Ignored Parking Eye letters as advised; CCJ now rcvd - what next?!

thehalk

Hello

I'm in a bit of a pickle and would welcome some help, please.

I parked in the Parking Eye monitored Watergate Bay Hotel Car Park back in August 2013 without a tkt (I incorrectly thought that, as per hotel guests, being a Beach Hut restaurant guest meant I didn't need a tkt). Sometime later I rcvd a notice with a "fine" (unenforceable invoice) which, having subsequently checked MSE for advise, I decided to ignore. I rcvd a further notice sometime later which included the threat of Bailiffs. I ignored this too.

I do not recall receiving a LBCCC/LBA and sometime just before Christmas (nice timing!) rcvd a CCJ from Northampton County Court. I have been a bit tardy, given the festive period (naughty) and am just getting around to sorting this out. I was going to simply cough up to get it out of my hair but thought I'd have another quick look and found all of this new info that I'd previously missed!

So, it seems that I am one of the lucky ones (49 out of a big number per year) that has been pursued by Parking Eye (who I today read are statistically more likely to take you to court) and taken to court. Where do I stand? What about the fact that I didn't (I am pretty sure - certainly I didn't rcvd anything that looks like the examples in other threads) rcvd a LBCCC? Given that I have been tardy, I thought I should complete AoS to buy myself a few extra days - I have done that via MCOL just now.

Please help!

Redx

I can assure you that last summer this forum was stating NOT TO IGNORE these parking charge notices for england and wales, probably not since about april 2013 and I helped out on one last july with info from here, so I do not agree that this forum said to ignore them

it seems you have received a CCJ through ignoring everything sent to you as I am sure the court papers would have arrived if not any LBA or LBCC

but as I dont know the full details nor can I advise you what comes next I feel you will have to wait for those who know these things better than me

I just wanted to reply and state that the info on here last summer was definitely not the IGNORE variety, thats all

sorry to hear that its got thus far , its why I always tell folks not to ignore these letters (not FINES as they are not a fine and never were , they are invoices)

Hot_Bring

You appear to have confused yourself twice !

1. There hasn't been advice on here to ignore since Easter 2013 ( unless you're in Scotland or NI )
2. You are very unlikely to have received a CCJ already - you need to ensure you get your terminology accurate. You contradict yourself by suggesting you have complete MCOL after getting a "CCJ".

What have you really received ? Personally I think you've received court papers NOT a CCJ ?

spacey2012

Another Template containing all tickbox keywords in usual order.
Take it they have just lost something ?
Post it up who has just spanked them in court this morning ??

thehalk

thanks for the quick replies and apols. for my inaccurate terminology. i clearly also missed the fact that the messages i had read in and around sept last year were dated before 2013 and therefore no longer relevant - not sure there's much i or anyone else can do about that (other than read more). i guess such threads need health warnings on them.

anyways, ok, yes. sorry. court papers rcvd not ccj (my bad). what do i do now, please?

rdr

read the top sticky

thehalk

i have done, both before and after i posted. as described above, i have now rcvd court papers and don't recall receiving the LBCCC so i am not sure how the top sticky helps. indeed, it clearly states: "If you have received court papers from Northampton county court you have missed the boat for using the Practice Direction to fight back. You need to start your own thread and ask for advice on what to do next." which is exactly what i have done!

can you be more specific, please? can anybody else shed any light on the situation, please?

Redx

similar thread here you have overlooked https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4860595

follow the info posted by coupon_mad in her reply

same with this one too https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4855543

found another one https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4751412

and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4797592

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4844795

simple enough to do if you use the forum search tool in the green banner

Coupon-mad

''So, it seems that I am one of the lucky ones (49 out of a big number per year) that has been pursued by Parking Eye''


PE alone have served these papers on around 8,000 people in 2013 because they changed their game and sadly you didn't read any current advice. We've not told people to ignore PE since around Easter 2013. How can we add a health warning to tens of thousands of old threads languishing in the archives - not possible, sorry. You are not the only one to have read old advice but it amazes me people do. Surely the date gives it away, and the fact you are only ever one click away from page one of current threads (even when reading an ancient one). Why would anyone not do that one click? It's on my signature below 'where to click to find page one of advice', and I expect you saw some of my posts in those old threads? So the red & black bit in my posts is surely a good enough current health warning, as my current signature would have appeared even on an ancient thread.

You need to acknowledge the claim online, registering & ticking a box on the MCOL website to say you will be defending in full - then you must submit a defence by day 28 - but that's already covered in the stickies of course, here for example:

Sticky: WELCOME [Useful Links & General Info] see the 'court cases won' by defendants and see the 'small claims & PPCs' advice from bargepole.

and then read other threads on here and on pepipoo. LOTS of threads to see what pans out for people and how to word a defence, how to complain effectively (NOW) and how to negotiate & rattle PE's cage. Proactive people often never have any court hearing and many get it cancelled - but then you'll have seen that in the 'Successful complaints about PPCs' sticky thread I hope. If not then you have a little bit of reading to catch up on. Loads of people defend these, look on pepipoo and every half dozen threads is about Parking Eye court claims and what the person has achieved or been advised.

And a small claim is no biggie, doesn't affect credit rating...you don't 'get a CCJ' even if you lose as long as you then pay up anyway (typically up to £200 if a hearing takes place and you actually lose). But there's TONS of info on here and on pepipoo, you will be amazed at the advice you unearth and we cannot type it all every time.
I have only scratched the surface with this post BTW!

thehalk

thanks for the reply cm and sorry to be a (further) disappointment. i have since posting done a lot more reading and realise that i am not alone. i suppose the reason that people do this is that we are all busy people and have a quick look (i didn't really pay attention to the dates) and satisfy ourselves that all is well. not being a regular forum user means that one isn't as familiar as you experienced folk with the ins and outs and what you take to be second nature takes a while to figure out (even understanding how the stickies work and the way to search threads took me a while - sorry!).

in terms of my claim, i have yesterday submitted aos via mcol and will today follow-up with the court to check if this has been accepted (or if i am already out of time and the court has decided against me by default). i have read a LOT more thanks to Redx and the stickies both inhere and pepipoo and am getting help from bargepole through the latter. as you say, if worse comes to worse and i have let myself and everybody else on these fora down, i will just have to fork out and move on. lesson learned.

Coupon-mad

No need to feel you've let anyone down at ALL! We just feel sad about cases like yours - it's a shame when POPLA is so winnable right now, every time, and yet court can be a lottery. But I saw on pepipoo that you'd been pm'd by Bargepole so you have top advice on hand now and if you lose, you pay and move on.

Hope you end up posting a success in the end!