F1PART 75TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)
F17

Words in Pt. 75 Table of Contents inserted (6.4.2009) by The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.3) Rules 2008 (S.I. 2008/3327), rules 1, 13(a)

F39

Words in Pt. 75 Table of Contents substituted (6.4.2014) by The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2014 (S.I. 2014/407), rules 2(3), 35(a) (with rule 41)

Contents of this Part

Scope and interpretation

Rule 75.1

The Centre

Rule 75.2

Request

Rule 75.3

Electronic delivery of documents

Rule 75.4

Functions of court officer

Rule 75.5

F17Review of decision of court officer

Rule 75.5A

Enforcement of orders

Rule 75.6

F39Local authority warrant of control

Rule 75.7

Revocation of order

Rule 75.8

Transfer for enforcement

Rule 75.9

Further information required

Rule 75.10

Combining requests

Rule 75.11

Scope and interpretation75.1

1

F21Practice Direction 75—

a

sets out the proceedings to which this Part applies; and

b

may apply this Part with modifications in relation to any particular category of those proceedings.

F2(F25Rule 21.1(1)(c)(i) provides that Part 21 (children and protected parties) does not apply to proceedings under this Part where one of the parties is a child.)

2

In this Part—

a

“the Centre” means the Traffic Enforcement Centre established under the direction of the Lord Chancellor;

F26a1

“enforcement agent” has the meaning given in paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007;

a2

“local authority warrant of control” means a warrant of control issued by a local authority under article 5 of the 1993 Order;

b

“no relevant return to the warrant” means that—

i

the F27enforcement agent has been unable to seize goods because F3the F27enforcement agent has been denied access to premises occupied by the defendant or because the goods have been removed from those premises;

ii

any goods seized under a F28local authority warrant of control are insufficient to satisfy the debt and the cost of execution; or

iii

the goods are insufficient to cover the cost of their removal and saleF4;

c

“the 1993 Order” means the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts Order 1993;

d

“relevant period”, in relation to any particular case, means—

i

the period allowed for serving a statutory declaration F5or witness statement under any enactment which applies to that case; or

ii

where an enactment permits the court to extend that period, the period as extended;

e

“specified debts” means the debts specified in article 2 of the 1993 Order or treated as so specified by any other enactment; and

f

“the authority”, “notice of the amount due”, “order” and “the respondent” have the meaning given by F22Practice Direction 75.

The Centre75.2

1

Proceedings to which this Part applies must be started in the Centre.

2

For any purpose connected with the exercise of the Centre’s functions—

F40a

the Centre is deemed to be an office of the County Court; and

b

any officer of the Centre, in exercising its functions, is deemed to act as an officer of F41the County Court.

Request75.3

1

The authority must file a request in the appropriate form scheduling the amount claimed to be due.

2

The authority must, in that request or in another manner approved by the court officer—

a

certify—

i

that 14 days have elapsed since service of the notice of the amount due;

ii

the date of such service;

iii

the number of the notice of the amount due; and

iv

that the amount due remains unpaid;

b

specify the grounds (whether by reference to the appropriate code or otherwise), as stated in the notice, on which the authority claims to be entitled to claim that amount; and

c

state—

i

the name, title and address of the respondent;

ii

the registration number of the vehicle concerned;

iii

the authority’s address for service;

iv

the court fee; and

v

such other matters as required by F23Practice Direction 75.

3

On receipt of a request that meets the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2), the court officer will order that the amount due may be recovered as if it were payable under a F42County Court order by F6registering the request and returning it to the authority.

F84

On receipt of a registered request the authority may draw up the order and must—

a

insert in the order the date by which the respondent must either—

i

comply with the order; or

ii

file a statutory declaration or witness statement; and

b

attach to the order a form of statutory declaration or witness statement for the respondent’s use.

F95

The authority must serve in accordance with Part 6 the order (and the form of statutory declaration or witness statement) on the respondent within 15 days of the date on which the request is registered by the court.

F76

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Electronic delivery of documents75.4

1

Where the authority is required to file any document other than the request, that requirement is satisfied if the information which would be contained in the document is delivered in computer-readable form.

2

For the purposes of paragraph (1), information which would be contained in a document relating to one case may be combined with information of the same nature relating to another case.

3

Where a document is required to be produced, that requirement will be satisfied if a copy of the document is produced from computer records.

F19Functions of court officer75.5

F24Practice Direction 75 sets out the circumstances in which a court officer may exercise the functions of the court.

F18Review of decision of court officer75.5A

1

Any party may request any decision of a court officer to be reviewed by a F44District Judge.

2

Such a request must be made within 14 days of service of the decision.

3

Unless—

a

the party requesting the review requests an oral hearing; or

b

the court orders an oral hearing,

a request for a review under paragraph (2) will be dealt with without an oral hearing.

Enforcement of orders75.6

Subject to the 1993 Order and this rule the following rules apply to the enforcement of specified debts—

a

Parts 70 to 73;

F31b

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F32c

rule 83.2;

F29ca

rule 83.4; and

F45d

Part 89.

F33Local authority warrant of control75.7

1

An authority seeking the issue of a F34local authority warrant of control must file a request—

a

certifying the amount remaining due under the order;

b

specifying the date of service of the order on the respondent; and

c

certifying that the relevant period has elapsed.

2

The court will seal the request and return it to the authority.

3

Within 7 days of the sealing of the request the authority must prepare the warrant in the appropriate form.

4

No payment under a warrant will be made to the court.

F355

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F356

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F207

Where the address of the respondent has changed since the issue of the warrant, the authority may request the reissue of the warrant by filing a request—

a

specifying the new address of the respondent;

b

providing evidence that the new address for the respondent does relate to the respondent named in the order and against whom enforcement is sought; and

c

certifying that the amount due under the order remains unpaid.

8

Where the court is satisfied that the new address of the respondent given in the request for the reissue of the warrant relates to the respondent named in the order, it will seal the request and return it to the authority.

9

The authority must prepare the reissued warrant in the appropriate form within 7 days of the sealing of the request to reissue.

10

A reissued warrant will only be valid for the remainder of the 12 month period beginning with the date it was originally issued.

Revocation of order75.8

Where, in accordance with any enactment, an order is deemed to have been revoked following the filing of a statutory declaration F10or a witness statement—

a

the court will serve a copy of the statutory declaration F11or witness statement on the authority;

b

any execution issued on the order will cease to have effect; and

c

if appropriate, the authority must inform any F36enforcement agent instructed to levy execution of the withdrawal of the warrant as soon as possible.

Transfer for enforcement75.9

F12Where the authority requests the transfer of proceedings to F43a County Court hearing centre for enforcement, the request must—

a

where the authority has not attempted to enforce by execution, give the reason why no such attempt was made;

b

certify that there has been no relevant return to the F37local authority warrant of control;

c

specify the date of service of the order on the respondent; and

d

certify that the relevant period has elapsed.

Further information required75.10

An application for—

a

an attachment of earnings order;

b

an order to obtain information from a debtor;

c

a third party debt order; or

d

a charging order,

must, in addition to the requirements of F46Parts 71, 72, 73 or 89—

i

where the authority has not attempted to enforce by execution, give the F13reason why no such attempt was made;

ii

certify that there has been no relevant return to the F38local authority warrant of control;

iii

specify the date of service of the order on the respondent; and

iv

certify that the relevant period has elapsed.

Combining requests75.11

F14Where the court officer allows, F15the authority may combine information relating to different orders against the same F16respondent in any request or application made under rules 75.9 or 75.10.