CCJ from BE Legal/Excel relating to incident in 2012

TobyZ

Have already heard back by email from CCBC saying they've processed the application and passed it to my local court (Manchester). Rather quicker than I was expecting, which makes me a bit nervous actually. I have a work conference abroad & holiday scheduled for 1st-10th September - what happens if the court hearing is slated in that period? Can I ask for a different date given these things were booked well before I knew anything about this and it is too late to cancel them now?

[Deleted User]

Write a letter to the court with dates to AVOID in the next 2 months.

TobyZ

Should I do that before they contact me? Or should I wait for the initial contact from them?

Coupon-mad

Manchester are often seen to be anti-PPC. One of the best courts to fight this.

You could ring the Usher at Manchester court and ask the paperwork to be noted to please avoid 1st-10th September because of your work conference abroad. Or send a quick letter with the Claim number, asking the same thing.

Can't hurt to ask. Do it BEFORE so you don't waste the court's time having to rearrange it.

Coupon-mad

And look:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5654088

another success reported today, and the claim was dismissed and the £255 ordered to be refunded by the PPC, in another case where the registered keeper could not be held liable!

TobyZ

Hi all,

I've received a date for my set aside hearing (early November) but I'm not sure what I need to do to prepare. I've looked through the advice on the FAQ pages, but most of that is about "live" court cases rather than CCJ set asides. I couldn't find anything on the specific CCJ set aside pages about what I need to do ahead of time. There's nothing in the correspondence from the court indicating what I need to do.

Can anyone offer some advice on how I should prepare?

Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

You need to put together your evidence that you did not receive the claim form and show why, and that you were not hiding away but were 'there to be found' with a basic search (i.e. on the electoral roll, and on Facebook if your surname is not very common, on other social media, etc., and/or that they had your email address if they did, from a previous appeal perhaps). And show that you acted immediately as soon as you became aware of the CCJ.

And proof that the car was insured for more than one driver (and any proof you were not the driver).

And a copy of the press release here, pointing out that parking firms CCJs were singled out as unfair:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-consumers-from-debt-claims

Point out that this is over 5 years ago, and smacks of a parking firm deliberately scraping the barrel of archive cases, hoping to get payments and/or default CCJs unfairly against registered keepers who may not know that they cannot be held liable in law.

Also prepare a skeleton defence, bullet points which show you have good prospects of defending this claim once the CCJ is set aside. You need to take that with you to the set aside hearing, and you could also take a copy of Excel v Lamoureux x 2 case transcripts, and Excel v Smith (Appeal) from the Parking Prankster blogs. Both support your case that this charge is vexatious and indeed wholly unreasonable to pursue in 2017, on a pretence (lie) that they can assume the keeper in Spring 2012 was the driver.

And take Henry Greenslade's words about ''understanding keeper liability'', from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 (post-POFA) to help explain that there is even now no reasonable presumption of who was driving, let alone in a case six months prior to the POFA 2012.

There are no forms you need to supply in advance now you've completed your application, but also prepare a hefty costs schedule starting with the £255 fee, and including your travel and parking and loss of leave/earnings (either, but prove it with a wage slip etc.).

TobyZ

Thanks for the quick reply CM - I will prepare these in due course and post what I come up with for feedback from the experts here on the forum.

The_Deep

Personally, I would not pay the PPC a penny, but I have the time to deal with matters such as this.

I would in fact go after the PPC for all my costs, and add on a bit more for emotional stress and unreasonable behaviour. You may not get the latter, but surely it is worth a try.

Some reading

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GUEA_en-GBGB707GB707&q=unreasonable+behaviour+court+costs&gws_rd=ssl

Lamilad

you could also take a copy of Excel v Lamoureux x 2 case transcripts, and Excel v Smith (Appeal) from the Parking Prankster blogs

and VCS vs Quayle.