Employer suing employee for parking in a designated area! CCJ issued!

DaveK

My girlfriend works for the Ambulance Service and is therefore entitled to park her car in the "Ambulance Staff" designated area (where she currently parks her car!). However, back in September last year whilst on her training course for her job she got a parking ticket from Oxford & Radcliffe Hospitals for parking in this area (land owned by Oxford & Radcliffe Hospitals). As it was only her first month in the job and the first time she had parked there, she, along with 3 other colleagues asked the course leader if it was OK to park in the designated area, to which he told them it was, so when they all got ticketed they told the course leader who said he'd write a letter explaining that he had told them to park their cars in this location, he had since found out that a memo had been published stating that no one on training was allowed to park on the designated area, instead they were to park in the public car park and submit an expense claim, in his letter which my girlfriend passed on to Oxford & Radcliffe Hospitals he clearly stated that this was his fault as he had not seen the memo.

Oxford & Radcliffe Hospitals wrote back saying that they would take it to court if the fine wasn't paid. Both myself and my girlfriend thought OK, we'd present the evidence and it'd be laughed out of court.

My girlfriend and I found out yesterday that she now has a CCJ against her made on the 16th December 2010 (they sent it to her old address), she has 1 month to pay £152, this obviously has come as a total shock, having never received a claim form from the Court she has not been able to defend herself.

We've written a letter back to the Court Manager stating the facts and asking the court to set the Judgement aside or at the very least give her the chance to defend herself. We've also written a letter to the Chief Executive of Oxford & Radcliffe Hospitals to ask him to intervene. My girlfriend is also going to give a copy of the letters to her Manager and HR, as this is all causing us stress and worry that the bailiffs will be knocking on the door to remove items/demand payment. Also if she ends up in court she will need time off work to defend herself against her own company!!!!!

Can anyone recommend any other course of action to stop this madness from getting further out of hand?

duchy

Send copies to your MP and ask for them to help.

esmerobbo

You need to send in an N244 to the county court and have this set aside. The claim will then go back to the initial stage.


http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court

peter_the_piper

That and also post this on pepipoo.com.
They (I could say deliberatley but I won't) sent the papers to the incorrect address so they got a default judgement.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

You can get the N244 here - http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=484

For help with your defence, post on the Pepipoo forum.
Go here - http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30
and start a new thread.

esmerobbo

peter_the_piper wrote: »

That and also post this on pepipoo.com.
They (I could say deliberatley but I won't) sent the papers to the incorrect address so they got a default judgement.

They would not be that devious would they??

peter_the_piper

Of course not, that's why I would not say it. Cough cough.

steve1500

If you are talking Sept 2010 - I never knew the NHS worked that fast.......

trisontana

steve1500 wrote: »

If you are talking Sept 2010 - I never knew the NHS worked that fast.......

I wonder if it is actually the NHS? Could there be a PPC lurking in the background? This is certainly the case with a couple of universities where you think you are dealing with the "estates department" of the UNI, when in fact it's a PPC located in Northampton that does all the dirty work.

esmerobbo

Looks like they control parking themselves but they have a no no on their website.

"Anyone found parking inappropriately or in a disabled space without a Blue Badge will be subject to a £25 penalty notice, rising to £50 if not paid within two weeks of the issue date".

http://www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/findus/jr/car.aspx

Coupon-mad

Echoing what the others have said. Get the judgment set aside and post on pepipoo at the same time for ongoing advice to get her through this:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

If a verbal contract was set up for the training course for her to park there, by a Hospital employee who has confirmed this in writing, then IMHO she breached no contract in parking there. Nor was she trespassing and even so she caused them no loss. Therefore no cause for action, no case.