*UPDATE* Received CEL Claim form prior to Letter Before Action - Advice?

RobotDevil

Hi all, my fiancé received a claim form on the 16th April from Civil Enforcement LTD regarding an unpaid parking charge from 2021. I filed the AOS on MCOL as recommended and I've been helping him work through his defence using the template in the newbies thread.

My query relates to the actual process of sending these kinds of forms. The claim form is dated 16th April, which we received last week. Yesterday, the 23rd April, we received a letter before action dated the 18th April. The letter before action says we have 30 days to reply before they consider taking court action, but the claim form says we have 14 days, not counting the AOS extension, to reply.

Am I right in believing that they have failed to follow procedure by getting a county court claim before the actual letter before action was sent? Is this something we can use in the defence?

Below is the claim form and letter before action for reference. Any advice is appreciated. 
(Images removed by Forum Team)

Coupon-mad

Are you sure the LBC is about the same PCN ref?

RobotDevil

They are the same I think, same address and same reference number.

KeithP

Coupon-mad said:

Are you sure the LBC is about the same PCN ref?

It looks the same incident to me.

In the 'Address for Sending...' box, the Claim Form has...

(Removed by Forum Team)

The Particulars of Claim also mention...

(Removed by Forum Team)

and the LBA has an identical reference...

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Of perhaps greater significance, nowhere in those Particulars is there any explanation, or even a hint, of what the driver is alleged to have done wrong...

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Gr1pr

Not properly redacted, i can definitely see the MCOL password, so report it for removal 

Do the AOS online if not done already, concentrate on the defence now, not the pre action protocols 

RobotDevil

Gr1pr said:

Not properly redacted, i can definitely see the MCOL password, so report it for removal 

Do the AOS online if not done already, concentrate on the defence now, not the pre action protocols 

Apologies, I thought I had removed everything of relevance. I would have thought not following PAP may have worked in our favour. 

I will continue to draft the defense then. Thanks.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 16th April, you have until Tuesday 7th May 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 20th May 2024 to file your Defence.

That's almost 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 guidance.

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'.

Gr1pr

It may do, but the judge will mainly decide if the defendant owes money, or not, based mainly on the facts in the case, a live court claim needs dealing with, complaints can come later, if necessary 

RobotDevil

Thank you all for the advice.

Coupon-mad

RobotDevil said:

Hi all, my fiancé received a claim form on the 16th April from Civil Enforcement LTD regarding an unpaid parking charge from 2021. I filed the AOS on MCOL as recommended and I've been helping him work through his defence using the template in the newbies thread.

My query relates to the actual process of sending these kinds of forms. The claim form is dated 16th April, which we received last week. Yesterday, the 23rd April, we received a letter before action dated the 18th April. The letter before action says we have 30 days to reply before they consider taking court action, but the claim form says we have 14 days, not counting the AOS extension, to reply.

Am I right in believing that they have failed to follow procedure by getting a county court claim before the actual letter before action was sent? Is this something we can use in the defence?

Below is the claim form and letter before action for reference. Any advice is appreciated. 

I've covered the QR Code and the password.

I see it is indeed the same PCN.  This is unreasonable and misleading conduct. 

Add it to your defence paragraph 5 onwards. There are three CEL defences from this week to copy from and they have 4 or 5 added paragraphs specific to CEL.  Copy from those cases (search the forum and look for 'NEWEST', not 'best match') and add an extra paragraph about that misleading LBC communication, to paint a picture of a course of conduct of unreasonable conduct by CEL. 

RobotDevil

Coupon-mad said:

RobotDevil said:

Hi all, my fiancé received a claim form on the 16th April from Civil Enforcement LTD regarding an unpaid parking charge from 2021. I filed the AOS on MCOL as recommended and I've been helping him work through his defence using the template in the newbies thread.

My query relates to the actual process of sending these kinds of forms. The claim form is dated 16th April, which we received last week. Yesterday, the 23rd April, we received a letter before action dated the 18th April. The letter before action says we have 30 days to reply before they consider taking court action, but the claim form says we have 14 days, not counting the AOS extension, to reply.

Am I right in believing that they have failed to follow procedure by getting a county court claim before the actual letter before action was sent? Is this something we can use in the defence?

Below is the claim form and letter before action for reference. Any advice is appreciated. 

I've covered the QR Code and the password.

I see it is indeed the same PCN.  This is unreasonable and misleading conduct. 

Add it to your defence paragraph 5 onwards. There are three CEL defences from this week to copy from and they have 4 or 5 added paragraphs specific to CEL.  Copy and add an extra one to paint a picture of a course of conduct of unreasonable conduct by CEL. 

Great news, thank you, I will do just that.