Two CCJs for parking tickets. HAD purchased a ticket but used wrong location code

Viking120

Hi all,
I've recently discovered having TWO County Court Judgements on my credit score for two parking tickets from Excel Parking Services (both January 2019). CCJs were issued in August 2019. I was NOT the driver of the car (husband was). More details to potentially facilitate or hinder my case:

1) The parking tickets and CCJ notices were sent to an address where I no longer lived. Moved out in January 2019. However, I still owned the property and my driving licence was registered there until Jan 2020 (my fault, so much going on this year did not even think to change my driving licence). I've not been back to the property since leaving due to separating from my husband and subsequent divorce proceedings. Foolishly I did not set up to re-direct mail. However, I stopped being the registered owner of the car in March 2019 (with DVLA) before the CCJ notices were sent to that property (spoke to court who said they were sent in June/July 2019).

2) On both occasions the driver had paid for a parking ticket for the dates and times that the tickets were issued but used the wrong location code on the parking app (2967 instead of 2968). Thus, Parking Excel Services would have received payment for parking but it was assigned to the wrong location code. I do have screenshots from the driver showing these paid parking tickets.

3) For one of the PCNs I knew nothing about it (husband might have and not told me but will have forgotten now anyway). For the other, I was aware of the PCN and I did submit an appeal in January 2019 with evidence of the paid parking ticket (in response to the PCN). I naively assumed that given the parking evidence the claim would be cleared. As I did not hear anything else I assumed this had cleared. Next thing I know I've got a CCJ (two even!).

I'm aware I need to submit two claims to request the court to set judgement aside for each CCJ. I would much rather take this route to get my credit score back to what it used to be (999 before these CCJs!), than pay for these parking fines. I've spent hours searching the forums and I'm still unsure what legal information I can base my defence on.

I will be so incredibly grateful for help. It's been the most stressful 12 months of my life and this is one more challenge I could really do without. I'll also be happy to share my defence with future users once I've got it drafted.

Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

Moved out in January 2019. However, I still owned the property and my driving licence was registered there until Jan 2020 (my fault, so much going on this year did not even think to change my driving licence).

Your driving licence has nothing to do with it. That's not the DVLA data that Excel accessed.

They got the car registration address, which is never updated with a driving licence.

I'm still unsure what legal information I can base my defence on.

The fact you were not the driver and Excel don't use the POFA wording, for starters . As the keeper who was not driving, you were NEVER liable in law.

Viking120

Brilliant thank you. This is a great starting point. I'll look up the other advice on here for not being the driver and Excel not using POFA wording. I'll post my draft letter on here once I've written it. Thanks so much

Coupon-mad

OK, act promptly though, this month.

You need to submit two claims to request the court to set judgement aside for each CCJ and part of the issues the Judge will consider is how promptly you acted when you found out.

Viking120

Will get on to it immediately. Thank you!

Viking120

I had my court hearing and the judgement was set aside!  

The judge asked me if I had anything to add to my supporting statement (which I revised since my last post so I will post the submitted version after this post). I added that the Private Parking Company (PPC) had my email address on record (I provided it in a foolish appeal to them), and should have emailed me to check my address was correct before issuing court proceedings. I prepared in advance by reading an article on the Gov website printed in Dec 2016 (posted on this site on another thread - sorry I'm not allowed to post a link) about the Government cracking down on companies issuing legal proceedings without checking the address is correct. I also advised that I had evidence that I was not the driver (emails showing that I was in a work meeting in a different city at the time that the ticket was issued). I was quite nervous so I did not manage to say everything I wanted but it was sufficient to get judgement set aside!

The PPC  sent a legal representative. They argued that the tickets the driver had purchased were for a different car park (which to note was across the street  and run by the same company!) and referred to POFA to say they were able to claim from the registered keeper. They also claimed that I had taken too long to respond to the Summons (July-2019 to January-2020) and referred to a case to support this as a basis to reject my appeal. I responded and made it clear that I only found out about the CCJ in December 2019 and submitted my appeal by January 2020 (thanks for the advice on here urging me to submit my appeal ASAP). 

