DEA Ltd / CEL / sending out blank Claimforms to frighten People

[cabbagebike]

Hello once more!

 

I took the advice from here and ignored all letters / made no contact after receiving an "invoice" from CEL

after a short overstay in a car park back in 2009, over five years ago.

 

I've now received from Civil Enforcement Ltd (CEL) a Notice of Assignment of Debt letter saying the "debt"

has been moved to Debt Enforcement and Action Limited.

 

I've had a look around on here and it appears that the advice given now is different to what was given back then

so I'm wondering it it's still a case of keep ignoring or that I have to do something.

 

Any advice is gratefully received. Thank you.

[i hate bailiffs]

Is this relating to the invoice that is 5 years old?

 

Or is it a recent one?

[rippedoffagain]

I would think they would have one hell of a time trying to get that through a court. My advice would be to either ignore or write back saying you have absolutely no idea what they refer to. My bet would be that any possible action may be soon statute barred, and they are trying to get you to acknowledge in some way.

[ericsbrother]

If I was from HMRC investigating the tax affairs of CEL I would be worried but you shouldnt.

 

IT is just a meaningless piece of paper as far as you are concerned and is designed to transfer the "assets" of one duff organisation to another.

 

As the supposed asset is a non-existent debt, CEL can claim it against tax (this is where it all becomes unfair to the taxpayer)

and the newco has no intention of trying to collect because they know it is duff and will write it off against their tax bill sometime soon.

 

Ignore is still the advice I would give.

[cabbagebike]

Thank you so much for your quick responses! The invoice (& the usual series of letters from CEL then Newlyn) goes back to 2009. I thought I'd heard the last of it and was quite surprised to received what I did.

 

I'll do as you say and as I've done in the past with this one and ignore this.

 

If anything else turns up, I'll post it up on here.

 

Cheers!

[i hate bailiffs]

Ignore has worked for the past 5 years so carry on doing so

 

They may give up soon

[dadtaxi]

This occurred in 2009?

 

This was before the legislation changed in 2012( as you say the Protection of Freedoms act 2012). However this is an act that came into force after the parking 'event' and is non-retrospective... therefore completely irrelevant

 

The prevailing advice before then due to the legislation in force at that time was to ignore and therefore in this case ..ignore

 

If they try to take it further come back to here, but the chances are they are just Auto-sending on old cases. There seems to be a spate of them recently

[cabbagebike]

Hello. It occurred in 2009. I'm glad to see the words "irrelevant" and "ignore" a few times

 

I also did think that they've sold off a list of invoice non-payers to some company in order to raise a few bob. Or, like they've done before, assign things to another "company" (someone sat at another desk waiting to pounce on any form of contact).

 

Thank you once again for all you help and will update this should anything else turn up through the letterbox

[cabbagebike]

Hello once again! Received yet more correspondance: an envelope through the door (with a low-quality letterhead) from "Debt Enforcement & Action Limited" headlined "Final Reminder Before Court Action". It looks like it's begging for a reduced amount to be paid by calling a telephone number or doing it on-line at ce-service.co.uk. And if no payment's made, they are going to "...show this letter to the court.".

 

In fact, they've attached a Claim Form for a county court with no claim number on it, a circle that says "SEAL" in it, CEL as claimants and their "invoicee(s)" as Defendants! The amount claimed on this one is double what they were begging for earlier in the letter. As well as this, they've sent a sheet with Particulars of claim with a Statement of Truth to be signed by the invoicee(s).

 

To me this still looks very amateurish and just attempting to look official etc with the court threat etc.

 

Same as usual with this one (i.e. ignore)?

 

Thank you!

[Old Snowy]

If, and I say if the Particulars of Claim was issued from the County Court Business Centre, Northampton then it should contained a web address and password that will enable you to log on and look at the claim online. These forms have a printed seal in the space where on court prepared documents have the circle marked "Seal". If the form shows not court details, has no claim number and no seal then it is not valid - as you appear to have concluded. The use of "blank" court documents is by no means unheard of as a means of piling on the pressure. If a court is however named then as a backstop I would consider checking with them to make sure this isn't a set of documents that hasn't slipped through the net.

 

As for DEAL the company is not exactly unassociated with CEL being very much a sister company. As has been suggested already this is likely to be a tax dodge rather than anything else although there may well be a few who would pay up.

[armadillo71]

This maybe of interest from The Prankster;

 

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/have-civil-enforcement-limited-made-bad.html

[cabbagebike]

If, and I say if the Particulars of Claim was issued from the County Court Business Centre, Northampton then it should contained a web address and password that will enable you to log on and look at the claim online. These forms have a printed seal in the space where on court prepared documents have the circle marked "Seal". If the form shows not court details, has no claim number and no seal then it is not valid - as you appear to have concluded. The use of "blank" court documents is by no means unheard of as a means of piling on the pressure. If a court is however named then as a backstop I would consider checking with them to make sure this isn't a set of documents that hasn't slipped through the net.

 

As for DEAL the company is not exactly unassociated with CEL being very much a sister company. As has been suggested already this is likely to be a tax dodge rather than anything else although there may well be a few who would pay up.

 

There are no log-in or password details at all on the paperwork. In fact, there's no claim number or issue date on the claim form which they say they intend to lodge at the named county court. What is odd also is the amount claimed on the Particulars of Claim is less than the amount claimed on the claim form.

 

The invoiced incident was supposed to have happened over five years ago. I do think it's yet another attempt at worrying someone into payment.

