Mystery CCJ - any support appreciated

LJG83

Morning,

Ive read the main supporting threads and was hoping to obtain to advice on a CCJ I have only been recently made aware of.

- The CCJ was issued in 04/2019, in which I only found out about this via a Debt Recovery Letter.

- It's in relation to a NTK from 11/2018, issued by VCS at Berkeley Centre in Sheffield. The fee was £60 raising to £100 if not paid within 14 days. 

- The NTK was issued 12 days after the date of the alleged offence.

-  To obtain the above information I had to SAR VCS as the NTK was sent to a previous address (my error and will explain below). 

- Apart from the above I have had not liaised with VCS regarding this.

- It is for a 73 minute stay. It is an hour for free and then £1 after this hour (which you have to pay upfront which I find bizarre and a way of profiteering). 

I know there are quite a few really good threads regarding VCS and Berkeley in which I will look to use information to pull together a defence. I am aware I need to write a WS in addition to this, and a NE244 form to apply to have this set aside. I have a few concerns around this though.

As mentioned I made an error where I didn't register my car to the correct address hence never seeing the NTKs.

Basically I updated my Driving Licence with my parents address in July 2018 as I had split up with a long term partner and was moving address quite frequently so felt this was stable enough to alter my driving licence to.

Mistakenly I thought this would automatically update my vehicles to this (my parents) address however it didn't so my car was registered to a house I sold in Oct 2017. 

I found out I needed to update my V5Logbook so did this and sent it out to the DVLA on 1/4/19. DVLA updated this on the 5/4/19.

CCJ papers were sent on the 3/4/19.

Obviously quite unfortunate because if the Courts issued the papers a week later then they most likely would have had the right address. 

I am really concerned that a judge when assessing the NE244 may say I am at fault re the wrong address and reject my application for setting the CCJ aside - not sure what others think? It also concerns me that I have registered licence and my car to my parents and not my address however as stated this was stable.  

I did think that I could write to VCS and state I am appealing the CCJ with or without their consent to see if they will consent this (unlikely I am sure)?

In terms of the defence I was thinking along the lines of;

- not the driver

- not entered in to a contract

- signs unclear as it says excel however VCS pursue

- Grace periods - the driver was 12 minutes after the 60 minute free period

- not applied for appropriate planning permissions for signage with local council

- old contract states its free for 2 hours not 1 hour. 

Obviously pulled quite a lot of the above from some other threads. Is there anything obvious people think I am missing? Would I include all/everything in my defence statement for the NE244? I am also going to write to MP (not sure if its worth) to hopefully get some additional support.

Thank you in advance.

Redx

VCS can only obtain keeper details once for the incident from the DVLA , up to 6 months from that incident date, so changing the address on the V5C around the court papers date is irrelevant , VCS should have tried to trace you before issuing the mcol , they didn't and they were not allowed to ask the DVLA twice

Not updating the V5C is between you and the DVLA , nobody else , so not relevant either , you were there to be found , but no attempt was made to do so

You cannot appeal a CCJ , you can try for a set aside , which then means that you defend the  original court claim , so again not an appeal , get that word out of your head , it's not applicable

Do not dwell on incorrect assumptions , stick to facts only , deciding what they failed to do and use it

Ps , this recent set aside thread has useful info , the set aside was today

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6084443/uk-cpm-ccj-issued/p1

Fruitcake

Carefully read this thread who had a PCN and court claim at the same location.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6066995/help-got-until-24th-november-to-submit-defence-for-vcs/p11

This brings you in at around page 11 so you will need to shuffle back and forth, but the salient points are that VCS produced a parking contract dated the 28th of September … with Excel.
Whilst VCS own Excel, they are actually completely different companies according to Companies House.

Unfortunately the Google Maps Street View images don't help as they show VCS signs in August of 2018 and Excel signs in May of 2019. The signs were obviously changed at some point in between but I don't know when.

Your strongest point therefore is the Excel contract provided by VCS themselves that VCS did not have a parking contract at the time of your alleged event, but Excel did.
This means the wrong company issued the court claim and obtained a default judgement against you. This should be enough evidence to convince a judge that a set aside is valid and that you have a good chance of winning the claim if/when it is reset.

