CEL judgement by default without knowledge - CCJ pending

kgirl123

Hi all,
My partner has received a judgement by default, and a subsequent letter from CEL urging him to pay up within 30 days to avoid a CCJ on his record. I have previously won a case against Parking Management 2 years ago thanks to the very helpful members of this forum so I'm somewhat familiar with the process but this case seems a little more complicated.

Key points below:
1. The 'penalty' was for parking in a local car park
2. Defendant was under the impression that parking was free (according to information on the venue website) and google maps shows me that upon entrance the signs are 'private land parking terms apply' and the typical parking sign with just a letter 'P' and tiny font underneath that you definitely could not read from a moving car
4. Claim form was never received, defendant moved out of the home address around October 2020 but is due to move again to a permanent address so V5C hasn't been updated, his mother still lives at the home address and passes on mail, so the claim form was either lost in mail or misplaced, it's hard to assess at this point. We found some old 'reminder' letters from them (but not the original NTK)
5. He's the registered keeper but i am a second driver on the insurance, he has made no contact with CEL to confirm who was driving

From my research on the various threads about CCJs and CEL, so far we have:
6. Contacted CCBC for information, they confirmed judgement was served. They advised they don't keep the full claim records but can supply an overview of the claim, waiting for this to come through
7. Drafted up a SAR email and will send this tonight with 2 bills attached - to the dataprotection email
8. Sent a written complaint via email to the city hall (their website still states free parking onsite) asking them to contact CEL to get this cancelled

Now please may I ask your support in next steps:
9. On the NEWBIES thread there is a step to email the solicitor to advise this case should be put on hold for 30 days - does this apply here, and if so do I need to send this to CEL directly (to the office email)? 
10. No correspondence from CEL was ever acknowledged by the defendant until the judgement, he tried to call CEL last week and was given a reference number and another phone number to call which is constantly busy, so didn't get through anyway. No information was given away. I have now advised against calling them
11. I'm not sure we have any grounds for a set aside as CCBC advised all correspondence was sent to the same address so even if it got lost in mail, there's no way to prove that. I have read many threads and some where the case was thrown out and £255 awarded back in the set aside hearing but most of them seem to rely on the letters being served to the wrong address. Worst case, he will pay up the fee and take it as a lesson but I wanted to make sure we have covered all bases before that happens

Any advice or direction is much appreciated!

Redx

9 no , does not apply

11 not tracing the defendant and serving papers to an old address is usually good enough for a set aside

This is very common with CEL

Coupon-mad

 I'm not sure we have any grounds for a set aside as CCBC advised all correspondence was sent to the same address.

Yes, but he wasn't living there, since 2020.  They were getting no replies to their letters so should have traced him before issuing a claim.

Johnersh

Hmmm.

If it's less than 6 mths at a temporary address and all the vehicle and credit files have been kept active at the old address (for the understandable reason that a permanent move is in the offing shortly) it's conceivable that there isn't much for the ppc to have searched for.

I can see that a set aside could be difficult. All of the pre action correspondence has now been located at the old address too.

For an easy life esp if mortgages and the like are contemplated as part of that next move, I might just pay up - much though it pains me to suggest it. That is because the o/p is within the payment window and there would be no ccj recorded on file.

The application to set aside alone is £255 without definite promise of return even if ultimately successful. 

kgirl123

Thanks to all of you for your time to read this and share your thoughts. I feel Johnersh is correct and we will just bite the bullet with this one

Ralph-y

"My partner has received a judgement by default, and a subsequent letter from CEL urging him to pay up within 30 days to avoid a CCJ on his record. "

please confirm the time line of dates ......... specifically what was the judgement date ?

Ralph

henrik777

Johnersh said:

Hmmm.

If it's less than 6 mths at a temporary address and all the vehicle and credit files have been kept active at the old address (for the understandable reason that a permanent move is in the offing shortly) it's conceivable that there isn't much for the ppc to have searched for.

I can see that a set aside could be difficult. All of the pre action correspondence has now been located at the old address too.

For an easy life esp if mortgages and the like are contemplated as part of that next move, I might just pay up - much though it pains me to suggest it. That is because the o/p is within the payment window and there would be no ccj recorded on file.

The application to set aside alone is £255 without definite promise of return even if ultimately successful. 

I'd always suggest payment if within 30 days whether applying or not, where possible.