DVLA CCJ, set aside?

Bhanson

Hi Everyone,

I've been searching high and low on various websites/forums in the hope of finding an answer to my problem to no avail, I really hope there is someone out there who could offer some advice!

Basically I recently applied for a store card and was told that I can't have one, completely perplexed as to why this might be I checked my credit file. To my horror, there was a big fat CCJ from March 2007 (not that big and fat, just £100) and I had no prior knowledge of this, how could this have happened?!? Now unable to get credit which is not good, as I wanted to buy a house this year with my girlfriend :mad:

Anyway, after this discovery I contacted the court that dealt with it - Northampton Bulk Centre (apparently they deal with lots of these). They gave me a reference and contact number for the DVLA who had asked for this judgement to be made against me.

The reference number was the registration for a scooter I owned when I was 16. This scooter was stolen, recovered and then sold, the DVLA were informed of this sale when it happened using the correct method. A couple of months later, early 2007, I received a reminder for a fine (Late Licensing I think) that I needed to pay - no first letter recevied by me before this reminder. Wrote back explaining that I had sold said scooter and informed them of this at the time; the new owner was now responsible for it. No further correspondence received, done and dusted right? Not according to them.

Back to current day, obviously no one contactable using that telephone number was of any help whatsoever telling me that I'd have to write in. So I typed up a letter, basically asking what the hell was going on and requested proof of any correspondence between myself and the DVLA.
Letter back from the DVLA stated that they wrote to me on several occasions about this and the court proceedings (I only ever received the one reminder and responded accordingly as above, no copies of these letters/papers have been sent to me as I asked). Therefore the judgement still stands and will stay on there until March 2013.

This is obviously not acceptable, how can they take me to court or whatever without my knowledge??? I have not changed address for over 15 years so I don't know what went wrong.
Whether I owe the debt or not I am unsure, if I do i.e. the scooter was sold after the tax/duty ran out and therefore I was still the owner when the tax/duty was due, then fine I will pay it, but no way am I settling for having this CCJ on my file until 6 years is up when I didn't know any of this was happening. As it stands, I have no idea when the scooter was stolen, recovered, sold or was due to be taxed again as it was over 5 years ago.

Anyway, contacted Northampton Court again and asked for an N244 form to set aside on grounds of no correspondence received which they gladly provided and were very helpful about.

I then rang the DVLA (telephone number provided this time in the complaint response) to request copies of these letters they have apparently sent to me. They tell me they can provide examples of what I would have received but not exact replicas due to their electronic system that doesn't save carbon copies of the letters. This is no good to me, letters that I should have received but didn't? What's the point in that?! That's fair enough I suppose, if they don't have it - they don't have it. I then asked for a copy of the letter I sent to them in response to their reminder letter, which they told me they would try to locate and send to me.

Now, what would you advise me to do? Do I use the N244 form using no correspondence as grounds to have set aside and try my luck with the judge? I'm not sure how that would stand up seeing as though I received one of their letters but not any of the others? Although this is completely truthful, it's not very believeable - I'd swear on the bible, my mother's life, dog's grave or anything else that what I'm saying is true but I imagine many many people have tried this on. It just seems so unfair that this has happened to me without my knowledge, surely there must be something I can do??

Reading a couple of the posts on various forums across the internet the DVLA seem to be quite good at this sort of thing (giving seemingly phantom CCJ's out left, tight and centre) but I really am unsure of what to do next as there seems to be little advice on a case such as this. I'm at a point where I'd rather just pay them it whether I owe them it or not so long as they'd remove it - which isn't going to happen, I've already tried that on the phone.

Please help me or redirect me to someone that can!! I would be forever grateful.

Yours,
Ben.

camuk81

Shameless bump because I'm interested, having been close to these circumstances a few years ago

vax2002

They wont turn up to defend the N244, they never do.

Bhanson

Firstly, thanks for the response! So, do you think if I apply to have this set aside using the N244 on the grounds that I never received any notification that this was going to court, the DVLA wouldn't turn up to the hearing and the judge would set aside??
If that's the case, would I then be expected to either prove I wasn't liable for the fine or, if in fact I was, pay up?

This sounds very straight forward!! Do I need anything else to apply to have the CCJ set aside? Or just say on the N244 'please set aside as I have never received any correspondence regarding this issue' or something to that effect? Should I wait to hear back from the DVLA re. any correspondence between us?

I still can't believe that they can do this to people, I thought you'd have to serve people with court papers by hand! It all seems very unfair! Obviously I'll keep this thread up to date as it progresses so anyone else in the same situation can see how this all turns out.

Thanks again,
BH

jujo01

Hi, just wondered how you got on? I have a 'false' ccj registered against me, I can prove that I have made all the payments. What happens at Court etc etc, just interested really, as my hearing for set aside is next month