CCJ. Parking fine sent to old address

Olive_j

Thank you @KeithP. I've checked the V5 date and I updated it 22 days after the parking incident. I had moved house 2 months prior to the incident, which means I didn't update the V5 for 3 months after moving.

The V5 does however show it was up to date at the time they issued the claim form.... but they couldn't have checked again so I'm not sure if relevant to use as proof of address?

Thank you @ParkingMad very helpful. When I googled, I saw laminated signs they had stuck to lamposts saying parking times had changed.

ParkingMad

Can the driver remember if the permanent signs had also been changed from 3 hours to 2 hours on the date of the PCN?

Olive_j

Absolutely no clue @ParkingMad, they didn’t realise at the time that it had changed, only when paying in a shop & the shop assistant said, after the new time limit had already passed. 

KeithP

Olive_j said:

Thank you @KeithP. I've checked the V5 date and I updated it 22 days after the parking incident. I had moved house 2 months prior to the incident, which means I didn't update the V5 for 3 months after moving.

The V5 does however show it was up to date at the time they issued the claim form.... but they couldn't have checked again so I'm not sure if relevant to use as proof of address?

If, after having written to you at your old address, they received no response then they should've used some sort of tracing service to find a more suitable address for service of the court documents.

Instead, when they received no response they rubbed their hands with glee and said something like "oh goody, we now know that if we send a Claim to this old address, we will almost certainly get no response and a Default Judgment will be sure to follow".

Coupon-mad

I think the documents you have listed are easily enough and you don’t need more.

And by the way you didn’t take 3 months to update the V5C unless you did it online.   The DVLA have been shown to be many weeks behind during the pandemic in updating V5C docs if people sent them off in the post. So you acted quickly by most people’s standards. 

Still a huge problem now:

The DVLA website states that applications to amend names and addresses that were posted on May 18, almost two months ago, are only now being dealt with and motorists are being told to wait nearly two months before they get their documents back.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9796555/Huge-backlog-1-4million-letters-waiting-processed-DVLA.html

henrik777

First thing anyone should look at for proof of address is the easiest for someone looking to see. The electoral roll.

Olive_j

@henrik777 I only updated the electoral roll when I got the form sent requesting who lived at the property. It is registered on the electoral roll two months after the PCN was issued…. However it was correct at the time the claim form was issued.

The dates aren’t actually accurate, they suggest I was still living there after I had moved out, but I guess the main point is it showed a current address at the time the claim form was sent? 

henrik777

Olive_j said:

@henrik777 I only updated when I got the form sent requesting who lived at the property. So it is registered two months after the PCN was issued…. However it was correct at the time the claim form was issued. 

Well since it's service of the claim form that's at issue i'd say that's helpful.

henrik777

Remember you are not proving it.

Did they have "reason to believe" you no longer stayed there. Delay, no reply etc etc

Did they take steps to find you as they are required to do (if they have a reason to believe) ? (up to them to show this).

Now it's helpful to sway a judge if you can show they should've found you but the fact remains, if the court is persuaded they had "reason to believe" then it's up to them to prove they tried, not you to prove you could be found.

Coupon-mad

But read what @henrik777 just told you...it's about what gave them reason to believe you'd moved.  

Delay, no reply etc etc

Now it's helpful to sway a judge if you can show they should've found you but the fact remains, if the court is persuaded they had "reason to believe" then it's up to them to prove they tried, not you to prove you could be found.