CCJ against me for a parking fine I never knew existed

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

I have just received a letter informing me that a CCJ has been made against me for a parking fine I never knew existed.

I moved house in May this year, and I've just received a letter informing me that I incurred a parking fine 3 days later. They've been sending all the correspondence to my old address, so they have already moved for a judgment and the CCJ has apparently already been defaulted in August.

When I moved I posted off my V5C form to change the address of registered keeper for my car - I checked the V5C form I got back and it has a date which suggests the address was changed on their system 21 days after I moved (so 18 days after I incurred the parking fine).

I don't see how I can be at fault here because I sent off the change of address form when I moved as I'm supposed to - its just unfortunate that the parking fine didn't come in the form of an attachment to my window, and that when they looked up my address from the DVLA the record obviously hadn't been updated yet. The letter I received yesterday states that they have sent multiple pieces of correspondence to me - but they must not have bothered to check with the DVLA if I had a new address before sending all of the subsequent correspondence.

As you might imagine, I'm fairly upset about this. I definitely don't want to have a CCJ against my name and I don't feel that I've done anything to deserve one. I have no idea what I can do about it though, does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing or know how I should proceed?

I have e-mailed the parking enforcement company to appeal - but I don't even know if there's anything they can or will do now that the CCJ has already been made and defaulted!

Tixy

In this case your option at this stage would be to make a set aside claim and to explain to the court that you were unaware of the fine and that you did update your address with DVLA promptly.

The court may agree to set aside the judgement and then you'd either need to pay the fine, or risk them starting a new court claim.

Alternatively in the unlikely event that the judgement date is within the last month, and if you can afford to, then you may want to just pay off the CCJ. If you pay in full within a month of the judgement the CCJ is not recorded on your credit file or the register of judgements. Whilst you may not feel it fair you have to pay it, this may be a better option than paying for a set aside claim and risking not being successful getting it set aside.

Info sheet here on the set aside claim - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/12%20EW%20County%20court%20-%20how%20to%20set%20aside%20a%20judgment/Default.aspx

gertysingh

Am assuming this is Parking Eye (PE). They are making bulk claims and preying on all those who have moved.


Whilst you could play the safe game and pay PE, you should know that this company is a serial court seeker (Stats suggest >7000 cases), feasting on people like yourselves who have moved and have no idea what to do. Looking at Parking Eye's accounts, they took a serious dive 2013 to 2014 so it's no wonder they are trying to bully as many people into giving them funds.


1. Get the claim set aside, you have a very good reason for it. (You will have to pay for this but can claim this back from PE)
2. There are lots of folks who have submitted some pretty good defences already. Just do a search on here for Parking Eye and court claims CCJ (e.g. post 12: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5089746
3. Read post 5 of the Newbies thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822
4. Read Parking Prankster's blog. Lots of cases against Parking Eye.


I'd say you have a pretty darn good chance of winning + Parking Eye will have to pay back your costs.


My opinion - do not give in to bullies. Let them start a new claim, and you will have a lot of backing from members here.

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

Thanks for your advice.

I've been told that the CCJ has already defaulted in August - so no chance of paying within a month, I probably would have done this just to avoid the hassle, if I'd been aware of what was happening.

Unfortunately I think you are probably right about having to make an application for the CCJ to be set aside... right now I am still trying to find details of the CCJ, all I have so far is a mention of it in this letter I received yesterday from the parking enforcement company.

From what I've seen there's a charge of £155 for making the application for it to be set aside - I don't know if there's any additional charges for that (I read about legal fees somewhere). Totally gutted if I have to go down this route, I'll be significantly out of pocket when I don't feel like I'm at fault here at all.

Surely this kind of thing must happen fairly regularly as the DVLA say they take up to 4 weeks to process the V5C form. It feels like a fairly major oversight.

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

Thanks also to gertysingh - I replied before I saw your message. I feel better about it if there's a chance I could recoup the £155.

It is parking eye, I feel like I've got a raw deal here... strangely it makes me feel slightly better knowing I'm not the only one who has an issue with them.

Does anyone know roughly how long the application to set aside a CCJ takes once it has been started?

gertysingh

Wait a mo.....
1. NEVER trust a parking enforcement company! IT has nothing to do with them. Which one is it?
2. Call up Northampton County Court and get this clarified. Check for case number on the letter. They will tell you if you have a CCJ and if you have one, then ask them what form needs to be filled in get the bogus claim set aside. You have a strong case to get this set aside

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

Also, something I was unclear about in relation to setting aside a claim... all the information I've read talks about having another chance to make a defense if the claim is set aside... I don't know where I stand here because I have no idea if I could dispute the original parking fine. My objection here is that the court judgment was made before I even had a chance to pay the fine or knew it existed.

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

The plot thickens... I just registered for a credit report and there's no mention of a CCJ anywhere. I had been told by ParkingEye that it defaulted in August, no idea what's going on here. I will follow your advice gerty and try calling Northampton County Court. Thanks again, your help has been incredible.

Umkomaas

There have been a few threads here and on Pepipoo where people who've recently received these letters have checked their credit files and found no entry on them.

Some regulars suggest that there is a time delay in updating the credit file (duration not advised) - but I think following gerty's advice to contact Northampton will give you a clearer idea.

junglist_matty

I am in the same position as you.... I recieved a letter in the post yesterday from ParkingEye informing me that I have been issued with a CCJ.
I checked my credit report and indeed there is a CCJ on it, and rang the courts today who also confirmed it is valid.

Also like you, I had moved house and the letters were sent to my old address; I've failed to update my V5 address (easy mistake when moving house), and that's the reason they've claimed they haven't been able to find out my new address. However, they did find my new address by looking into my credit report and they sent me a letter.

Now from what I've read, it's unlikely (althouh possible) they will send Bailiffs around to collect the fine. We have two options:

1. Pay the fine (in my case £185), which then marks the CCJ as "satisfied", it remains on record for 6 years. You can also apply to have a note added against the CCJ to say what happened and why the CCJ was applied in the first place.

2. Contact the court and ask them to send you a set aside form so you can apply to have the CCJ set aside. From what I've read, because the original court claim was sent to the "wrong address" it's highly likely your case will be set aside and your case re-heard. At the rehearing you can defend the original penalty and if you win, you can then claim to have your "set aside fee" of £155 refunded.


I have got an application form from the courts to have it set aside, need to fill it in and pay the £155 fee... I'm fairly confident from what I've read the CCJ can be removed from my record.... I'm not overly fussed about winning the case for paying the penalty but I want to get the CCJ off my record for now!

Good luck

CryingOverSpiltCCJ

I find it hard to know what the damage is of having a "satisfied" CCJ on my record - I suspect that's still pretty bad for the 6 years it would be on there. Does it really make a difference to have a note added to it?

For me also, getting the CCJ off my record is the main motivation, I don't know if I have grounds for defending the case (although I might, now that I think of it, but it would be hard to obtain any evidence 6 months later).

So, assuming one can get the CCJs set aside, and then loses the re-hearing - if payment is then made immediately the CCJ doesn't appear on your record?

Anyway, nice to know there are others in the same shoddy boat... good luck to you too :beer: