Thanks for your reply.
I am raising this now as there has not been a reasonable opportunity to deal with it earlier. I'm confident the personal reasons for delay would be valid in court.
I read on CAB website that council has to either accept an appeal or say that they do not and tell one what to do next - as I had post redirection in place at the time I would have expected to receive these so I would be very confident to say they did not send them at all. They just sat on it, waited for time to pass and then sent in the bailiffs despite having my email address and other cont