CCJ added on Nov 2020 that i dont recognise

taztheman

I left UK for a job in the middle east in June 2019 and closed/cleared all known payments (i.e. car insurance, phone bills etc.). In December 2019, my wife and kids also left the UK to join me. It was a rented property which we vacated.
I randomly checked my clearscore credit report last night and noticed there was a CCJ issued in Nov 2020. I do not  recognise the origin of this CCJ. The name of court shown is 'County Court Business CEN'. The case number is also specified and the amount is GBP 283. What can i do to at least understand the origin of CCJ for starters? Please advise.

[Deleted User]

Speak to the county court (in Northampton - 0300 123 1056) and ask them, no-one else will know.

Where were your wife/kids living in June-December? Is it possible they ran up some debt in your name e.g. an electric bill, a parking ticket which is sent to the RK address etc?
If you plan to come back to the UK within the next 5 years then you'll need to deal with this, if not, then it's up to you but it's not impossible they might try and chase you abroad

Hasbeen

Most likely a parking invoice?

Head over to the parking ticket part of the forum.

taztheman

Thank you for your quick responses.
I have just been on the phone to Northampton CC and yes it is a parking fine from 'Civil Enforcement Ltd'. They (Northampton CC) have given me the PCN number and relevant details.
Shall i request PCN evidence to get the ball rolling?
I am told that i want the CCJ to be removed from my credit report, i have to follow a certain N244 process (whatever the hell that is) or otherwise, even after paying the fine, the CCJ will stay on my record for 6 years. Don't think i am going to settle for the latter and i am prepared to fight this out.

ThisnotThat

taztheman said:

Thank you for your quick responses.
I have just been on the phone to Northampton CC and yes it is a parking fine from 'Civil Enforcement Ltd'. They (Northampton CC) have given me the PCN number and relevant details.
Shall i request PCN evidence to get the ball rolling?
I am told that i want the CCJ to be removed from my credit report, i have to follow a certain N244 process (whatever the hell that is) or otherwise, even after paying the fine, the CCJ will stay on my record for 6 years. Don't think i am going to settle for the latter and i am prepared to fight this out.

FIghting it when you're not resident in the country could get quite costly.

I'd potentially weigh up the costs of doing that (the set aside cost alone is near the cost of the fine) vs the likelihood that you'll be returning to the UK to live before Nov 2026.

taztheman

just so that i have an idea, what are the costs associated with 'fighting'? Are we talking about fighting with Civil Enforcement or disputing the CCJ?

ThisnotThat

taztheman said:

just so that i have an idea, what are the costs associated with 'fighting'? Are we talking about fighting with Civil Enforcement or disputing the CCJ?

You'll almost certainly have to attend the court in person to get it set aside.

So your costs are going to involve flights from wherever you are to the UK and back, quarantining for up to 10 days if travel restrictions are still in place and you're travelling from an amber-list country or nearly £2k if its a red-list country, COVID tests,  potentially lost income from not being at work etc.

taztheman

Is the date of court appearance chosen by the court? Is there a time limit on how long after the date of CCJ I can challenge it?
Plus there is also doubt on legality of pcn itself, i myself reviewed all the post that was delivered even when i was abroad. I am fairly confident that there was no letter issued on this at least until we vacated the property in December 2019.

ThisnotThat

taztheman said:

Is the date of court appearance chosen by the court? Is there a time limit on how long after the date of CCJ I can challenge it?
Plus there is also doubt on legality of pcn itself, i myself reviewed all the post that was delivered even when i was abroad. I am fairly confident that there was no letter issued on this at least until we vacated the property in December 2019.

Yes, the court would set the court date.

A judge will likely ask you, if you leave it a long time, why you didn't challenge it sooner.  If you were aware of it but didn't challenge it they may not be particularly impressed and could potentially not grant the set aside, and of course lying and saying you were not aware would not be a good idea.

sourcrates

The court papers would go to the last known address of the debtor, the address the car was registered at.

For a set aside to be successful, you must satisfy two points.

Point one - you must have good reason why you did not respond to the court papers.
Point two - you must have a defence with a reasonable chance of success.

A defence to this would be, it was not my car, there were no signs, the ticket was incorrectly issued, etc etc, you get the idea.

Not being in receipt of the court papers alone does not constitute a defence to this.

taztheman

Assuming costs arent as issue, whats the best way forward, challenge the PCN or challenge the CCJ? Can i ask for evidence of PCN from the enforcement company without this having any impact on court proceeding should i take the CCj challenge route?