each time we received yet another debt collection letter and repeatedly tried to contact CEL to no avail. It seemed inconceivable to me that they'd let this go to court since they should have a very clear record of having accepted my husband's appeal for that exact infringement. 

My husband plans now to email the court on Monday with his defence cc'ing CEL's legal email. He will also submit a Subject Access Request to the data protection email. We're considering complaining to POPLA and BPA if it's not too late at this stage / if it's any use. Will also look into the counter claim.

Thank you very much for your help. 

Not_A_Hope

You may still need to acknowledge the claim through MCOL but it sounds  like you are rushing to get your defence in when you may have more time to get the best defence possible. What date is actually on the County Court claim form. The forum members can then advise the best date to send in the defence. 

You need to send the PPC as SAR to get all their information which may also show evidence of the duplication error you suggest.

I the unlikely case your husband loses the court case he will not get a CCJ if he pays what the court says he must pay in the timescales (usually 28 days). PPCs use this as a scare tactic.

Coupon-mad

Yep, no CCJ risk as long as you do what we advise and follow ALL court directions.

KeithP

katielo100 said:

My husband received a claim form for the County Court Business Centre dated 14th June, he has not acknowledged this yet. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th June, you have until Monday 4th July to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

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

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 18th July 2022 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.

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'.

Of course everywhere I have written 'you' or 'your' I mean the named Defendant.

katielo100

Thank you, appreciate the advice. We will hold off and my husband will file an acknowledgment of service and request an SAR before he submits his defence. 

Very reassuring to hear that the risk of a CCJ is minimal, this was our main concern. Are we risking the claim amount going up any further / having to pay more if we go to court at this point? They’re currently claiming £283. 

Coupon-mad

 Are we risking the claim amount going up any further / having to pay more if we go to court at this point? They’re currently claiming £283. 

No risk at all, unless you behave unreasonably, such as not bother to do a WS or not turning up for a hearing.  None of that will happen and in fact some of the claim is exaggerated, as the template defence explains.

Not_A_Hope

Chances are even if you were to lose in court the judge would reject all the fake add ons the scammers are using to encourage you to pay now. If the judge found in favour of the claimant the most you are likely to have to pay would be about £200 including court fees. Even then the PPC would make little or no money because they would have to pay for a rent a legal to present their case.

As well as researching the errors the PPC may have made in re-issuing a cancelled invoice  / to the wrong party you should also clarify the background to the PCN to get assistance in writing the best defence. The following does not make sense

"for a brief nineteen minute overstay in the ...car park dated..... This notice was appealed on the basis that the driver is a resident of the workspace at the location and a permitted visitor at the time."

It is not clear what type of car park it was (retail, residential, workplace, pay and display etc ) nor whether the driver had a permit (but it wasn't displayed, or ticket which expired, or forgot to VRM enter details). If you have any rights as a 'resident' what does your tenancy or lease state in relation to parking.

All this will need to be explained clearly in your statements to a judge. 

katielo100

Thank you. I agree that is unclear - I will need to look into the specifics of my tenancy and amend.

Will my partner be required to go much into the background of the original PCN in his defence? As CEL accepted his appeal for that supposed overstay, this indicated to us that the matter was closed and the charge for that short overstay was cancelled.

Can they now dispute this when there is clear evidence that they confirmed the charge was cancelled? We have a confirmation of cancellation letter from the representations team. 

Coupon-mad

I doubt the Defendant will even have a hearing.  Your evidence should be enough to make CEL discontinue before the hearing, later this year.

If the D decides to counterclaim then that forces a hearing (and a £25 hearing fee) so bear that in mind.