Surprise CCJ old address, set aside consent denied!

SSCCJ

Hello all,

Would massively appreciate any help please.

Brief account:

Finance refused as CCJ on credit file. Shocked! I thought it was impeccable.
Trust online and called court to find out a premier parking logistics- DCB legal action as below.

PCN: April 2019. Parked my car in a wrong bay and as came out of the car read the sign and removed the car immediately to another parking which was free (It is a U-shaped parking with some 13-14 spaces and 4-5 of them are free but rest are not).

No windscreen ticket but letter received after 14 days. I replied and said I will not pay as I only parked the car for may be 60 seconds...? And that charges were extra and that POFA 12 is not fulfilled (after 14 days ticket). I said if they looked at the CCTV images I can guarantee you will find that I wasn't parked there for more than a matter of coming outside the car, reading the notice and moving it. They said POFA did not apply as I have said I was the driver (stupid of me, should not have used 'I'). 

They did not respond to the statement that I was parked there momentarily.

Come 3 weeks ago I found out the CCJ sent to old address from where I have moved twice.

Court judgment Dec 2020. I moved out September 2020 and have moved again September 2021.

Now emailed for SAR, response awaited.
Emailed for consent to set aside, refused yesterday.

So in process of writing draft order and WS. Clock's ticking.

Hope it makes sense. Please help.

D_P_Dance

Have you read this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3786132/I-ll-end-credit-rating-scandal-pledges-PM-acts-Mail-exposes-rulings-ruined-lives.html

Nothing has been done.   Did you inform DVLA about moves, (licence and registration separately).  Complain to your MP.  

SSCCJ

Thanks.
Yes council tax, DVLA, V5C all changed promptly.

Will complain to MP as well.

Coupon-mad

Sounds like you are on track to get this set aside and hopefully the £255 back.

SSCCJ

Thank you @Coupon-mad and @D_P_Dance
Will post WS and draft order soon.

SSCCJ

255 paid, complaint to MP done. The court lady said the set aside application fee is increasing tomorrow. She did not know how much.

D_P_Dance

Probably far outstripping the increase in my OAP.

Castle

SSCCJ said:

255 paid, complaint to MP done. The court lady said the set aside application fee is increasing tomorrow. She did not know how much.

I think it's going to be £275; (and set aside by consent is rising to £108).

SSCCJ

When emailing the set aside application form and relevant documents to court, do I need to email the same to claimant/legal rep as well? Thanks.

SSCCJ

WITNESS STATEMENT

1.1.       I am a XXXXXXXX by profession and I am the DEFENDANT in this case. This is my supporting statement to my application dated XX September 2021 requesting to:

a.                   Set aside the default judgment dated XX November 2020 as it was not properly served at my current address.

b.                   Order for the original claim of £284 to be dismissed.

c.                    Order for the claimant to pay the defendant £255 as reimbursement for the set aside fee.

1.2.       I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence.

1.3.       I received a Parking Charge Notice dated XX April 2019 at my address XXXXXXXX. I was out of country but replied to Premier Parking Logistics via email when back on XXXX and raised a few points to state why the notice was inappropriate.

1.4.       I explained in my email the following:

a)                There was insufficient signage: The car park in question had no clear signage to explain what the relevant parking restrictions are. The signage is not clear enough also because of peculiar setting of the parking premises. It was a U-shaped car park with about 14 -16 parking slots and there are multiple variants of intended rules and restrictions in that small space.  Only a few of the parking slots are managed by the Claimant while the adjacent slots managed by other parties are free to use. I believe the allegation of forming a ‘contract’ and sending an invoice on that basis is at best factitious.

b)               Moreover, there are mitigating circumstances, in addition to the points above, to explain why the vehicle was parked where it was and the notice should have been dismissed for this reason. I parked the car for not more than a few seconds or at stretch minutes and removed it the moment I found out that this was not the free parking. It should have been within the grace period of parking. I am sure providing/issuing a CCTV footage will confirm my statement.

c)                The charge is disproportionate and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss
The amount I was charged is not based upon any genuine pre-estimate of loss to the Claimant’s company or the landowner. In my case, the £100.00 charge far exceeded the cost to the landowner. I therefore felt the amount asked was excessive.

d)               The Notice to Keeper failed to meet the obligations of Schedule 4 of the POFA Act 2012 as it arrived 6 days after the obligatory 14 days from the alleged parking offence. Alleged offence was on XXXXX while the parking letter is dated as XXX and was received by me even later than that.

1.5.       Despite the above, I offered my continued engagement on the condition if the points raised above were addressed in full, and refused to engage if they were not addressed.

1.6.       Premier Parking Logistics have, to this day, failed to acknowledge and respond to the points in full that I raised, especially stating that I parked there only for a few moments and moved the vehicle immediately after parking realising that it was not the space I intended to park. This is related to their email, addressing the points only partially, that I received on XXXXX.

1.7.       I did not hear more from Premier Parking and believed that they had looked at the photographic and circumstantial evidence and the matter was not to be pursued further.

1.8.       I discovered about the county court judgment 3 weeks ago when my finance application got rejected. I explored all avenues (internet and court services) to gain further information in this matter.

1.9.       I now believe that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgement against me as the Defendant on XXXXXXX. I am aware that the Claimant is Walton Wilkins trading as Premier Parking Logistics, represented by DCB legal solicitors, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notice on XXXXX at my then residence XXXXXX.

1.10.    I contacted Premier Parking Logistics and again raised the same point I did in my email on XXXXX. I asked them to consent to my set aside application which was refused.

