CCJ. Parking fine sent to old address

Coupon-mad

She discovered it this month and has asked the PPC if they will consent, so waiting till the end of this week is fine.

No-one else gets their SAR back in time for a N244 either, this is normal, like in this thread exactly the same as yours, Olive:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78472168/#Comment_78472168

But who cares, the defence is not needed yet. Yes your N244 is only about the defective service of the claim and as you can see from that other exact match thread, you can add a defence before your hearing to show that there are good prospects of successfully defending the claim anyway, if the Judge is silly enough not to accept your case is, in fact, a mandatory set aside situation.

Olive_j

Thank you very much, @Coupon-mad. I’ll definitely make a start on the N244 tomorrow and then at least I’m ahead if I don’t hear back from them by Monday. 

Olive_j

hi I’m just reading through a post linked in the newbies forum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6134970/surprise-ccj-please-help/p7

OP mentions the judge focused on the fact that they wrote to her at an address that was her fault for not updating and that the judge refused costs.

I really feel like I’m going into the lions den here, trying to get two set asides. 

My home insurance is due for renewal in the next week or two. I wonder if I should renew & seek legal help that way. 

Umkomaas

Getting the set aside(s) and whether costs are payable to you are two separate issues. You need the set aside(s) sorted urgently to protect your credit worthiness for the next 6 years, £510 is pretty much small beer set in the context of the financial devastation a couple of CCJs can cause you between now and 2027. 

Coupon-mad

Olive_j said:

hi I’m just reading through a post linked in the newbies forum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6134970/surprise-ccj-please-help/p7

OP mentions the judge focused on the fact that they wrote to her at an address that was her fault for not updating and that the judge refused costs.

I really feel like I’m going into the lions den here, trying to get two set asides. 

My home insurance is due for renewal in the next week or two. I wonder if I should renew & seek legal help that way. 

You can’t. Legal advice from home policies only covers new incidents.

Please don’t panic, you are doing this perfectly. 

It’s not a lions den and that Judge in that linked case wasn’t told that changing the DVLA address after a PPC has already obtained the old address, would not have helped because PPCs can’t ask the DVLA again at claim stage. The KADOE rules mean they can only ask the DVLA once.  But the DVLA and the parking Trade Bodies have also told their members to check addresses with a trace (offered free or for less than a pound by more than one third party trace firm) before filing claims. 

Not a DVLA look-up, because they can’t do that a second time).  A soft trace would have found you and you were at all times ‘there to be found’.  It is the lack of reasonable steps taken by the Claimant that is at fault.

 In support of that view, the MoJ singled out parking firms in their consultation about the scandal of 85% of claims going to default CCJs, and specifically mentioned parking firms more than once in their consultation, as using wrong addresses and not checking them properly before filing claims.

Olive_j

Thank you @Umkomaas. I was more worried that I’d pay out and the set asides would be refused as not sure what my prospects of defending the parking incidents would be. 

If I was to seek legal help, should I do so before submitting the N244, or submit and then get help with my defence etc afterwards? 

Olive_j

Coupon-mad said:

You can’t. Legal advice from home policies only covers new incidents.

If I have a few weeks left on my current policy, does that mean I could get help, but it would end once the policy ends? 

Olive_j

I have read this by @Johnersh on another thread:

N244 p. 2

Witness statement

This is the witness statement section. It's often easier to attach a separate document in MS Word. 

This is NOT about the case, but the procedure. You should major on issues like when the claimant first wrote to you/obtained your details and the passage of time before proceedings were sent. In most cases an equifax/electoral roll search can be done in seconds to ensure an address is current. The point is that incorrect service mandates set aside. 

For completeness, there then needs to be a section which at least flags that the claim is defensible and why. Not war and peace, since the DJ is not determining the issue, just that it could be arguable.

Where it states “there then needs to be a section which at least flags that the claim is defensible and why“, is this relating to defending that actual parking incident? Or relating to them having no correspondence from myself?  

Coupon-mad

Possibly - ring them BEFORE you put the N244 in! 

But in my experience these legal advice teams are fairly crap! I used my legal advice service from my home insurance  to sue Monarch ten years ago - successfully - but I had to tell them what the law said and what the payout per person should be, as they understated it by hundreds of Euros! (luckily the legal firm showed me their draft letters first).

 And they told me I couldn’t claim compensation on top because the first flight was cancelled due to ‘extraordinary circs’ (ash cloud) but they were wrong and I literally had to lead them into agreeing with me due to having 2 flights cancelled.  2nd flight wasn’t extraordinary circs and I got the lot! 

Olive_j

Thanks @Coupon-mad. They may be useless, but probably less useless than me!