Part 75 TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
See also Practice Direction 75
| Title | Number |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Review of decision of court officer | Rule 75.5A |
| Enforcement of orders | Rule 75.6 |
| Local 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 interpretation
75.1
(1) Practice 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.
Rule 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;
(a1) “enforcement agent” has the meaning given in paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007(a);
(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 enforcement agent has been unable to seize goods because the enforcement 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 local 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 sale;
(d) ‘relevant period’, in relation to any particular case, means –
(i) the period allowed for serving a statutory declaration or 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
Request
75.3
(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
(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 County Court order by registering the request and returning it to the authority.
(4) 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.
Electronic delivery of documents
75.4
(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.
Review of decision of court officer
75.5A
(1) Any party may request any decision of a court officer to be reviewed by a District Judge .
(2) Such a request must be made within 14 days of service of the decision.
Local authority warrant of control
75.7
(1) An authority seeking the issue of a warrant of execution 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.
(5) Omitted
(7) 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 order
75.8
Where, in accordance with any enactment, an order is deemed to have been revoked following the filing of a statutory declaration or a witness statement –
(a) the court will serve a copy of the statutory declaration or 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 enforcement agent instructed to levy execution of the withdrawal of the warrant as soon as possible.
Transfer for enforcement
75.9
Where the authority requests the transfer of proceedings to a 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 local 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 required
75.10
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 Parts 71, 72, 73 or 89 –
(i) where the authority has not attempted to enforce by execution, give the reason why no such attempt was made;
(ii) certify that there has been no relevant return to the local 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.