CCJ issued against me without my knowledge

chapperlin

Long story short I carried out a credit on myself last week and found i have a CCJ registered against me. This was the first time i knew anything about it.

After further investigation it turned out to be in connection with a fine issued by the DVLA(who i used to work for by the way:rolleyes: ).

After speaking to someone in their enforcement centre i was told to email them, explaining my circumstances and they would get back to me.

Here the email i sent them-

Carol, further from our conversation.

Ref J*****P - Citroen AX

As discussed the above vehicle was disposed of in approximately
may/june/july of 2004. I cannot remember the exact date as it is now
over 3 years ago. I worked for the DVLA at that time in Swansea(the
vehicle enquiry line) and as well as sending off the v5 i sent an
internal memo before i left the uk. As mentioned i worked for the DVLA
and as far as i was aware i had done everything i could of to take the
vehice out of my name.

I left the UK in July 2004 and moved to the Isle of Man. This happened
very suddenly as I found my Girlfriend who is from the Island was
pregnant. As you can imagine it was a very busy time with lots to sort
out. I dont recollect receiving notification of disposal before i left
the UK and I didnt give a forwarding address. Unfortunately I never
checked to make sure the vehicle was no longer in my name as at the time
it was the least of my worries.

At this time , as far as i was concerned the matter was closed and
there was nothing to worry about.

However, a week ago i carried out a credit check on myself to find i
have a CCJ registered against me at my old address from April 05, some
ten months after i left that address. As discussed it turned out this
was due to not declaring the vehicle sorn, which had escalated to a
court hearing. But as all mail was sent to my old address i knew nothing
about it until this last week. As you can appreciate i would have much
rather paid the initial fine or even appealed it at the time rather than
let it escalate to a CCJ. To further compound my situation I now work
for a very well known and respected Offshore Bank. The fact i now have a
CCJ registered against me really compromises my integrity in the bank.
Maybe not so much now but if i were to move jobs within the bank or even
to another bank I would be credit checked and this, quite serious issue,
would come to light.

In my opinion i do think this set of events could be classed as
"exceptional" and as you mentioned you do have the discretion to remove
a CCJ if you see fit. The option of applying to have it re-heard at a
county court is really not an option as the Isle of Man have their own
judicial system so it would have to be heard at a court across. To do
that would cost upwards of £250 just in travelling costs alone then
theres the £75 court fee and even then there is no guarantee that i
would get a satisfactory resolution to the matter.

So to summarise Carol. I would like this CCJ to be removed from my
credit History. Please speak to "the powers that be" and ask them to
seriously consider cancelling this CCJ. I would be eternally gratefull
if you could sort this out for me Carol as im sure I have made clear the
seriousness of my situation. Not only in terms of the detrimental effect
on my credit rating but my employabilty within the banking industry in
the future.

Yours sincerely

My name

The response-

Good Morning

I have contacted our court liason section regarding your case. I have
been informed that as DVLA have issued acknowledgment letters in
response to disposal notifications since 2004, unless you are able to
provide an acknowledgemnt letter to support your claim we are unable to
apply to have the judgement set aside.

Therefore you have two options at this time. The first is to pay the
outstanding amount of £100, you can then apply to the court for a
Certificate of Satisfcation which will prove the debt has been paid.
Your other option is to pay £75.00 to the court to apply to have the
judgement set aside. This will allow a judge to hear your case and
decide whether or not to set the judgement aside.

It should be noted that if the judge finds you liable, the £75.00 is
non refundable and the debt of £100.00 will still apply.

Should you have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact this
office.

Regards.

Paying off the CCJ is something i will do only as a last resort as ideally i want it totally removed or "set aside" as its called.

It annoys me as if i had not moved I would have likely paid the initial fine and would not have a CCJ. If i were living somewhere in the UK i would happily pay the £75 to get it reheard at a local court but living in the Isle of Man makes it more difficult due to travelling expenses. Even the person who ive been dealing with directly sort of agreed that it may be difficult to sort this out as I am in the IOM.

Is there any sort of "standard" defense for people in my situation? Anybody experience anything like this themselves?

Lavendyr

I haven't any advice I'm afraid, but just wanted to wish you all the best with sorting things, it does sound a pretty ridiculous situation - especially as you were working for DVLA at the time! Good luck, I hope things get sorted out for you.

chapperlin

Found this which seem to be quite interesting

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/ccj-removal/index.htm

Seem to know what they are talking about.

Anyone had any experience with them

GeorgeUK

Never seen that site before, but looks like it has everything you might need. Definately worth giving them a call.

I'd also try Citizens advice.

chapperlin

Well, i found the insolvencyhelpline pretty useless. Person I spoke to new nothing about getting a CCJ set aside. Yet it goes into detail about it on their website. Cant grumble i suppose, they dont charge for their services.

I sent another email today to the enforcement office-

Dear Carol

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me and look into this for me.

That said i am less than happy with the response. After discussing my circumstances with some work colleauges and doing some investigating of my own my circumstances would, im most cases, allow me to get this judment "set aside" if i were to apply to the courts. My problem there is the excessive cost to get it re-heard.

I would ask you to to contact the court liason office again and ask them to reconsider their decision as the response i received looked nothing more than a "standard" response issued to Joe Bloggs. I certainly do not expect any special treatment as an ex employee but i do feel like i am being treated unfairly with no consideration given for my circumstances .

At this point i would like to make an offer to pay off £60 of this debt as full and final settlement on the terms that you agree to remove this CCJ. I feel that is a fair offer and if i had received the intial fine im sure it would of been less than £60.

If you original decision stands i would ask that you give me the name and email of the manager of the court liason department or failing that the name and email of the manager of your complaints/customer care department.

May i also add that if your decision remains unchanged i may have to consider passing this matter into the hands of my solicitor and i will also see if there are grounds to reclaim any expenses i have incurred including my time(@£20/h).

I await your speedy response

Yours sincerely

My name

Not sure if ill get anywhere further with that but we will see what they say

GeorgeUK

Nice letter. Good to see you're keeping at this.
Couldn't find any information myself but hope you get a result with this.