Claim Form received at non-residential address for parking ticket from 2019

an1bc

Hi everyone,

I have just came to know that there are several letters addressed to me regarding Claim form & further bailiff letters - to an address from where I have registered my business (not my residential address). 

The PCN is related to parking at a gym carpark early morning around 5-6am on a disabled bay, within a retail park. It's worth noting that this car park is poorly-lit & with faded disabled  / general bay marking.

Initially, the letters were addressed to my residential address (where my car is registered to) - I chose to ignore. However after years of no further correspondences, it seems that claim form has now been sent to a address where my business is registered - this is not my residential address, nor it is an address where my vehicle is registered to with DVLA. I am baffled as how they even got hold of this address.

As a result of the correspondence being sent to a non-residential address, the letters only came to my attention few months later, potentially missing the deadlines to file a defense.

My question is, can a court act on claims addressed to incorrect address?

I would be extremely grateful if anyone were to guide me on how best to approach this situation.

Thank you in advance.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Coupon-mad

You need to get it set aside.  See the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread and do the email first, suggested by a solicitor poster.

an1bc

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

The first Claim Form letter was issued on 21-Feb-2024, with 'Judgement for Claimant' dated 13-Mar-2024.

DullGreyGuy

Think you have a more fundamental problem if it's taking a few months for mail sent to the business registered address to get to you! Fines for HMRC for late payments etc in relations to official notices sent to your registered address are going to be much higher than any parking ticket. 

an1bc

Coupon-mad said:

You need to get it set aside.  See the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread and do the email first, suggested by a solicitor poster.

Thank you, I will look into this but I'm new to this forum and not sure if this is the right thread.
Are you able to confirm please? 

Coupon-mad

It's already confirmed under every post I make.  I even tell you where to click to get there.

KeithP

an1bc said:

Coupon-mad said:

You need to get it set aside.  See the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread and do the email first, suggested by a solicitor poster.

Thank you, I will look into this but I'm new to this forum and not sure if this is the right thread.
Are you able to confirm please? 

That is the NEWBIES thread.

an1bc

Coupon-mad said:

It's already confirmed under every post I make.  I even tell you where to click to get there.

Thank you.. appreciate your guidance. will read the thread and follow the instructions!

an1bc

Coupon-mad said:

It's already confirmed under every post I make.  I even tell you where to click to get there.

I just followed the Newbies thread and used the template kindly provided by troublemaker22 with some tailoring to suit my case i.e. correspondences sent to business address (opposed to moving to a different address as per the template).

I'd be ever so grateful if you could scan through and review?
texts in bold are the texts I have added or changed; strikethrough are the texts I intend on deleting as they do not apply to me.


Many thanks!

Dear Sirs,

UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED (THE ‘CLAIMANT’)  V [                        ] CLAIM REFERENCE [             ]

On 24 April 2024, I received the attached letter dated 18/04/2024 from Direct Collections Bailiffs Limited (‘DCBL’). This came as a tremendous shock as it is the first and only communication I have received from the Claimant or any organisation representing the Claimant in relation to this claim.   

I made immediate enquiries of the CNBC from which I was able to establish that: 

1.       the claim relates to an alleged parking event in September 2019;

2.       the claim form was sent to an address where my business is registered, at which I do not reside or visit frequently; and 

3.       if I had been given the opportunity to do so, I would have successfully defended the claim.

I did not receive any pre-claim correspondence, not even a letter of claim as required by the PAP. Nor did I receive the claim form or any particulars of claim and was thus deprived of the ability to defend the claim. The Claimant is well aware that people’s business address may differ from their primary residential address. They also know that I did not respond to any communications sent to me at my business address.

This situation is explicitly dealt with in the Civil Procedure Rules which provide at CPR 6.9(3):

 (3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant … is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’). 

The Claimant is a member of the British Parking Association (the ‘BPA’) and is bound by the BPA’s Code of Practice which gives voice to CPR 6.9(3) in the following terms:

 24.1c 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.

 If the Claimant had taken the actions required by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Code of Practice, my current address would have been found easily which is obviously what DCBL did before sending their letter dated [                ].  If those actions had been performed at the correct time rather than after judgment, I would not have been deprived of the ability to defend the claim. 

By reason of the Claimant’s breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, which amounts to an abuse of the process of the Court, the claim form was never properly served and the judgment must be set aside at the Claimant’s expense and the claim dismissed because it is now too late for the particulars of claim to be re-served.

In view of the foregoing, I invite the Claimant to join with me in an application to set aside the judgment and dismiss the claim, with the Claimant paying the court fee and no order as to costs.

Please respond to the above offer as soon as possible so that, if the offer is acceptable to the Claimant, we can work together to right the wrong that the Claimant has done to me. 

To give you a reasonable time to take instructions and for us to agree a suite of documents for the Court, I am willing to defer making a unilateral application to set aside the judgment until 4 pm on 10 May 2024. If a joint application has not been made by that time, I intend to instruct a solicitor to apply to the Court unilaterally for an order setting the judgment aside, striking out the particulars of claim, dismissing the claim and awarding costs against the Claimant on a full indemnity basis.

Pease respond by immediate return.

Yours faithfully,

cc DCBL

 

an1bc

Coupon-mad said:

It's already confirmed under every post I make.  I even tell you where to click to get there.

Apologies previous comment didn't apply the strikethrough formatting as I pasted from Word. Please ignore the above, the following is correct:

Dear Sirs,

UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED (THE ‘CLAIMANT’)  V [                        ] CLAIM REFERENCE [             ]

On 24 April 2024, I received the attached letter dated 18/04/2024 from Direct Collections Bailiffs Limited (‘DCBL’). This came as a tremendous shock as it is the first and only communication I have received from the Claimant or any organisation representing the Claimant in relation to this claim.   

I made immediate enquiries of the CNBC from which I was able to establish that: 

1.       the claim relates to an alleged parking event in September 2019;

2.       the claim form was sent to an address where my business is registered, at which I do not reside or visit frequently; and 

3.       if I had been given the opportunity to do so, I would have successfully defended the claim.

I did not receive any pre-claim correspondence, not even a letter of claim as required by the PAP. Nor did I receive the claim form or any particulars of claim and was thus deprived of the ability to defend the claim. The Claimant is well aware that people’s business address may differ from their primary residential address. They also know that I did not respond to any communications sent to me at my business address.

This situation is explicitly dealt with in the Civil Procedure Rules which provide at CPR 6.9(3):

 (3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant … is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’). 

The Claimant is a member of the British Parking Association (the ‘BPA’) and is bound by the BPA’s Code of Practice which gives voice to CPR 6.9(3) in the following terms:

 24.1c 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.

 If the Claimant had taken the actions required by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Code of Practice, my current address would have been found easily which is obviously what DCBL did before sending their letter dated [                ].  If those actions had been performed at the correct time rather than after judgment, I would not have been deprived of the ability to defend the claim. 

By reason of the Claimant’s breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, which amounts to an abuse of the process of the Court, the claim form was never properly served and the judgment must be set aside at the Claimant’s expense and the claim dismissed because it is now too late for the particulars of claim to be re-served.

In view of the foregoing, I invite the Claimant to join with me in an application to set aside the judgment and dismiss the claim, with the Claimant paying the court fee and no order as to costs.

Please respond to the above offer as soon as possible so that, if the offer is acceptable to the Claimant, we can work together to right the wrong that the Claimant has done to me. 

To give you a reasonable time to take instructions and for us to agree a suite of documents for the Court, I am willing to defer making a unilateral application to set aside the judgment until 4 pm on 10 May 2024. If a joint application has not been made by that time, I intend to instruct a solicitor to apply to the Court unilaterally for an order setting the judgment aside, striking out the particulars of claim, dismissing the claim and awarding costs against the Claimant on a full indemnity basis.

Pease respond by immediate return.

Yours faithfully,

cc DCBL