CCJ N244 Application to set aside judgement advice

Dougsboy32

To give some background: I have a CCJ against me for parking in a disabled bay without a permit in a PPC controlled area. I never received any court papers and successfully applied for the set aside on those grounds. With the court date approaching I thought my defence should be: inadequate signage indicating that the area was PPC controlled to begin with, plus poor site maintenance allowing the disabled space surface markings to be mostly eroded, plus PPC using incorrect address to send court papers. Please advise if I am correct in trying to contest/defend all three points, or whether I should be concentrating on just one. Thank you.

nosferatu1001

Have you not already filed a defence?
The template defence is there for a reason. Have you looked at it? It has a long section, and of course in the background you state there are faded markings that do not bring to attention the types of bays. 
You havent included that yet, for some reason. I have no idea why!

Dougsboy32

I must file Defence and WS this week. I have the 2020 Defence template which I have read a number of times, about which the advice appears to be to amend paragraph 2 and 3 to suit, and leave 4 to 18 untouched. If I use para3 to set the scene as advised, should I then do para4 to contest the lack of signage, then para5 to contest the faded markings, then para 6 to contest wrong address used for court papers, thereby shunting the rest along?

Dougsboy32

My point here is that if there was no clear signage that this was a controlled parking area to begin with, then the faded road markings should not count anyway? Or am I being naive? I know a council can enforce a disabled bay, but do a PPC have that right?

nosferatu1001

Of course, if you add additional Para in, you renumber. Thats self evident?!

Signage - how is that not covered already?
Faded markings - that is para 3, the background
Wrong addres s- how is that a defence to the claim? To help - it isnt! So it does not go in the defence. You got your set aside, this is now about defending the claim and nothing else.
You must also file your exhibits
Frankly, the defence should be done by now. Its a 30  minute job to amend the Template. Stop prevaricating over trhis step - just finissh it.
What is more critical, and you have not shown us anything yet to my knowledge, is your WS and your exhibits 
Have you completed your WS?

Dougsboy32

Thank you Nosferatu. Other posts indicate that a defendant only has one crack at this so I am trying to get it right. Yes I have completed the WS. I will paste it in my next post.

nosferatu1001

ANd you have your exhibits?
you do indeed have only one shot at a defence, but at the same token, its 99% done for you. The bit that requires more thought is the WS
The WS is a narrative but that doesnt mean it should be war and peace. It must be concise. EVERY exhibit is introduced in your WS.

Dougsboy32

Please see WS below

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.: xxxx

Between

Xxx

(Claimant) 

- and -  

Xxx

 (Defendant)

 

WITNESS STATEMENT

____________________

 

The location of the alleged offence is a small narrow business park off xxxx Road in xxxxxx county, with some half a dozen outlets including xxx,xxx,xxx and xxx among others. (photo1) The car park is at street level, laid to tarmac running to a grass border with some unnumbered parking bays designated by faded white and yellow painted lines. A sign upon entry welcomes visitors to three hours free parking in large font. The small font is not apparent to a passing driver. (photo 2) It is a remarkably busy place, particularly with local tradesmen. 

 

On Date xxx I visited the park to shop at xxx and xxx. I do not recall seeing any signage on entry to the effect that this was a controlled area, nor did I notice anything remarkable about surface markings. Every single parking space was taken, most of them by large panel vans, so I drove to the end where the garage is located to turn around, as reversing out was not a viable option. In my rear view mirror I saw a panel van pulling out so immediately reversed into that bay. I exited the car and walked into Shop xxxx, the façade of which also bore no signage that this was a controlled area. Once I had completed my purchase I returned to the car and left. The only signage I recall seeing was a large round 5mph indicator to the right of the bay.(photo 3)

 

Fourteen months later xxx I received a notification from Experian that my credit rating had changed. Investigation lead me to the CCBC where I discovered that a CCJ had been awarded against me for a parking infringement at the above mentioned site. It was claimed that I had parked in breach of the stipulated parking terms thus incurring a PCN which I had agreed to pay, but had failed to do so despite demands being made. All of this was news to me. To this day I have never received anything from the Claimant by post, email or other regarding the alleged offence. 

 

Upon learning of the CCJ I revisited the business park this time looking for signs, but still struggled as they were sporadically placed, indeed hidden and obscured in some areas. One was at ankle height above the pavement to the left of the entrance, and as I was driving a standard right-hand vehicle had no chance of seeing it. When I returned recently to photograph it, it was gone, with nothing but a hole in the ground. (photo 4)  There is now a new sign on the wall opposite the entrance, although this gets hidden as soon as a van parks in the bay in front of it. 

