UK Car Park Management ignoring invoice rejection

c1223

SOS - Urgent

I have just received a judgement for claim (in default).... I am not entirely sure how this has happened.

- The claim was issued on 11th June.
- Acknowledgment of service submitted and received on 18th June.
- Defence emailed to ccbcaq@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk on 12th July (before 4pm).
- Automatic response received 12th July confirming receipt of that email

How has this happened? By my reckoning, 28 days + 5 days from 18th June is 14th July, so I didn't miss that deadline.

Also, the email's subject is "CASE NUMBER - Defence" and the file name is "CASE NUMBER _defence.pdf". I've double checked the case number is the right one, which it is... The file format is also PDF, which is what they want.

From what I understand the next step is an N244 form to get the judgement set aside. But, from the looks of it, I have to pay £255 for the privilege of doing that? The amount owed to the PPC is about the same as that, so statistically I'd be mad to take this to court. But then again, I believe I have an extremely solid case, and I don't want the PPC to get any money whatsoever.

Coupon-mad

Has happened before when people leave it close to the wire.

Phone the CCBC up in the morning, stay on the phone and make them locate the defence email and put this before a Judge to rescind that order.

It's the CCBC's error due to their backlog, make the person on the phone admit that and tell you what THEY are going to do to put their error right.

c1223

Thanks very much for the information. I did think that may have been the reason, however on their website they suggest looking at the current processing times at this link which says (and said when I submitted my defence):

Number of working days from receipt to processing or reply Business Centre Northampton

Defence and /or counterclaim prior to issue of the directions questionnaire

Day of receipt

Will phone them up first thing tomorrow anyway. Thanks for the great info as usual Coupon-mad.

KeithP

c1223 wrote: »

How has this happened? By my reckoning, 28 days + 5 days from 18th June is 14th July, so I didn't miss that deadline.

It doesn't change the facts at all, but when talking about dates with the CCBC make sure that sentence reads:

By my reckoning, 28 days + 5 days from 11th June is 14th July, so I didn't miss that deadline.

Also worth noting that as the calculated due date was a Saturday, you actually had until 4pm on Monday 16th July to file your Defence.

By filing it on Thursday 12th July you were nowhere near 'close to the wire'.

c1223

Thanks KeithP. That's a typo in my original post.

I phoned the CCBC this morning and the lady on the phone said she had to escalate the matter. She either wouldn't or wasn't able to find the email. However, I will ring back next week and chase up and keep doing so until I have an answer.

c1223

Slightly confused now. I resent the email with a copy of the original auto-response from them, and received a reply a day later stating:

Please be advised that following the information you have provided, the above case has been referred to a District Judge or court appointed Legal Advisor for directions on how to proceed. It can take 8 - 12 weeks to receive a response at which point you will be notified accordingly.

I'll give them a ring as soon as I can, but it looks like this reply has assumed there is no judgement already submitted on my case?

Any tips on how to actually force them to get this information in front of a judge so the judgement is rescinded? I feel like they're not very on top of things.

System

Any tips on how to actually force them to get this information in front of a judge so the judgement is rescinded? I feel like they're not very on top of things.

Fill out an N244 form and pay £100 to have the papers put in front of a judge. This may also be the reply you get later.

Or N244 and pay £255 for a set-aside and reclaim it back IF they have made a mistake.

c1223

IamEmanresu wrote: »

Or N244 and pay £255 for a set-aside and reclaim it back IF they have made a mistake.

Thanks.

Two questions:

1) How easy is it to reclaim the £255?

2) What would deem them NOT having made a mistake?

For reference - although not needed, it was 100% confirmed that if I had indeed sent my defence in on 12th July then it was within the time frame required. The email subject and file name both contained the correct case number. I got an automatic response from them confirming receipt of my email.

System

Courts are commercial operations so a judge would have to be certain about the court's error before he gets them to waive/refund the £255. But you have a CCJ and you might just have to pay it or for a set-aside unless you want to take a chance on their replying in under a month.

In a month's time, it becomes visible on your credit record and can't be removed without a set-aside..

[Deleted User]

When the defence was filed at court was it also served on the claimant?

That may explain why they filed a request for judgment as they'd have received nothing.

This should be cleared up without the need for a hearing. As such if an application fee is payable it's £100. Still odd that judgment given in default though, given the receipt for the defence.