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CCJ from unpaid parking fine help

Following a weekend of pure terror of inadvertently finding out i now have a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine from a company called Civil Enforcement i am slightly hopeful following reading some of the helpful threads on this forum.

However i cannot find any instances from the threads that may instance falls into. I was glad to read some posters have had their CCJ set aside by following the advice from here when the fines and correspondence was sent to a previous address. This is where i am, i had all the paperwork and the court correspondence sent to my last address, so i was completely unaware of the proceedings.

The car in which i was driving was a lease car therefore the V5 was held in the manufacturers name and held with them. I can only presume they (mercedes) passed over my previous address.

Is this a good enough defence for me to get the case set aside??? Did they do enough to get my current address rather than just from MBenz??I'm in a bit of a mess with this as something like this can seriously affect my employment!!

Eternally grateful for any advice or direction

Comments

  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    Read up again on set aside

    (You don't use the wrong address as a 'defence'!)

    How seriously can this affect your job? How old is the ccj?

    Bear in mind that if you are successful with your set aside application then it will be months rather than weeks till that hearing, and should it fail then the ccj will remain on your record for the full 6 years
  • waamo
    waamo Posts: 10,298 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Name Dropper
    How is this different to any other wrong address case? The paperwork either went to the right address or it didn't. It's as simple as that.
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 155,494 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    i had all the paperwork and the court correspondence sent to my last address, so i was completely unaware of the proceedings.
    Yes you are likely to get this set aside, if you can show Mercedes Benz gave a wrong/old address.

    Your case seems to be the same as all the other CEL set aside threads so copy the Witness Statement and Draft Order that people used before.

    Show us, and we will check your drafts.

    You simply need to state the facts and satisfy the Judge that the claim was never served/received and CEL made no attempt to trace you and should have known from the silence that their letters might not have been reaching you at all, especially given they got the details from a third party and not the DVLA. They should have checked and/or traced your address, as the DVLA told parking firms to do about 3 years ago, around the time this was announced:

    http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/12/government-announce-ccj-review-due-to.html

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-consumers-from-debt-claims
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    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • lj315
    lj315 Posts: 3 Newbie
    Hi, thanks for the replies. After some more reading I have adapted saggi’s witness statement and draft order. If you could take a read through it would be greatly appreciated
    IN THE XXXXXXXXXXXXXX COUNTY COURT

    Claim No. XXXXXXXXX

    BETWEEN:

    XXXXXXXXXX Claimant


    -- and --


    XXXXXXXXXXX Defendant


    _____________________________________


    WITNESS STATEMENT

    ______________________________________
    I am XXXXX and I am the Defendant in this matter.
    This my supporting Statement in support of my application dated xx/05/2019 to:
    • Set aside the Default Judgement dated 26th February 2019 as it was not properly served at my current address;
    • Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

    1. Default Judgement
    1.1. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgement against me as the Defendant in February 2019. However, this claim form has not been served at my current address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgement until 18th May 2019 when I was doing a check on my credit file following a finance application rejection. I understand that this Claim was served at an OLD ADDRESS (XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX). However, I moved to a new address in September 2016. In support of this I can provide confirmation from XXXXX County Council showing my updated details for the purposes of paying Council tax.

    1.2. I have also never received any previous documentation from the Claimant in this matter and I thus was never able to properly challenge the Claimant’s claim.

    1.3. On the 20/03/2019 I contacted County Court Business Centre to find out details of the Default Judgement. Verbally I was informed by the court staff the judgement was in relation to a vehicle previously leased by me. The address detailed on the judgement is a previous address which I moved out of in August 2016.

    1.4. On 20/03/2019 I attempted to contact the Claimant using information given to me by County Court. I was not able to get through to a member of the Claimant’s staff to discuss, nor have I received a response to my numerous answer phone messages left on the Claimant’s legal department answer-phone.
    1.5 The vehicle described within the judgement was privately leased between May 2016 and May 2018. During this time the vehicles' ownership remained with Mercedes Benz. V5 documentation and vehicle ownership remains through this period with Mercedes Benz.
    1.6 On August 2016 I moved out of the address registered on the judgement. A postal redirect service was employed for 6 months. Mercedes Benz was informed of the address change after this point. Mercedes Benz was and are in possession of current email and telephone details.

