CCJ against me from Vehicle Control Services (VCS)

georgiaclark

On the 28th Jan 2020 I received a claim form from county court explaining that VCS have put a CCJ against me for an unpaid parking ticket. I only new about this ticket from getting a ‘final warning’ letter. I never received the first few informing me of it. On the 4th March I said I would do a part admission for £85 split at £10 a month. I was sent a letter agreeing that this is what will happen and my first date to pay would be the 19th March. I contacted the court and VCS a few days before asking how to pay as it wasnt clear and the court didnt help me and said to talk to VCS. This company never got back to me. I then fell ill with suspected coronavirus and was off work for 2 weeks (my job is an unpaid placement with the police, my only form of income is my petrol money i claim back as it always leaves me a little extra) i wasnt furloughed as most people were so couldnt afford the money. I contacted both the court and VCS again and the court again said to contact VCS so i did. They never responded. I tried all I could then but they didn’t respond so I left it. 

I am now currently being vetted for a police job and vetted for a flat with my partner. A CCJ has come up in my name which was entered on the 20th Feb which I dont understand why as I agreed to pay (i may have got this wrong i dont know). The police have said that if I pay the fine it should be fine and so did the letting agent. 

I contacted the court and they said there’s nothing they can do and to contact VCS. I have the money waiting so I can just pay it off and have done with it. This company is impossible to get hold of. I cant pay a CCJ over the phone on their automated system as its not an option. I have emailed all their email addresses and they say they take 28 working days to reply which isnt good enough for my situation. I called them on every phone number I could find and they arent connected as they are working from home. I am completely stuck and I have no clue what to do! 

Where do I stand legally with this as I have tried every possible way to pay them but they arent responding to me. Even since March, they never responded. I am on a short timescale and am really stressed out about this. Could anyone provide me with any advice or any legal organisation I could contact as this is not my fault that this has gone on for so long. I have done my part by agreeing to pay and contacting them but they havent upheld theirs on their end. Its completely unfair as my future career is at stake. 

Please can someone help me!!

KeithP

So you received a County Court Claim Form at the end of January.
What is the Issue Date on that Claim Form - 28th January?

You had 19 days to Acknowledge Service of the Claim. Did you do that?
If not, the Claimant, VCS, were free to seek a Default Judgment.

Did you respond, in writing, to the County Court Business Centre?

Sounds like you need to set aside the Default Judgment against you.

Start by reading the bit about set asides towards the bottom of the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

The good news is that with your low income it sound like it may not cost you anything to go down the set aside route.

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.

Le_Kirk

On the letter from the court, which is presumably a judgment in default, did it explain how and who to pay?

georgiaclark

There were no details on the claim form on how to pay. I responded to the original claim form in January/February time which was well within the time they give you. I left it for so long as no one was responding to me so what else could I have done with no information! 

We managed to pay it off this morning just to get rid of it. We had to go through their sales team and ask for help. It was way too stressful and its really messed up my potential future career. 

Me and my mum are going to put together a letter to the court to explain my circumstances and that we had no idea a CCJ was entered. I believe it stays on my record for 6 years which is completely unfair if I didnt even know about it and I was even able to pay it off to begin with. 

Thanks for your comments 

KeithP

So no answer to any of the questions I asked.

Good luck.

Le_Kirk

georgiaclark said:

There were no details on the claim form on how to pay. I responded to the original claim form in January/February time which was well within the time they give you. I left it for so long as no one was responding to me so what else could I have done with no information! 

We managed to pay it off this morning just to get rid of it. We had to go through their sales team and ask for help. It was way too stressful and its really messed up my potential future career. 

Me and my mum are going to put together a letter to the court to explain my circumstances and that we had no idea a CCJ was entered. I believe it stays on my record for 6 years which is completely unfair if I didnt even know about it and I was even able to pay it off to begin with. 

Thanks for your comments 

Well done on your perseverance and having paid it.  It should now be marked as "satisfied" (I am sure you are far from satisfied!) but to remove it completely from your credit record you need a set-aside, via an N244 form which costs £255 to apply to the courts.  Probably better than just writing a letter to the court/judge.  Search the forum for set-aside six-point draft order and also read some posts by @henrik777

Coupon-mad

You paid?  But that doesn't remove it.

Half_way

Do not attempt to pay an old CCJ  off, it will remain on your record for 6 years even though it will be marked as satisfied it will still cause problems getting loans, ( new car finance, phone mortgages and in some cases jobs) 
The only way out is for a set aside.
Thou also have the option of action against the landowner over the actions of their agents, but of you pay the CCJ, or pay it late so is recorded as a default things become extremely difficult