HX Parking - Gladstone - CCJ

GEECEEARR

Also, in reference to points 2 onwards, I have complained to Gladstone before finding this forum. I may have noted that I was driving. Does this make those points nul and void? Appreciate the stupidity....

GEECEEARR

Coupon-mad wrote: »

OK so now you know where to read about set asides, show us your draft.

I am xxxxxxxxxx and I am the Defendant in this matter.
This my supporting Statement in support of my application dated 28/09/2019 to:
· Set aside the Default Judgement dated August 2019 as it was not properly served at my current address;
· Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £255 as reimbursement for the set aside fee & reserve any further costs deriving from proceedings
· 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 August 2019. However, this claim form has not been served at my current address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgement until 22 September 2019 when I received my updated credit report. I have acted upon this information at the earliest opportunity. I understand that this Claim was served at an OLD ADDRESS. However, I moved to a new address in January 2019. In support of this I can provide confirmation from xxxxx County Council showing my updated details for the purposes of paying Council tax. I changed the vehicle registration document as soon as reasonably possible upon moving.

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

1.3. On the 23/09/2019 I contacted Northampton County Court to find out details of the Default Judgement. They were able to tell me who the Claimant was, and a brief summary of the case against me.

1.4. On 23/09/2019 I attempted to contact the Claimant using information given to me by Northampton County Court. Upon explaining the situation, the staff member stated the case had been taken out of their hands and passed to Gladstone Solicitors. HX were able to provide me the documentation around the alleged offence by e-mail as a consequence of the call.


1.5. 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.

1.6. 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.

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


1.8. Furthermore, Prime Minister May publicly pledged to investigate ‘abuse’ of the CCJ System and so called ‘Credit Clamping’ as reported in the Daily Mail article dated 12 September 2016. The Right Honourable Sir Oliver Heald on 23 December 2016 "announced a crackdown on unresolved debts which can damage people’s credit ratings without them knowing. The action comes after concerns were raised that companies were issuing claims to consumers using incorrect addresses." 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.” I do not believe that this was done, whatsoever.

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 the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, 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 the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant must comply with 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 Keeper 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 as the Registered Keeper in any case.

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 of which I am the Registered Keeper. 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. Claimed charge is an Unenforceable Penalty: I further submit that the Parking Charge that the Claimant claimed, given it is not based on any loss suffered due to the alleged breach, is nothing but an unenforceable penalty.



2.5.4. 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.





Statement of Truth:
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

GEECEEARR

Redx wrote: »

Read the newbies faq sticky thread near the top of the forum , post#2

Read the £255 set aside info in order to put the court claim back on the table so you can defend it

I doubt you will win this due to stopping on private car parking and not paying for the privilege , so a £100 consent set aside may be better for you , due to you needing to win on a legal technicality

In future , stick to public roads and free of cheap parking to take phone calls whilst out and about , or wait until it's safe and call back , very few phone calls are important

Use the forum Search box with the search words £255 set aside to find hundreds of threads like yours about an unexpected ccj

Thanks for this. I have read about the £100 consent thing. Do I need to stipulate that in my WS?

henrik777

GEECEEARR wrote: »

As per my original thread, the solicitors said they sent some documents to my new address. The Northampton office state that they applied for the CCJ on my old address, contrary to apparently having my new address? Is there any benefit of mentioning this?

Well if they KNEW you didn't live there they're in big trouble.

You presumably have written evidence (such as letters) to prove they knew you didn't live there.

They're going to have to convince the court they used your "last know address" as reasonable efforts to find you failed.

Mandatory set aside handed to you on a plate. Of course you bring it up. Front and centre.