The Judge then announced the decision to set judgement aside. However, the Judge then referred to a subsequent court case where I would need to send my witness statement to the PPC and the court. I was quite confused by this and asked the judge to clarify. They confirmed they had decided to set judgement aside but I'm still unsure about what the other court case is for. I've assumed this might be held only if the PPC pursue with legal proceedings. 

I also forgot to ask about a refund for the appeal court costs (I think I was worried the Judge would change their mind!). I will send a follow up email to ask about this. While I could really do with the refund (and it feels very unjust to have paid £510 to defend a ridiculous charge!), the most important thing is clearing these CCJs from my credit score (which went from Excellent to Very Bad because of this aggressive and harsh PPC). 

Thank you so much for your advice Coupon-Mad and for all the resources on this forum. I felt really overwhelmed at the start of this process and the advice and support on here made such a difference to me. I'd have been left with two CCJs and a crippled credit score without the advice, so I'm really grateful for your help.  For anyone who might be going through this, I'd encourage you to use the information on this forum and stay strong. I firmly believe the court can see when someone has been taken advantage of. Keep the fight up and submit your appeal to set judgement aside as soon as you can. 
  

henrik777

The judgment has been set aside. 

The court claims haven't.  So now you restart the court claims from the part where you need to enter a defence.


You really should've asked for costs at the time,i would say to write to the judge and make a polite enquiry.

Failing that,if you subsequently win the cases in court, ask for the costs then.

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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, when life gets back to normal, it will become impossible for those scammers who are left to continue their vile trade, 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.

Coupon-mad

2.3. I further submit that the Claimant’s claim is without merit due to substantial issues in law. Specifically, 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.

That should NEVER have been argued.  There are no legs in arguing about 'no loss' (see the ParkingEye v Beavis case heard at the Supreme court in 2015).  So forget that.

So, have you got the Order in the post yet, telling both parties what to do and by when?  By setting the CCJs aside you have basically reset the clock to defend two claims - which is always the case and of course there will be a hearing about the claims, and that's where we see 99% won.  

Usually the C is ordered to send the claim forms/full Particulars to the D, who then has to defend within 14 days.  But read what the Order says when it arrives.

But surely this hearing (if the PPC 'sent' a rep as you said) was done before lockdown?  So you will have received the Court's Dirctions and Order, by now and you know what to do next?

How come you had just one hearing yet paid 2 x £255, a fee that is substantially made up of the hearing cost?  I would have thought the Court should have refunded £155 of one of the fees, if they ordered just one hearing...but hey.  

You really should have asked for the costs to be reserved until the main hearing you know!   £510 is a HUGE sum not to ask to be earmarked for reclaiming from the aggessive C later in the process.  You can still try asking for it at the main hearing when you win, but you should have raised it when you got the set aside agreed, before you left the room.

BTW well done!  You were up against a PPC rep and they argued all sorts of stuff to try to keep that CCJ on your record.  And you won, so you have won a big battle.   Now you must go on to win the war.

Viking120

Thanks, I hope I'm in the 99% and not the 1%. I thought that this one court case would be sufficient to dismiss the claim entirely so I will have to fight on. I'm waiting on the Orders to be arrive in the post - the hearing was only held in the last couple of days. I'm not entirely sure how Excel don't use POFA wording as I have looked at the documentation in their supporting case and cannot see specific instances where it is not used. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

I'll keep pushing for a refund on the court application costs. It's all so new to me and rather intimidating. But I'm more prepared now to know what to expect for the next court case. The battle continues! 

Umkomaas

I'm not entirely sure how Excel don't use POFA wording as I have looked at the documentation in their supporting case and cannot see specific instances where it is not used. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Upload copies of the NtKs (both sides) for us to look at.