Coupon-mad

We almost never see N244 set asides of CCJs applications refused by a Judge; not when the claimant was a parking firm.  I can recall just TWO refused (wrongly) in a years of assisting with set asides here.    And that was before we had the 'abuse of process/exaggerated quantum' argument lined up, which seems to be a good reason in itself to set aside a £300ish CCJ.

Search the forum for CCJ fallback as the very solid position you are in has been discussed this week.  You have a chance for a mandatory set aside (due to defective service of the claim form) but if not, the fallback position is that it should be set aside anyway for the 'good reasons' of exaggerated quantum, abuse of process, no locus standi, unclear (or no) VCS signage at that site, and that you have good prospects of defending the claim and that you 'acted promptly' with your N244 as soon as you discovered the CCJ.

Firstly email VCS and ask if they will agree to a set aside 'with consent' to minimise the court costs to £100, but DO NOT offer to pay them, nor for them to accept any sum to 'mark the CCJ satisfied'.  Asking for their consent to YOUR set aside application does not involve paying them money.

Give them till the end of the week to respond and if they haven't agreed by Friday put the N244 into the court as a contested set aside at a £255 court fee (unless you are on a law income and qualify for help with fees).

Then (separately) email their DPO a SAR so you can get all the letters and photos while you await your hearing date from the court.

Fruitcake

As an aside, you should complain to the DVLA that VCS obtained your personal data when the parking contract was with another company, Excel, and provide a copy of the contract. This is also a DVLA KADOE breach so two complaints should be made when you have the time.
Complain also to the ICO about the data breach and to your MP about this unregulated scam.

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.

LJG83

Fruitcake said:

Carefully read this thread who had a PCN and court claim at the same location.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6066995/help-got-until-24th-november-to-submit-defence-for-vcs/p11

This brings you in at around page 11 so you will need to shuffle back and forth, but the salient points are that VCS produced a parking contract dated the 28th of September … with Excel.
Whilst VCS own Excel, they are actually completely different companies according to Companies House.

Unfortunately the Google Maps Street View images don't help as they show VCS signs in August of 2018 and Excel signs in May of 2019. The signs were obviously changed at some point in between but I don't know when.

Your strongest point therefore is the Excel contract provided by VCS themselves that VCS did not have a parking contract at the time of your alleged event, but Excel did.
This means the wrong company issued the court claim and obtained a default judgement against you. This should be enough evidence to convince a judge that a set aside is valid and that you have a good chance of winning the claim if/when it is reset.

Thank you so much Fruitcake - I’m all over this with their contracts/vcs&excel. 

There is also an email which another defendant obtained from our local council stating they should have applied for planning permissions with alterations to signage etc - can I use this and annex the email as evidence? Even though this email is linked to another case? Or do I need to email the council too so it’s addressed to myself if that makes sense? 

LJG83

Thanks coupon mad and others for responses. Started to write up the WS after the advice provided. Will email VCS soon about the set aside with consent too. 

Over the hundreds of threads I’ve read I’ve found lots of information useful to my case about the same car parking area. Things such as - contracts
- email chains between people and the council about not applying for planning permission
- cases where a judge had ruled in defendants favour.
- local news paper articles. 

 Do I state all reasons I think the claim is illegal, and use all the above docs as evidence? 

Just trying to get a feel whether the WS should be succinct or not. 

Le_Kirk

A witness statement (WS) (as outlined in the NEWBIE sticky - with examples) is in support of your defence and should contain the narrative - the story of what happened on the day and since.  It should contain evidence that backs up what you said in the defence and in the WS.  Look at your list of things and apply a test  "does this back up and support my defence?"  If it does then include it, if not, then don't.

LJG83

Thanks Le_Kirk. 

How about press articles? My local paper have an article about VCS at the same parking area in which the judge threw a load of the cases out of court because of the contract issues. 

Unfortunately won’t let me post the link! 

Le_Kirk

You could point to the cases by CASE REF and that might help.  I doubt a newspaper article by itself would do any good.