Parking charge notice- now received county court claim form

Coupon-mad

No, you can say 'the driver paid' and you should cover that fact because it is central to the defence. You do not have to say who was driving (might be best to say you were an occupant of the car because that explains how you know about the issue).

clare7

Hi all,

Update here: I submitted my defence on time online, and received a letter dated 14th November, acknowledging receipt of my defence. I then receive a letter from the solicitors dated 16th November with a copy of N180 form that SIP Parking have completed, which outlines that they do not agree to the case being referred to the small claims mediation service- upon reading I couldn't and still can't see anywhere that there is anything for me to action. Then on 22nd Dec I received a General From of Judgement or Order form that states:
THE DEFENDANT, you have been sent notice of proposed allocation to track which specified by the date by which you were required to return the questionanaire. You have failed to file the Directions Questionaire with the CCBC by the date specified in the Notice. IT IS ORDERED THAT THE DEFENDANT must file the Directions Questionnaire with the CCBC on or before 7 days from the service of this order with CCBC. If the defendant does not comply with this notice your defence/counterclaim will automatically be struck out without further order of the court and, subject to the claimant having complied with this order, the claimant with be at liberty to enter judgement.

So I tried to contact the CCBC to figure out what was going on- what I needed to do. I emailed on the day I received the letter (22nd) and got a reply on 9th January saying I had to complete and send back the N180 form.

Then on the 10th Jan received a letter- Judgement for Claimant (in default) stating that as I have not replied to claim form it is ordered I must pay £253.05.

So now I don't know what to do- there is an entry on my credit file for this- showing as a CCJ (or similar), is it too late and even worthwhile for me to complete the N180 form? Do I pay the £253.05 and request the entry be removed from my credit file?

I very much feel that they bombard you with paperwork so you get to the point of 'give up and just pay' and I get that we need to fight against this, but when you have a demanding job, family to look after and have no real clue of how to fight these charges I really do get why people give in

Any advice here would be very much appreciated, thank you.

Coupon-mad

So the court never sent you your N180. You will have to URGENTLY raise this with the court and complain and you may have to pay a large fee to get the judgment set aside if the Court will not admit to error in NOT sending you your N180.

So, do that URGENTLY or this affects your credit rating within weeks. I so wish you had asked sooner, you only had to submit an N180 (a short form saying when you are available for a hearing, nominating your local court, etc.) and if it hadn't arrived you could have downloaded a blank one from HM Courts website...

You need to seriously complain if you are certain no N180 was sent to you by the COURT themselves(not the copy from the other side).

clare7

Hi Coupon Mad,

I now have an electronic version of the form, which I can print and send back to the email address for the court business centre.

Am I right in thinking I tick NO to being referred to small claims mediation service?

And YES to the small claims track?

I can send back today and hopefully get some sort of response via email within the next few working days.

Thank you

Coupon-mad

You CAN'T just do that now. I am sorry but please read how serious this is.

You have lost by default and MUST complain (& pay a fee, if the Courts say you ignored their form) to set the judgment aside.

The_Deep

If you do not sort this out asap, your credit score will plummet. You could be refused a mortgage, car/house/life insurance, a loan, a mobile 'phone contract, buy a sofa on credit, it really is that serious.

clare7

I'm a little confused here- I emailed the courts on 21st December to enquire about what the 'General Form of Judgement or Order' form was about- from which I was emailed back on 9th Jan with a copy of the N180 and advised to complete and send back as soon as possible. I did reference my claim number in the email to them- so why would they send me a N180 to complete if it was not an option?

So in the first instance do I need to go back and complain that this was not sent to me and as such I should be given appropriate time to respond accordingly?

clare7

The_Deep wrote: »

If you do not sort this out asap, your credit score will plummet. You could be refused a mortgage, car/house/life insurance, a loan, a mobile 'phone contract, buy a sofa on credit, it really is that serious.

Seems it already has!! I can see a Judgement listed on my credit file :huh:

Coupon-mad

Of course, that is what we are telling you - the case was lost by default because you didn't return the simple DQ stage form. And they even emailed you one on 9th that you appear to have sat on...you can't just send it now, you lost due to your own inaction (sorry).

Then on 22nd Dec I received a General From of Judgement or Order form that states:
THE DEFENDANT, you have been sent notice of proposed allocation to track which specified by the date by which you were required to return the questionanaire. You have failed to file the Directions Questionaire with the CCBC by the date specified in the Notice.

IT IS ORDERED THAT THE DEFENDANT must file the Directions Questionnaire with the CCBC on or before 7 days from the service of this order with CCBC.

Why wasn't that clear - it told you what to do and by when.

I'm a little confused here- I emailed the courts on 21st December to enquire about what the 'General Form of Judgement or Order' form was about-

Why? It was crystal clear the Court was saying you MUST complete a DQ and they were giving you a second chance over Christmas to do that, not vaguely email and ask ''what is this about?''

What did you think this meant? Seems clear enough to me you HAD to act, not email and ask a vague question:

If the defendant does not comply with this notice your defence/counterclaim will automatically be struck out without further order of the court and, subject to the claimant having complied with this order, the claimant with be at liberty to enter judgement.

So of course, they 'entered judgment' by YOUR default in not following the Court's Order. You can't delay and send emails asking what things mean - if a Court Order tells you to do something, you do it. Like I have already said twice, if you were NEVER sent a Directions Questionnaire N180 then you might have reason to complain to the Courts about their admin mess up. If not then you are on a sticky wicket.

YOU MUST act quickly to reverse this by complaint if the Court admit they never sent you a DQ in November/December, or pay a set aside fee of £255 to get an interim hearing where a Judge might agree (does not have to) to rewind it to where you were, where you should have been.

Or pay up to mark the CCJ as 'satisfied' (not good - it stays on your credit file and wrecks it).