UKPC Set Aside Hearing

Chesterfield1970

Hi I have a set aside hearing on 16 January and I have just been advised that I need to send a defence to the Court and to the Claimant by 20 November.  The case is very similar to PaulR23 in that I was not aware of the CCJ (offence November 2018 & date of judgement 11 Jan 23) until late July as it was served against an address I havent lived at since 2019.

I have drafted the argument in a similar vein to Paulr23's and wanted to ask if this is the correct please?

 IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.:  (Removed by Forum Team)

Between

UK PARKING CONTROL LTD

(Claimant) 

- and -  

 (Defendant)

_________________

DRAFT DEFENCE

 

1 Under CPR 13.2 The court must set aside a judgment entered under part 12 if judgment was wrongly entered.  Given that CPR 6.9 (3) was not met, CPR 13.2 applies and the CCJ should be set aside. As the defendant did not give an address to the claimant at which the claim could be served at (because the defendant was not asked), CPR 6.9 applies. CPR 6.9 stipulates that an "Individual" should be served at their "Usual or last known residence."

1.2 The defendant was not aware of the CCJ applied following a credit check in July 2023, the letters regarding the claim were sent to an incorrect address, where the defendant has not been a resident for over 4 years.   The defendant has been a resident of their current address since November 2020 (see evidence of this from council tax bill dated 28/02/2021, which is 2 years earlier than the Date of Judgement). 

2. Given that more than 4 months has passed from issue of proceedings and service of the claim was defective (i.e. it was never served) the Defendant submits that this particular claim is dead and the period for service cannot be extended by this application process.  The Defendant has no details of this claim, therefore, if the Claimant believes there is a cause of action then the correct procedure would be to file a claim afresh and to the right address, after furnishing the Defendant with the information required under the pre-action protocol for debt claims, issued this time to the correct address for service for this Defendant, which is (*****)

2.2 There are several authorities for this, including the judgment in Boxwood [2021] EWHC 947 (TCC), which is a reminder of the strictness of the requirements of CPR 7.6 and how difficult it is to use other parts of the Civil Procedure Rules to rectify a failure to serve the claim form within the requisite period: “A claimant is not entitled to rely on the wide, general powers under CPR 3.10 or CPR 3.9 to circumvent the specific conditions set out in CPR 7.6(3) for extending the period for service of a claim form.

2.3 In Vinos v Marks & Spencer plc [2001] 3 All ER 784 the Court of Appeal considered whether any extension of time should be granted under CPR 7.6 in circumstances where the defendant had been notified of the issue of a claim form but the claim form had not been served within four months as required by CPR 7.5 and the application was made after expiry of that period. The court refused to grant relief on the basis that it did not have power to do so.

3 Under British Parking Association Approved Operator Scheme which UK PARKING CONTROL LTD are a part of their code of practice states 24.1.C “Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the contact details for the person you are writing to are correct.” The claimant failed to comply with their code of practice.

Statement of Truth 

I believe that the facts stated in this defence 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. 

 

Le_Kirk

You might want to remove that claim number as a matter of urgency, somebody who would not have your best interests at heart might make use of it.

Chesterfield1970

Thanks but Im not sure how I can edit the thread?

Chesterfield1970

Thanks Le_Kirk the Forum team have removed the reference no

Coupon-mad

That's not a defence. That's the beginnings of a skeleton argument against the CCJ (completely different than'a defence').

Show us the court order. Cover the claim number this time!

Are you sure it's asking for a defence? Doesn't it merely say the evidence upon which both parties wish to rely?

You need Cel V Chan so no rushing this.

Chesterfield1970

Thanks for your help, i know im rushing it.

Chesterfield1970

Second part

Coupon-mad

Not a defence then.

A witness statement.  They even coach you what to put!  Dead easy.

Did you already send one with your N244? 

Chesterfield1970

Yes I sent this

WITNESS STATEMENT

CLAIM No:
BETWEEN: UK Parking Control Limited (Claimant)
-- and --
(Defendant)

I am, I am the defendant in this matter and this is my supporting statement to my application dated 17 September 2023 requesting to:

a. Set aside the default judgment dated 11 January 2023 as it was not properly served at my current address.

b. Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

c. Order for the claimant to pay the defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee.

SET ASIDE THE DEFAULT JUDGMENT

1.1. I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the event.

1.2. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 11 January 2023. I am aware that the Claimant is UK Parking Control Limited, and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice from 25 November 2018.

1.3. The claim form was not served at my current address, and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until I discovered by chance that a CCJ had been lodged onto my credit file on the 19 of July 2023. 

1.3.1 The address at the time of the event was ****.  I have changed my address twice since and have been at my current address ***** since November 2020. In support of this, I have provided a copy of a council tax bill dated 28 February 2021 and the latest Poll Card that backs up my continued residence.

1.4. In addition to the above, it should be highlighted that the integrity and law-abiding intention of the Defendant should be taken into consideration on the basis that;

1.4.1 On the 19th of July 2023, I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment.

1.4.2 On the 15th of August 2023, I received legal advice from *** who is a solicitor at the *** Law Centre ****.

1.4.3 On 20th of September I willingly submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case.

1.5. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held my correct contact details at the time of the claim.

 

1.6. On that basis, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to CPR 6.9 (3) where they had failed to show due diligence in using an address at which the Defendant no longer resides. The claimant did not take reasonable and inexpensive steps to ascertain the address of my current residence. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgment.

1.7. Considering the above, I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgment against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside as per CPR 13.2, and I ask the Court to kindly consider the reimbursement of the fee of £275 from the claimant should this request be successful.

The facts stated above are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

Coupon-mad

OK, so your job is to compare and contrast that first WS to the coaching that the court has kindly provided and draw up a supplementary WS to specifically answer he court's questions.

Add the CEL v Chan wording & transcript.  Search the forum.

Chesterfield1970

HI Coupon-mad I am going to work on this later but can I ask if the CEL V Chan is relevant where the POC states that I was parked in a disabled space without clearly displaying a disabled badge, which i do have but I forgot to display it.