CCJ for a private firm parking ticket- incidental find. All correspondence went to old address.

Herbie2312

Hi all. I really really some help here. I have excellent credit history and always took due care to ensure i never have any defaulted payments. I applied for a re mortgage this week and the agreement in principle was turned down. The bank manager asked me to get a copy of my credit report as i could not think what this could be. I was horrified to see a CCJ placed on me from MARCH 2020. I called the courts and they gave me details of the charges which led me to a private parking company called Globe protection and they issued me with 3 parking tickets over 2 weeks , nothing was placed on my windscreen. I was told all correspondance went to my old address which then led me to the horrible realisation that my V5 still had this old address. My driving licence has been updated but not the V5.
I went to the old address today and was told that they haven't received anything for me in over a year but everytime they have they returned to sender. I do feel really angry that no additional action was taken from the claimants to contact me. I do understand i should have updated my V5 but i also feel that the oversight of this was not intentional and there is no way if i had known about these parking charges would i let it get this far.
When i spoke to the courts yesterday they advised me to apply to the courts to have this CCJ set aside but reading all the forums and speaking to solicitors today it seems i could be wasting my money as this could be turned down as no real defence other than the ccj affecting my ability to get a mortgage and not having the chance to see any correspondence from claimants despite this being my fault. 
Please help me to decide what to do. I just want this ccj off my record . Should i instruct a solicitor help with the claim but this will cost me hundreds in additional to the original debt. If i pay the ccj it will still remain on my account for 6 years which i don't want. If i go about applying to the court myself i feel i wont put forward a good enough case so would be wasting my court fees of 255£ so better having a solicitor. But solicitor is not no win no fee its a upfront fee with no guarantees.

Please someone help me. Really appreciate any advice.

PRAISETHESUN

This will probably get more attention on the motoring board, but I suspect any attempt to contest this won't end well - the time for contesting the charges was when it went to court not after the judgement was passed. The onus is on you to keep your details up-to-date (as you can get a hefty fine if you don't), not for parking companies to try and track you down. They did the right thing by sending correspondence to the registered keeper's last known address. You could try get it set aside but that will require the co-operation of the parking company, which isn't likely to happen. Probably not the answer you want to hear, but I'd save your money and find a broker who deals with adverse credit for your mortgage application.

sourcrates

moved for you.

Fruitcake

Paying the default judgment now will do no good whatsoever.

You need to determine the reason why the PCNs were issued in the first place and then ifif they were issued unfairly (most ar) then you will have a defence for your set-aside request.

Forget solicitors, I doubt you will find one that knows more about this unregulated industry than the regulars on here who will give you advice for free. 

Start by reading the second post of the NEWBIES that includes a guide to court, and I believe information about set-asides.

Failing to update your V5C could have resulted in a real penalty of £1000 from the DVLA.

Le_Kirk

Fruitcake said:

Paying the default judgment now will do no good whatsoever.
You need to determine the reason why the PCNs were issued in the first place and then if they were issued unfairly (most are) then you will have a defence for your set-aside request.
Forget solicitors, I doubt you will find one that knows more about this unregulated industry than the regulars on here who will give you advice for free. 
Start by reading the second post of the NEWBIES that includes a guide to court, and I believe information about set-asides.
Failing to update your V5C could have resulted in a real penalty of £1000 from the DVLA.

In backing up what @fruitcake has stated, also read some replies by a contributor called @henrik777 as he is an accepted expert on set-asides.

Umkomaas

Are all three PCN charges consolidated in one CCJ?

Coupon-mad

PRAISETHESUN said:

This will probably get more attention on the motoring board, but I suspect any attempt to contest this won't end well - the time for contesting the charges was when it went to court not after the judgement was passed. The onus is on you to keep your details up-to-date (as you can get a hefty fine if you don't), not for parking companies to try and track you down. They did the right thing by sending correspondence to the registered keeper's last known address. 

I am glad this got moved to here because the above assumption is wrong, when it comes to CCJs from parking firms.  

And the time to apply for a set aside is when you find out about the CCJ (now, promptly!). We win these.

Most of these situations are caused by people not realising they hadn't updated their V5C but we almost never see set asides refused by the courts in PPC scam cases.  I can recall two in about five years of seeing set asides here and in both cases the Judge was wrong in law to refuse.

You could try get it set aside but that will require the co-operation of the parking company, which isn't likely to happen. Probably not the answer you want to hear, but I'd save your money and find a broker who deals with adverse credit for your mortgage application.

No.  This is not the case for parking CCJs.

Whilst your advice is usually right for non-parking set asides, these are different and most people do a £255 set aside and they win, then they defend the PCN and win that too, with costs awarded.  THE NEWBIES THREAD has a section explaining how to apply to set aside a CCJ from a parking firm, and both worked examples show the £255 fee awarded so that the scammer parking firm has to pay it, and this is one reason why:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/12/government-announce-ccj-review-due-to.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-consumers-from-debt-claims

If the victim of this scam PCN attack has three CCJs they will have to do 3 applications at £255 each but it's worth it and they should ask for ONE hearing of all the 3 CCJs and follow the advice on all the zillions of other set aside threads we have here.

I really wish the regulars on the board this started on (debt free wannabe?) knew that PARKING FIRM CCJs ARE ABLE TO BE SET ASIDE AND THE CLAIMS ARE ALSO WINNABLE.  These are so very different than your bog standard 'debt' case.

nosferatu1001

The OP hasnt posted again, but when yuo do OP you must act quickly
You have at most about 3 weeks from when you found out about the CCJ to apply to the court for the set aside
You must not hang around. 

Herbie2312

Thankyou so much all you lovely people. I have the documents from court to fill out but I would like to know if I should instruct a solicitor who know how to word it as I'm scared I'll get rejected based on my lack of knowledge of what to put on the form. I will keep the forum updated of all my outcome s .thank you again. I found out yesterday about the ccj so I am acting mega fast just been researching my best options testerdsy and today. 
So the question now is solicitor or go it alone. Also how do I comment on individual posts?

Le_Kirk

That's why we have a NEWBIE sticky, go there and read the second post, it will tell you all about set-asides and give you some examples of witness statements, draft defence and six-point draft order.  Also read some posts by @henrik777.  You won't need a solicitor.
Comment on an individual post by clicking the Quote button on the relevant post.  If you cannot see a Quote button it will be because you are trying to view the forum on  phone.

Herbie2312

Le_Kirk said:

That's why we have a NEWBIE sticky, go thee and read the second post, it will tell you all about set-asides and give you some examples of witness statements, draft defence and six-point draft order.  Also read some posts by @henrik777.  You won't need a solicitor.
Comment on an individual post by clicking the Quote button on the relevant post.  If you cannot see a Quote button it will be because you are trying to view the forum on  phone.

Thank you. How do I get to the newbie board pls?