CEL B2B ANPR PCN Claimform - defended but court errored - going for set aside - Greyfriars Car Park Priory Road Bedford MK40 1BY

[Jenny21]

Thank you!  I'm struggling with the technology side.  The illegible scans- actually are more clear than the originals! 

The background is, the claimants put the wrong address on the correspondences, so the paperwork initially went to the wrong address, which just happened to be a vacant unit at the time,

 *months* later, when the agent visited, he scanned in the documents to email them to us... which makes these scans,

scans of scans of documents that had been sitting on an oily floor for months! 

I intended to rewrite the content of the first letter (which I can read with difficulty) but first, I was doing battle with the tech system, which I'm renaming the lawnmower man!  

[dx100uk]

get the originals then.

they are not attending so you'll get the set aside 100%

dont agree to the £135 as the RK is not responsible , sadly you wont get your £275 back if it doesnt goto a hearing, you can ask but i bet the judge refuses. do it on the day, not mention it before hand.

that n244 statement is a bit jumbled up and unclear, whomever wrote it wants shooting, lots of unnecessary crap in there that did not need that much explaining.

 

[FTMDave]

Yes, the N244 isn't a disaster but it could easily have been so much better and I'm bemused as to why you didn't come here earlier. 

I'm at work now but will have a careful read through everything later and be back on the forum this evening. 

[FTMDave]

Right, it's there in black & white that you told the fleecers the identity of the driver on 24 November 2022 but they ignored you and sued the wrong person.

The judge will need to be convinced of two things.

1.  Why you didn't defend when you had the chance.

2.  That you have a reasonable chance of defending the claim during a full hearing.

Your chances of winning were already high, but the fleecers' non-attendance just about guarantees it, as dx says.

A set aside hearing normally takes about 15 minutes, so just be very brief and to the point.  No waffle.

Tell the judge that you would like to briefly explain (1) how the default judgement came about, and (2) also to explain that you have a good defence.  (1) Explain briefly about the defence mess-up.  (2) Then say you were not the driver, you have cooperated with the claimant and supplied details of the driver, but the claimant insists on suing the wrong person.

Assuming that goes well, ask for your £275 costs against CEL because of their unreasonable conduct in deliberately suing the wrong person.  This should have been in your WS, but, oh well.  The judge is highly unlikely to agree, but nothing ventured ...

[Jenny21]

Thanks, the judge has allocated 45 minutes (should I be worried?)  We didn't initially get the paperwork because the claimant put the wrong address - it went to a vacant building.  Also, the claimants have listed this against (directors name) (business name) as if they are one entity, so... I was thinking of asking that the case gets struck because... who are they suing?? 

That'd be me that wrote that, trying to limit the words but get all.points in.... (so consider me shot!)   What questions need answering? 

Regarding the fee, the Court have said that if they agree, either

1) that the first statement submitted should have been accepted as its a firm not an individual... the firm is named on the claim...  or

2) that the resubmitted statement was submitted *before* the claimants applied for Judgement but processing was delayed by court backlog... which it seems it was, or

3) that the CCJ should not have been issued in the same day as the statement was accepted, so admin error by the Court

Then we get the £275 back.   I think we satisfy all three of these criteria.  

[dx100uk]

the allocated time means NOTHING. dont forget NO-ONE inc the judge has read ANYTHING until moments before they enter.

you'll be out there in <10mins smiling with every chance you'll get £275 back if the wind is blowing you way.

 

[FTMDave]

dx is spot on so keep your arguments as succinct as possible as explained three posts above.

The judge's "default" position will be to grant the set aside but to deny the £275.

Your argument to get the £275 back makes sense but it's a real pity it's not included in the WS in a little section with COSTS as the title for clarity for the judge (rather than all the waffle that is included instead).

Indeed it's a pity you didn't come here from the start as you would never be at this stage, you would have defended on-line with MCOL like everyone else in every other PPC thread, and there would have been no question of rejected defence or CCJ.  Please learn from this for the future.

So - fingers crossed - when the judge grants set aside immediately pop up and say you ask for costs as the court made a mistake.  If the judge rejects your explanation say you request costs from the fleecers as they deliberately sued the wrong person.