CCJ served at wrong address - letter from DCBL Bailiffs to even older address 1 month after default

Harvez63

Take a breath and a reset and go for it @k2122

Shame he cannot use "administrative error" and get an extension of time like BWL did to me 

k2122

Coupon-mad said:

k2122 said:

Looking back at my witness statement I did request to be given 14 days to submit a defence, maybe this was an error? 

No you asked for that to be ordered IF THE CCJ IS SET ASIDE - not putting the burden on you to draft a defence before!

The Judge's decision to grant the set aside at the hearing should be mandatory (13.2 applies - improper service of the claim form, END OF STORY) and not affected either way by a draft defence.

Seems unfair but you are stuck with the court's directions.  Include the INTRODUCTION I wrote.

Ah I see, ah well, thank you for the introduction which I'll make sure to include. Thanks again everyone.

k2122

Ok here's parts of my draft defence which I've prefaced with the introduction Coupon-mad kindly provided. Please do let me know if this seems appropriate. I've omitted the bulk which matches the most recent template defence. I'm also wondering whether I could incorporate the 4 months dead argument at this stage?

1.       The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that a contract was entered into - by conduct or otherwise - whereby it was ‘agreed’ to pay a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue, nor to form contracts in their own name at the location.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2.         It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question and that the Defendant was the driver at the time of the alleged parking contravention.

3.         Events are recounted as best can be by the Defendant, considering the length of time that has passed since the alleged contravention. The alleged contravention occurred when the Defendant parked on a publically accessible kerbside by a small church outside of a gated residential carpark when briefly visiting, despite the claim describing the vehicle being parked “in” a restricted area. It can be seen from the photos within the claim (exhibit C) and in recent photographs taken by the defendant (exhibit G), that there is no signage on the church building which the defendant has parked next to indicate that it is private/restricted land. From the images, it is not at all clear that any signage refers to the publically accessible pavement by the church building, and the defendant made a very reasonable presumption that the signs on the fence around the carpark referred to within the actual gated carpark, which is not publicly accessible. Furthermore, it can be seen that a number of other cars are parked on the same kerbside as the Defendant at the time of the alleged contravention, which indicates other motorists have made similar presumptions in that context, further evidencing the lack of clear signage. It is also apparent from the images that the signage on the fence could not clearly be read by a driver parked on the kerbside in question, and would not be sufficient to enter a driver into a contract with the claimant.

26.       In the matter of costs, the Defendant asks:

(a) for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee incurred as a result of their failure to adequately serve the claim to the Defendant’s actual address.

(b) at the very least, for standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14, and

(c) for a finding of unreasonable conduct by this Claimant, seeking costs pursuant to CPR 46.5. 

Coupon-mad

No exhibits go with a defence.

That's a later stage.

And this is only a 'Draft' Defence so did you change the title of the document to that, and added my intro above paragraph 1?

Your paragraph 3 is too long.  Split it into 3 & 4 and REMOVE the Template para 4 (not needed in your situation of a Draft Defence).

Do NOT use the word 'presumption' (nor even assumption).  Instead state that the D had the honest belief that..

k2122

Ok great thank you. I've titled it "Draft Defence" and have already added the intro before paragraph 1 as you suggested. I've now edited the defence to remove template paragraph 4, and have split the third paragraph into two.

Coupon-mad

And changed the word 'presumption'?

k2122

Ah yes I've also replaced 'presumption' with 'held the honest belief that'!

Coupon-mad

OK so that's probably ready to sign but I would state under your signature & date:
 

Draft defence 
- signed provisionally only -

Evidence/exhibits will be supplied at a later stage with the final Witness Statement in support of the PCN claim defence.

Further, the Defendant is aware that the DLUHC is due to make a final announcement this month (July 2023)  about 'extortionate' debt recovery fees which the Government first announced were banned in February 2022.  The Defendant believes that the Government's imminent draft Impact Assessment should be paid regard to by the Courts in all private parking claim cases now.

--------------------

And of course you must do what the Order says and email the PDF to the local court 'hearings' email address and copy in the Claimant's solicitor so they can't pretend you didn't send it to them.

k2122

Great I will add in your suggestions. Thank you so much for all your help so far.

k2122

So ELMS legal in their automated response state they don't accept service of court documents over email. Do you think I have to post it out to them or can I ignore this for now?