    1.7. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s correct contact details. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The Claimant’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

    1.8. On the basis provided above I would suggest that the Claimant did not fulfil their duty to use the Defendant’s current address when bringing the claim.

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

    2. Order dismissing the Claim

    2.1. I further believe that the original Claim by the Claimant has no merit and should thus be dismissed. I understand that the Claimant is a Parking Company which seeks to claim for “Parking Charge Notices” which the Claimant believes are due as a result of an alleged breach of contract for parking by a motorist.

    2.2. If the Claimant has obtained details of the vehicle for which I am the leaser, and used those details to make a claim for a “Parking Charge Notice’’, I thus dispute the claim in its entirety as I do not know the wording of the contract nor do I know the means by which the contract was alleged to come into force.

    2.3. If the Claimant can evidence that the alleged incident relates to a vehicle for which I am the leaser, any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant would have needed to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Otherwise, the Claimant is required to prove the driver of the vehicle they claim was involved in the alleged incident. I submit that the Claimant cannot provide such evidence and further submit that the Claimant does not include ‘Protection of Freedoms Act 2012’ wording on the Parking Charge Notices they issue and therefore cannot hold the Defendant automatically liable for the alleged incident merely for being the Registered leaser of a vehicle.

    2.4. A requirement of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is that this any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant must be served within 14 days of the date of the alleged incident. Since I have not received any documentation from the Claimant prior to finding out about the Default Judgement, I submit the Claimant will not have complied with the requirements of the Act and thus cannot claim this charge against me.

    2.5. I further submit that the Claimant’s claim is without merit due to substantial issues in law. This is for the following main reasons:
    2.5.1. Lack of Standing by Claimant: The Claimant is unlikely to be the landowner of the car park in question, and will have no proprietary interest in it. This means that the Claimant, as a matter of law, will have no locus standi to litigate in their own name. Any consideration will have been provided by the landholder, and only they would have been able sue for any damages or trespass.
    2.5.2. No Loss Suffered by Claimant: Their claim is presumably based on damages for alleged breach of contract. It is a fundamental principle of English Law that a party who suffers damages through breach of contract can only seek through court action to be put back in the same position as they would have been if the breach had not occurred. In order to do so, they must demonstrate their actual, or genuine, pre-estimate of loss. I submit that no loss has been suffered by the Claimant as a result of any alleged breaches of contract on the part of any motorist of the vehicle. I further submit that any loss to the landholder (which would be the only party able to claim such losses) would be at most a few pounds.
    2.5.3. No contract with the claimant: Any contract must have offer, acceptance and consideration both ways. There would not have been consideration from the Claimant to the motorist; the fee for parking benefits the landowners, not the Claimant. Therefore, there is no consideration from the motorist to Civil Enforcement Ltd.
    2.6. On this basis I believe that the Claimant has not provided any reasonable cause of action and thus the claim should be dismissed in its entirety.
  • lj315
    lj315 Posts: 3 Newbie
    IN THE XXXXXXXXXX COUNTY COURT

    Claim No. XXXXXXXXXX

    BETWEEN:

    XXXXXXXXX Claimant


    -- and --


    XXXXXXXXXXX Defendant


    _____________________________________


    DRAFT ORDER

    ______________________________________


    IT IS ORDERED THAT:

    Upon reading the Defendant's application dated XXXXXXXXXX.

    It is ordered that:

    1. The judgment dated XXXXXXXX be set aside.

    2. The Defendant shall file and serve its Defence by 4pm following 14 days after the date on which the judgement is set aside.

    3. The Claimant do pay the Defendant's costs of this application to the sum of £255.

    4. The Claimant has permission to file and serve a reply if so required.
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    Search in the FAQ for the 6 point set aside draft order which includes a stop on any enforcement pending the outcome of the set aside application
  • The_Deep
    The_Deep Posts: 16,830 Forumite
    Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

    Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

    Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

    Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.
    You never know how far you can go until you go too far.
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 155,494 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Same advice as here:

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6006738/ccj-from-cel-incorrect-address

    Where are people dredging that awful old 'no loss' point from? Saggi's case?
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    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
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