Judge disposes of Civil Enforcement Limited set-aside and hearing

D6GM0372 Civil Enforcement Ltd v Mr B. Reading. 23-08-2017

Mr B found he had a judgment against his name for a parking charge from Civil Enforcement Ltd. The court papers were sent to the wrong address, which is why Mr B did not know about the claim.
He therefore applied to have the judgment set aside.

Defendant's court report

I just wanted to let you know, yesterday I attended court and the following happened:

Judgement against me was set aside.
The claim against me was dismissed
I was awarded my costs (£255) which must be re-paid in 14 days

The judge commended me on my witness statement, saying it was clear and concise and allowed him to make a quick judgement.

Firstly, he quickly agreed to set aside the judgement, because it was clearly served to an incorrect address. This took him less than 10 seconds.

Secondly, he agreed that the claimant (CEL) had not established or submitted evidence that proved it could bring this claim against me. I was smiling at this point, as I realised he was about to also dismiss the claim against me. He then asked if there was anything else I'd like to add. I asked for my costs to be reimbursed (£255 set aside fee), which he agreed with and said CEL must pay me in 14 days.

The case lasted perhaps five minutes, maybe less. The judge spent more time complimenting me on my witness statement and telling me I should change career and become a solicitor than the case itself. I told him I was very happy with my career choice and after telling him what I do, he laughed and agreed.

Thanks for all of your excellent advice. I appreciate the help.

Prankster Notes

It is rare that a judge will both order a set-aside, then hold the hearing immediately; however, as this case shows, it is not impossible. if the claim has no hope of succeeding, it is good management of court time to dispose of it immediately.

Civil Enforcement Limited (CEL) specialise in filing bogus inflated claims using template paperwork. A typical parking charge of £100 will have inflated to over £300 on the claim. Even if the parking charge is valid, the extras will typically not be.

We will never know if this particular charge was valid. To save money, CEL typically send out a template claim which has no details of the actual parking event. Their business model relies on the victim being scared of court and immediately paying up. When the claim is robustly defended, CEL usually don't bother to turn up.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster