Applying for a CCJ Set aside from Parkingeye Motorway Services overstay Parking offence

Coupon-mad

Such a shame, had you known about it, WB managers usually cancel private PCNs for patrons with one email.

jonx12

Coupon-mad said:

Ask them to show you this CRA report, under your SAR rights:

Parkingeye contacted a credit agency in an attempt to obtain and alternative address for service. The address returned was the same address provided by the DVLA, and was the address used for service of the claim form, in line with the CPR as the last known address

They've said this:

"The personal information sent to and from recovery/tracing agents is done so via an encrypted transmission route, as such we do not hold physical copies of the same."

I didn't mention the SARs rights in my initial email so should I mention them in a response? 

jonx12

Any help with how to proceed now with Parking Eye would be massively appreciated.

Coupon-mad

Use enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk and ask for consent to set aside.   They have a legal Department and have agreed before, sometimes with a reduced payment or even NO payment needed to remove the CCJ (except for the court fee, that will be down to you).

But first contact WB and get their take on it because if they support you and want it cancelled then all the more reason for PE to play ball.  Get that first and use it as leverage.

jonx12

Coupon-mad said:

Use enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk and ask for consent to set aside.   They have a legal Department and have agreed before, sometimes with a reduced payment or even NO payment needed to remove the CCJ (except for the court fee, that will be down to you).

But first contact WB and get their take on it because if they support you and want it cancelled then all the more reason for PE to play ball.  Get that first and use it as leverage.

I've done that and PE have sent me a Tomlin Order I posted on p2 which states they're happy to have the judgement set aside but they haven't agreed to defective address service.

Is there any other way I can get a mandatory set aside or anything I can do to tip the scales in my favour with regards to having a judge set aside the judgement rather than just mark it as satisfied? 

Coupon-mad

Yes of course, as shown in every set aside case and in the NEWBIES thread.  A non-consented £275 application citing the stuff everyone usually does on all the zillions of CCJ set aside threads here.

Most people don't get a Tomlin Order, most go the second route.  Read and copy,.

Johnersh

No two orders are necessarily the same.

The proposed order (p2) does at least have the merit of not requiring payment until the set aside is ordered. That is very much better than one of the others I saw recently, which required the o/p to pay before the order was made, with no guarantees. 

As ever it's up to the o/p to decide their best course of action and, indeed, what the merits of their case are. 

jonx12

I've received a signed Tomlin order to set aside with consent from PE. They do not agree to defective service as they checked with DVLA and after not hearing back, a credit agency which returned the same address so I've prepared this witness statement to send with the Tomlin order under the assumption I can cite CPR 13 edging more towards a discretionary set aside. 

I'd appreciate if anyone has the time to check it before I submit. Thank you.

WITNESS STATEMENT

1. I am XXXX and I am the Defendant in this matter. This is my supporting statement to my application dated 04/01/2022 requesting to set aside with consent the default judgment dated 28/09/2020 as the claim form was not properly served at my current address and was served using an old address which the defendant hasn’t lived in since 01/11/2019.

2. The facts and matters set out in this statement are within my own knowledge unless otherwise stated, and I believe them to be true. Where I refer to information supplied by others, the source of the information is identified; facts and matters derived from other sources are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

DEFAULT JUDGMENT

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

4. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 28 September 2020. I am aware that the Claimant is Parkingeye, and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice dated 07/12/2019.

5. Firstly it should be noted; there was not a PCN affixed to my vehicle on the date of the alleged parking contravention date of 7 December 2019.

6. The claim form was not served at my then current address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until 02/12/2021 following a credit check of my credit report; as found in Schedule (1). 

7. In the afternoon of 02/12/2021, I contacted Northampton County Court Business Centre for more information. This is when I was informed that the Claimant is ParkingEye Limited and became aware of the PCN.

7.1. NCCBC have confirmed that the claim form was not served at my then-current address and I thus was not aware of the CCJ until 02/12/2021 when I checked my credit score.

7.2. I contacted the Claimant via email on 02/12/2021 to discuss if this matter could be resolved without any unnecessary time and cost to the Court.

7.3 The Claimant replied with a Tomlin Order on 07/12/2021 to evidence their consent to the set aside application.  

7.4 I have now submitted this application on 04/01/2022 and I believe this evidences that I have acted promptly as outlined in Civil Procedure Rule 13.3 (2).

8. The address on the claim is Apar 3411 Beetham Tower, 301 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4LU. I moved to my then-current address of Apar 4109 Beetham Tower, Manchester, M3 4LX on 01/11/2019. In support of this I have provided a copy of my tenancy agreement, an end of tenancy energy bill notification, a drivers license address change application, alongside a council tax and utility bill (Schedule 2)

8.1 I did not have any postal forwarding services set up nor did I have access to the mailbox of Apar 3411 Beetham Tower beyond 01/11/2019.

9 The claimant has failed to prove reasonable steps taken to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business as outlined in Civil Procedure Rules 6.9 (3)-(4):

(3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant… is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’).

(4) Where, having taken the reasonable steps required by paragraph (3), the claimant – (a) ascertains the defendant’s current address, the claim form must be served at that address; or (b) is unable to ascertain the defendant’s current address, the claimant must consider whether there is – (i) an alternative place where; or (ii) an alternative method by which, a service may be effected’.

9.1 The claimant should assume that lapse of time, or a failure to respond to correspondence, gives rise to a risk that the defendant has moved.

9.2 The claimant has no correspondence from the defendant to allow them to assume the address was still current;

9.3. As I had updated my driving licence, utilities, council tax, car insurance policy and billing address to reflect my new address, this indicates that The Claimant did not take ‘reasonable steps’, as required by the above, to ascertain my current place of residence and instead relied solely on V5C information held by the DVLA (Schedule 4).

9.4. BPA Code of Practice Version 7, section 23.1c, as was relevant at the time of alleged parking, states, ‘Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the person being written to is the correct party’. This is also stated in BPA CoP Version 8, as introduced in January 2020.

9.5. Thus, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to CPR 6.9 (3) or the requirements established by the BPA CoP as, despite having had no response from me between 07/12/2019 and the time of submitting the LBC, the Claimant did not take reasonable action to ascertain my current address when they had some 9 months to do so. This could have been achieved by performing a simple trace, for which I was available to be found at all times as demonstrated by my updated utilities, insurance and drivers license address change, in addition to my correct address at the time being recorded on my credit file (Schedule 4 and 5). This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to and old address and an irregular judgement. 

9.6. According to publicly available information, my circumstances are far from being unique. 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.

9.7. Furthermore, former 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. 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."

9.8. 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.”

9.9. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held my correct contact details at the time of the claim. I believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside. 

10. The implications from this incident are causing the defendant an impact way beyond the value of the claim and the original value of the parking tariff.

11. 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;

11.1 Upon discovering the CCJ I contacted the claimant to resolve the matter without any unnecessary time and cost to the court therefore on 04/01/2022 I have submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case.

11.2  I (the defendant) have always paid bills on time, adhered to credit agreements and have never knowingly avoided paying debts, which is demonstrated by all accounts being in good standing as reported on the defendant’s credit file (Schedule 3)

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

 

 

Coupon-mad

How come they provided a Tomlin Order without asking for payment of the PCN, remind us?  Your WS doesn't mention what caused them to do this (landowner doesn't support the parking charge?).

You have used the words 'offence' and 'contravention' and it is neither of those things.

jonx12

They didn't tell me why they didn't ask for the payment first, although in the schedule of the Tomlin order it is ordered that I 'pay within 14 days of receiving the sealed court order.' 

I emailed the landowner but have not received a response, also on their website & their contact form they're insistent that all parking claims/appeals/enquiries be taken up with Parkingeye and they won't cancel parking charges. 'Welcome Break are unable to cancel any Parking Charge Notices and all queries need to be directed to ParkingEye.'

What should I refer to it as?