Letter of claim: CE LTD response to claimant

Adrian1999

At the point of letter of claim before CCJ request. I have writing a draft email response to send to the claimant/solicitor/in this case the operator CE LTD, please see below.

The contravention of said breach of contract occurred in a GP practice parking area, while attending an appointment with the GP. GP will not engage as the landowner to cancel the claim. An FOI will be submitted today to determine when the signage was installed, as it is believed this was not the case on the indicated day of contravention,.

Claim form is referred to the driver, of which has never been acknowledged.

Steps for me to do

Deadline	Action	Where / How
Within 14 days of service (5 days after issue + 14)	File AOS –	MCOL / OCMC
By 28 days of service (or 56 if CPR 15.5 agreed)	File defence (PDF by e-mail to CCBC) Submit FOI to GP	Use MSE template; keep driver unnamed
Any time before defence deadline	Chase CPR 31.14 docs & confirm extension	By e-mail, save responses
2 weeks after claim acknowledged	If no CPR 15.5 consent, be ready with a “holding” defence	–

To whom it may concern,

1 Service & Acknowledgment

I confirm receipt of County Court Claim Form No. [ABC12345] issued on [Issue-date]. An Acknowledgment of Service (AOS) has been filed today via MCOL, defending the claim in full.

2 Cause of action unclear – driver or keeper?
Your Particulars of Claim allege a “driver breach” yet do not name any driver nor plead full compliance with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA). Please state unequivocally who you pursue—driver or keeper—and on what legal basis. A statement of case that omits these facts is defective under CPR 16.4.

3 CPR 31.14 – request for inspection / copies
Pursuant to CPR 31.14 please supply, by e-mail within seven days, copies of every document you have mentioned in the PoC, namely:

·         All photographs of vehicle HF69 UHL and signage relied upon and actually in place on the time of the breach of contract;

·         The parking-contract wording displayed on 25 January 2024;

·         Evidence of when those signs were installed – e.g. work orders, invoices, RAMS sheets, permits or installer photographs that show the installation date;

·         The unredacted landholder contract or full chain of authority;

·         The landowner authority/contract in force on that date;

·         ANPR (or manual patrol) logs for the stated entry/exit times;

·         The original PCN, any NTK and reminder letters;

·         A breakdown showing how the £170 charge + £19.75 interest has been calculated.

Disclosure is required so that I may plead my defence properly.

4 CPR 15.5 – agreement to extend defence deadline
Under CPR 15.5(1) the parties may agree up to a 28-day extension for filing a defence. Please confirm in writing that you consent to move my defence deadline to [new date = 56 days after service], and note that I will immediately notify the court as rule 15.5(2) requires.

5 Liability denied – I was not the driver
I was not the driver on 25 January 2024. Your paperwork fails the mandatory PoFA conditions; therefore keeper liability is denied in full.

6 ADR invitation
I remain willing to resolve this dispute via POPLA or any UKAS-approved ADR. Nothing in BPA rules prevents you from issuing a POPLA code post-claim; refusal will be cited on costs.

7 Service address & GDPR notice
My service address is:
[FULL ADDRESS]. Delete any previous address and restrict processing of my personal data to what is strictly necessary for this litigation.

8 Next steps expected

• Written confirmation of the CPR 15.5 extension;
• Electronic copies of the CPR 31.14 documents;
• Clarification of whether your cause of action is against the driver or the keeper.

If you choose not to comply, I reserve the right to seek strike-out and/or costs under CPR 27.14 for unreasonable conduct.

kryten3000

Why are you bothering with this? CEL won't reply.  Just Acknowledge and Defend with the Chan and Akande paragraphs as shown in the Newbies thread.

ChirpyChicken

kryten3000 said:

Why are you bothering with this? CEL won't reply.  Just Acknowledge and Defend with the Chan and Akande paragraphs as shown in the Newbies thread.

indeed
I do think on the whole if there are no issues to narrow/ ie keeper liability and no addresses to update then even replying to an LBC is a waste of time

It doesn't achieve anything, it doesn't narrow any issues 

you dont gain anything from delaying a claim by 30 days unless your on holiday /away or such like

Le_Kirk

File defence (PDF by e-mail to CCBC CNBC)

Since @Coupon-mad rewrote the template defence, this is incorrect, now done through MCOL.

Coupon-mad

I'm unclear if the OP is at LBC or at Claim Form defence stage?

An FOI will be submitted today to determine when the signage was installed,

No it won't. Neither a GP surgery nor CEL are subject to the FOI Act.

Castle

A GP surgery is subject to the F.O.I Act.

Car1980

You state this is a live claim.

Some of your CPRs do not apply to the small claims track. So forget disclosure.

Ditch your approach. You're going to make mistakes. They are under no obligation to respond to your requests, and won't.

Just defend in the usual manner, but by all means use the FOI Act on the GP surgery to gather evidence for your Witness Statement.

Is this through CE direct or DCB Legal?

Coupon-mad

Castle said:

A GP surgery is subject to the F.O.I Act.

Is it? An NHS Trust is, but a GP surgery?

Castle

Coupon-mad said:

Castle said:

A GP surgery is subject to the F.O.I Act.

Is it? An NHS Trust is, but a GP surgery?

An example from the first page of a google search:-
Freedom of Information - Circle GP Surgery

Adrian1999

I am a bit confused, I have received a Claim form (N1SDT) from HM Courts & Tribunals service. Stating if I do not respond, the claimant can request a CCJ.

It is directly with Civil Enforcement (CE) LTD as the operator/PPC.

Coupon-mad said:

Castle said:

A GP surgery is subject to the F.O.I Act.

Is it? An NHS Trust is, but a GP surgery?

I realise what you mean now, as the GP is a private provider of a primary medical service. As their contract is under the NHS, information related to their service is treated as public. The FOI as per ICO requires GPs to response to FOIA requests and have a publishing process. 

So key steps..

1. Do not email or email with bog standard template
2. Acknowledge defence through MCOL
3. Chan and Akande

Car1980

1. Acknowledge service
2. Use the new template defence, incorporating a brief paragraph that you parked, were a patient with a valid GP appointment, did not see any signage and even if you had entered into a contract there is no legitimate interest in attempting to charge genuine users of the surgery.
3. Use MCOL f it will fit in the box, if not email but do not forget to add a signed statement of truth at the end.
4. Sit back and wait to see what your FOI comes back with, and look out for the directions questionnaire in the post.

If it goes to the witness statement stage, then you can give a lot more information with photographs etc.