 

Further exploration on foot revealed two more signs on the grass verge behind the parking bays on poles approximately five feet in the air. As the site is popular with local tradesmen the bays tend to be full of panel vans which completely obscure the signs from line of sight of any driver entering the park. In (photo 5) the yellow arrow indicates the location of the signage and it is clear that the driver of the car (mini in this case) could not see it at all. 

 

The façade of the buildings also bear no signage to indicate a controlled parking area (photo 6) to a customer walking from car to store.

 

The parking bay where the alleged contravention took place is supposed to be a disabled bay, but there is no signage to that effect anywhere in the vicinity, and the surface markings are in such poor condition it is easy to overlook them. (photo7) As can be seen, the criss cross pattern does not extend all the way around the parking bay, so the driver of a vehicle that had reversed into the space would not have their attention drawn to the floor and thus be unaware. Clearly painted and maintained yellow floor markings, along with a simple disabled sign next to the 5mph sign would remove all confusion for the unsuspecting motorist.

 

The ambiguity of such floor markings can be seen at xxx train station car park which has yellow criss-cross lines designating the route for pedestrians to walk, not disabled bays. (photo 8) so such markings with nothing in support are ambiguous. 

 

By contrast the neighbouring site which is operated by PPC xxx has signage affixed to the façade of the store (photo 9) which the customer cannot fail to see, and also keeps their disabled bays well maintained and clearly marked as such. (photo 10) 

 

I wondered why xxx does not operate in the same manner and could only conclude that the Claimant deliberately does not do likewise in order to confuse the motorist and create a honey trap with this poorly marked parking bay. The Defendant would be interested to know how much revenue this one bay generates in any given year, and assumes that it would be quite substantial as an employee must surely be retained full time to 'police' it.

 

Compounding all of this the Claimant did not deliver any Court Papers to my home address, when in this day and age something like Special Delivery which requires the recipient's signature would remove all doubt. PPC's are able to get driver's details from the DVLA (which I find a breach of personal privacy and GDPR - but that is another matter) Why then did they not serve me at my address? The result was a trial that I was unable to attend nor defend, followed by a set-aside judgement, and now this hearing; all of which have taken the time of the Court and its associates which could have been better deployed on more deserving matters.

 

I ask that the Court dismiss this claim on the grounds of poor signage and surface markings at the site, and failure to take due care and diligence in serving court papers to my given address thereby denying my right to contest the allegation.

 

Further I ask that the Court overturn the CCJ against me, and grant damages for the cost of the set-aside, plus stress incurred.

 

nosferatu1001

Every para has a number, same as the defence, and for the same reasons!

"Compounding all of this the Claimant did not deliver any Court Papers to my home address, when in this day and age something like Special Delivery which requires the recipient's signature would remove all doubt. PPC's are able to get driver's details from the DVLA (which I find a breach of personal privacy and GDPR - but that is another matter) Why then did they not serve me at my address? The result was a trial that I was unable to attend nor defend, followed by a set-aside judgement, and now this hearing; all of which have taken the time of the Court and its associates which could have been better deployed on more deserving matters."
Most of this is irrelevant
"Further I ask that the Court overturn the CCJ against me,...."
Hasn't this already been done? That was the set aside hearing you said had granted you the set aside?
You must be utterly clear. This stage, if it is a hearing for the substantive claim, must only talk about the claim. Not a set aside
"and grant damages for the cost of the set-aside, plus stress incurred"
1) damage - not going to happen. Wrong word entirely
2)did you counterclaim? No? Then you havent got a hope about "stress". You would also have to prove it. a simple statement WILL. NOT. DO
3) costs of a claim are recoverable, however what did your Set aside order - the actual one - state as regards costrs? If it stated "costs to be reserved" then your set aside fee (£255?) should be reclaimable. If it said no order to costgs, then tough. Youre not getting your set aside fee back. 

Shjow us the set aside order

I've not covered the rest; my concern is your focus of the WS is not for the underlying claim. It is the UNDERLYING CLAIM that THIS WS must be focussed on. 

Dougsboy32

I don't have a set aside order. The only documentation I have is a "Notice of Hearing of Application". Looks like I have missunderstood. This hearing is to consider my application to overturn the CCJ. As such it would be a whole other defence I would presume. Apologies for wasting your time.