DCBL: telling me I have a ccj I don’t have.?

Donowl1981

Hi again.
Right, court date is coming up for the set aside and I have received a big pack of ‘eviodence’ From excel including all the correspondence they sent to my old address ( four years in between the second and final excel letter and the first bw legal letter).
Anyway quick question, excel have filed all this with the court and sent me a copy, do I need to do the same with my proof of when I moved home and my defence points?

Thanks

nosferatu1001

Yes of course, as both the court documentation (serve on all parties x that's court and claimant in your case) and the newbies thread, post 2, tells you to do

Haveyou checked their evidence yet? Usually it's terrible, the witness statement is full of holes, etc.

Donowl1981

So anything that’s taken to court to show the judge has to be filed first? Have already filed witness statement and stated that I would bring council tax statements to the hearing.
Have only had chance to have a brief read so far but a lot of it seems to consist mostly of pictures the car, pictures of the car park, pictures of the signs and a lot of legal references that are a bit over my head. I think probably the best thing to do is ignore most of it and just set out my case.

System

I think probably the best thing to do is ignore most of it and just set out my case.

If you want us to have a look, then put it in a Dropbox or similar and we'll have a shufty. The usual issues are a) the pics of the car park are of a different location b) the contract/letter of authority is pants and c) the pics of the signs they say were there, were not there if you look at Google Street View.

They make it up as they go along.

nosferatu1001

Yes, of course it dies. Post 2 of the newbies thread told you this. Have you read it again? You MUST FILE ALL evidence with court and claimant. This is not optional. Do it now.

DO NOT IGNORE THEIR WS!!,! It will absolutely have something in there that helps you. Don't just give up at this step.

Coupon-mad

As this is a set aside hearing you do not usually have to exchange WS/evidence beforehand, unless the Order giving the set aside date tells you to. Does it?

Donowl1981

Evening.
Have managed to have a closer look at this now. The car park in the pictures is the car park in the incident and there are pictures of signage but when this was taken I don't know.

In terms of them serving the judgement at my old address they claim I am at fault because I originally wrote back to them appealing the charge it was my responsibility to inform them of a change of address, they quote SMITH V HUGHES 2003.

They also claim that I took too long to respond to the CCJ despite the fact I responded almost immedietely after my first knowledge of this from DCBL.
They Quote HART INVESTMENTS v FIDLER.

They talk about a phone call I recieved from BW Legal after the judgement which proves I had knowledge of the debt after the judgement.
I personally remember this phone call, it went something like this

BW: Hello is that Mr ***********
ME:Yes
BW:Can you confirm your address
ME: What is this regarding
BW: We cant tell you unless you confirm your address
ME: I dont give out my address to random people on the phone
BW: OK would you like us to send you a letter?
ME: Yes

It was a all a bit more arsey than that but they never sent anything to my current address.

With regards to the identification of the driver they quote Parking eye v Beavis

Donowl1981

This is the witness statement that I ended up sending to the court:

Witness statement.

I the Defendant understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant in case number **********. However, this claim form has not been served at my current address and I as the Defendant was not aware of the Default Judgment until receiving a letter from DCBL (Direct Collection Bailiff Limited) on******** demanding the fee of £366.46. I understand that this Claim was served at an OLD ADDRESS (*************************************.) However, I moved to a new address in December 2013. (***************************) where I have resided since. Confirmation of this will be provided at the set aside hearing, in the form of utility bills and a Council Tax bill from Sheffield Council. The Defendant has at no time tried to avoid paying for any known debt, and was at all times there to be found by a simple trace. It is submitted that the Claimant should have taken those reasonable steps, and would have known or should have surmised that it was likely that the Defendant was not at the old address, given the length of time from the alleged parking charge and the fact that the Claimant was receiving no reply from the Defendant

I the defendant promptly contacted Northampton County Court Business Centre via email on 26/3/2018 to find out details of the Default Judgment. The court representative informed me via email on 6/4/2018 of the claim and that it was for a parking charge notice for a vehicle registration mark ********, of which I was the registered keeper at that time.

According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The industrys persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country. This is a topical issue: I note that the Justice Minister the Rt Hon Sir Oliver Heald QC MP announced on the 23rd December 2016 a consultation and information campaign to help protect consumers from debt claims. The consultation will look at ways to better protect consumers- who are sent mail to inaccurate addresses and verify addresses again before a claim is sent. The Minister added "It cannot be right that people who are unaware of debts can see their lives and finances ruined by county court judgments. That in the digital age, we must ensure companies pursuing unpaid debts make every reasonable effort to contact individuals, rather than simply relying on a letter to an old address.

Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I thus believe that the Default Judgment against me was issued incorrectly and should be set aside.


The driver has not been identified by the Claimant and because the alleged incident was apparently in early 2012, it is impossible for the Defendant to know which of the drivers with access to the vehicle might have parked the car on the material date. The parking event pre-dates the enactment of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and before that, there was no lawful means of holding a registered keeper liable. As such, the claimant never had any cause of action against the Defendant at all, and the Defendant asks that this meritless claim is disposed of at the set aside hearing, since the Claimant has no prospects of success
Statement of Truth:
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

NAME

SIGNED


Do I need to add a full defence to this, if so it seems like a hell of a lot of evidence etc to get through at a 15 minute hearing.

KeithP

You could, or perhaps should, provide a draft defence just to demonstrate that you have a reasonable chance of successfully defending the case should the CCJ be set aside.

Donowl1981

But doesn’t my whole defence hinge on this part of my witness statement

“The driver has not been identified by the Claimant and because the alleged incident was apparently in early 2012, it is impossible for the Defendant to know which of the drivers with access to the vehicle might have parked the car on the material date. The parking event pre-dates the enactment of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and before that, there was no lawful means of holding a registered keeper liable. As such, the claimant never had any cause of action against the Defendant at all, and the Defendant asks that this meritless claim is disposed of at the set aside hearing, since the Claimant has no prospects of success”

Thanks