1.11.    I have asked them to send me the CCTV footage of the vehicle from that day.

1.12.    I have also submitted a subject access request as per GDPR rules (Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

1.13.    I have been therefore forced to submit my set aside complication without consent. I firmly believe that this issue could have been looked at in the beginning and saved a lot of precious time of courts and mine as well.

1.14.    In addition to the above, it should be highlighted that the integrity and law-abiding intention of the Defendant should be taken into consideration on the basis that despite my full-time job working long hours as a XXXX, and that I was amidst moving house with wife and XX toddlers, I have put my utmost effort to obtain necessary information and have managed to submit the case application within three weeks of discovering the Default Judgment.

1.15.    I contest this charge for the reasons stated below.

1.16.    The claim form was not served at my current address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgement until earlier this month. The address on the claim is XXXXXXXX and the judgment was passed on XXX December 2020. I had moved out of that address in September 2020, 3 months before the Default Judgment would have been sent. In support of this I can provide a scanned copy of my tenancy agreements, email confirmations from DVLA of change of address, alongside copies of council tax and utility bills.

1.17.    I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they have enough grounds to issue a notice and also to confirm the Defendant’s correct contact details at the time of the claim. They had also failed to explore an ‘alternative place or method’ to inform/enquire the defendant, in my case a method of communication that had already been established i.e., email correspondence.

1.18.    On that basis, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to rule CPR 6.9 (3) and CPR 6.9 (4) where they had failed to show due diligence in using an address that the Defendant no longer resides. The claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of my current residence despite having some 18 months to conduct it, or using an already established path of communication. This has resulted in the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgement. This leads to no service; they were not entitled to judgment and the court must set aside the claim as per CPR 13.2.

1.19.    According to publicly available information my circumstances are just one of many hundreds, if not thousands, of examples. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

1.20.    Furthermore, Prime Minister May publicly pledged to investigate ‘abuse’ of the CCJ System and so called ‘Credit Clamping’ as reported in the Daily Mail article dated 12 September 2016.

1.21.    The Right Honourable Sir Oliver Heald on 23 December 2016 "announced a crackdown on unresolved debts which can damage people’s credit ratings without them knowing. The action comes after concerns were raised that companies were issuing claims to consumers using incorrect addresses." The Minister added "It cannot be right that people who are unaware of debts can see their lives and finances ruined by county court judgments. That in the digital age, we must ensure companies pursuing unpaid debts make every reasonable effort to contact individuals, rather than simply relying on a letter to an old address.”

1.22.    I have read the consultation on Default County Court Judgments by Ministry of Justice published 21 February 2018 and it makes an insightful read. Some excerpts are: ‘the claimant must consider whether there is an alternative place or method by which the claim may be served’. And, ‘Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is reforming parking practices and has already taken steps to tackle rogue private parking operators, including banning wheel clamping and towing. DCLG is fully aware of the concerns related to County Court judgments that follow parking charges and is considering how they can deliver standardised practice across all parking companies, eliminating unfair charges and reducing the instances of claims where the consumer may be unaware of a parking charge being applied’. ‘Where the claimant is unable to ascertain the defendant’s current postal address, the claimant may apply to the court for service at an alternative place. This may include service via an email address if the claimant and defendant have been in communication via those means and the court agrees this is appropriate’.

2.1.           If the court is not satisfied with above grounds, I may submit that the court should use its discretionary powers under CPR 13.3.

2.2.       There is a profound prospect of defending this claim because:-

2.3.       I was not parked there for more than a few seconds or minutes. It was not possible for me to observe appropriate signage on entering a confusing setting of parking slots, until I had safely parked the car. Once I was out of my car, I could read the signage on close inspection to realise that this was not the parking slot I had intended to park. The car was then soon removed from this place and parked in one of the adjacent free slots. I have had few visits to these premises within a couple of weeks for some important personal matter and this was the first visit there. Once I knew the parking slots allocation it was possible for me to park in the free slots for future visits.

2.4.       The Defendant understands Parking Control Management Ltd. to be a Private Parking Company. Any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant would have needed to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. This includes the requirement to issue the Notice to Keeper within 14 days of the alleged incident. As alluded to earlier, the Notice to Keeper arrived 6 days late in this case.

2.5.       No contract was entered as the signage was insufficient more also on the background that the premise contains a mixture of parking slots managed by different parties and some are indeed free to park by the consumers. The Claimant should be a party to assist public in understanding it rather than punish them for parking for a few moments for what it takes to establish and understand a confusing situation.

2.6.       I have at no time tried to avoid paying for any known debt, and was at all times there to be found by a simple trace, a phone call or email. It is ironic given that the legal representative of the Claimant, DCB legal advertise proudly for providing a service of ‘tracing’. It is submitted that the Claimant and their legal would have known or should have surmised that it was likely that the Defendant was not at the old address, given the length of time (18 months) from the alleged parking charge and the fact that the Claimant was receiving no reply from the Defendant.

2.7.       I believe the Claimant’s practice is a proof that parking companies’ conduct is not used as a deterrent for citizens, majority of which are law abiding, instead an impending and instantaneous launch of legal action against most of them leading to default judgment by court in 85% of the 1.1 million cases in year 2016/2017.

2.8.       I have asked the Premier Parking Logistics to look at their CCTV data/footage to prove the facts. They did not address this in 2019 and have not agreed to address it in my 2 emails I have sent them since I found out about my court judgment.

2.9.       In order to make informed decisions and statements in my defence as keeper of a vehicle, I will require copies of all paperwork and pictures of all signs from the Claimant.

2.10.    Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside and I ask the Court to kindly consider the reimbursement of the fee of £255 from the claimant should this request be successful.

 

Statement of Truth:

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

Full Name: XXXXXXXXXXXXX

SSCCJ

Could someone advise on above please. Much appreciated.