[DBC]

From doing a bit of research at Companies House it appears DEAL has only one director. He is an American citizen, but with a home address in the Ukraine, and the company's registered address is an accommodation address in London. So you can see what sort of cowboy company they are.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hello once again! Received yet more correspondance: an envelope through the door (with a low-quality letterhead) from "Debt Enforcement & Action Limited" headlined "Final Reminder Before Court Action". It looks like it's begging for a reduced amount to be paid by calling a telephone number or doing it on-line at ce-service.co.uk. And if no payment's made, they are going to "...show this letter to the court.".

 

In fact, they've attached a Claim Form for a county court with no claim number on it, a circle that says "SEAL" in it, CEL as claimants and their "invoicee(s)" as Defendants! The amount claimed on this one is double what they were begging for earlier in the letter. As well as this, they've sent a sheet with Particulars of claim with a Statement of Truth to be signed by the invoicee(s).

 

To me this still looks very amateurish and just attempting to look official etc with the court threat etc.

 

Same as usual with this one (i.e. ignore)?

 

Thank you!

 

 

Using such a form in regard to debt collection should be reported to the FCA which taken on the Guidance previously given by the now defunct OFT " Using misleading practices" etc.

[ericsbrother]

Yup, albsolutely a no-no to send out blank county court claim forms with the intent to coerce you into paying up. If you have the time you can send this back to the Northampton bulk centre with a complaint about this, copied to the Financial Conduct Authority. If you have a trawl around on google you will find that this is an offence and not just an abuse of process so the idiots might just get a knock on the door.

If you cant be bothered you can just ignore them completely, they have no basis of claim and they are only doing it in a rather forlorn hope of getting something for nothing.

[cabbagebike]

Thank you for your re-assurances here.

 

About reporting them: could this be done by scanning the documents & e-mail (to the bulk centre & FCA) or would I have to post the "original fake" ones?

 

I would like to stick the boot in if there's a chance! But it's still nice to know "ignore" is a way to go (in my case).

 

I understand if I received a revised claim form with a claim number, log-in details etc and an county court stamp, it can be checked on-line for validity. It's about a week until DEAL say they will lodge it.

 

Thank you!

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Thank you for your re-assurances here.

 

About reporting them: could this be done by scanning the documents & e-mail (to the bulk centre & FCA) or would I have to post the "original fake" ones?

 

I would like to stick the boot in if there's a chance! But it's still nice to know "ignore" is a way to go (in my case).

 

I understand if I received a revised claim form with a claim number, log-in details etc and an county court stamp, it can be checked on-line for validity. It's about a week until DEAL say they will lodge it.

 

Thank you!

Keep all original documents.

 

 

It would be best to send the copies by signed for post in all cases.

 

 

To the FCA and the court manager NCCBCC

[ericsbrother]

Stone the crows, the idiots have just sent the same demand to me. I wouldnt normally waste a stamp on these people but I have invited them to follow up their threats. Also reported to the courts service at Northampton since the MoJ dont answer their phone. Reported to Actionfraud as well as an offence under the Administration of Justice act S40 (d) and as false representation under the Theft Act (for all the good it will do) the FCA say they dont have any authority on people who set out to break the law, just those who want to be regulated and then get it wrong.

[Alipeeps]

Ooh I've just started a thread about receiving exactly the same Final Reminder Before Court Action with enclosed "draft" court documents. Very interested to know that sending out these blank court documents is an offense as will be reporting them for this as suggested above.

[ericsbrother]

Yep, get the complaints in to the MoJ via Northampton CC and to Actionfraud, who will pass them on the the City of London Police

[cabbagebike]

Just to update: I've not heard a sausage since

[ericsbrother]

I hope that you dont, I think they may be putting such things on hold for a while whilst they sort out a couple of problems they have created for themselves.

[Border Riever]

For anyone interested in (or affected by) Debt Enforcement and Action Ltd,

they were formed almost a year go and according to rumour (careful choice of words all through this post!),

by Gary Wain, CEO of Civil enforcement Ltd and also of Creative Parking Ltd. Very creative.

 

They were kicked out of Co-operative Food's Whitby store#s car park last September after a local furore,

and since appear to be resurrecting old "debts".

 

 

We believe locally that CEL have now lost all of Co-op's sites and are concentrating on pursuing Co-op customers.

"Many have had Notice of Assignment of Debt" letters sent indicating Co-op's share of that "debt" is 13.5%.

I am led to believe that Co-op have never claimed this money.

 

I have helped some people defend these claims with quite a bit of success.

Part of this is because CEL assigned a sun to DEAL who have not tried to enforce it,

just sent nasty letters for a bit then stopped, and

 

 

suddenly CEL have issued proceedings in their own name for the debt they no longer own.

THAT'S CREATIVE! And they haven't even correctly filled-in the form identifying the status of the signatory,

the name of the firm of solicitors or if the facts are believed to be true or known to be true.

I must write to Northampton County Court about that!

 

A debt which has lain dormant for 6 years is statute-barred but if there has been contact of any sort between creditor and debtor

the period restarts on the date of receipt of the communication and can last another six years.

 

 

Therefore, is it a good idea to"ignore, ignore" No!

 

 

Any claim for money is surely valid as what it is, be spurious, genuine or speculative

 

 

and if you don't defend it these guys are just as likely to pop up at your will-reading and claim it then if not before.

 

In effect, If you had a PCN from CEL for upsetting them EVER in a Co-op car park - make notes and be ready to defend yourself.

[dx100uk]

just to be clear

statute barring CANNOT be reset with/by a creditor sending silly threat letters

unless its a valid claimform. and that merely 'stops' the clock

 

 

the 'debtor' can only reset the time if they sign a letter specifically admitting the debt and signing the letter

 

 

dx