Dilemma-pay CCJ within 30 days or set aside

kiddo19 · 28 June 2022 at 11:20AM

Set aside hearing update:

I just finished the telephone hearing which was scheduled for 40 minutes and it actually finished in 15 minutes. The C did not provide a telephone number as requested so the hearing carried out with just the J and me. J said that he could see that there were two matters for him to deal with today. Firstly, the claim form was not included in the court document so he could not tell when and where it was served. I explained that the address on the form was my previous address, as confirmed by the C's email and also by CCBC over the phone when I called them a couple of weeks ago. The issue date was 10th Feb. J then asked when I moved to current address, I said 5 years ago and I also sent emails on 2 Jan to C and the Solicitors to provide my current address. In fact they already had my current address in Dec but failed to update it under GDPR until April this year. J agreed to set aside at that point. He then started composing a letter so that the C will know what has happened during the hearing. He read each word in his letter to me while composing, after his first paragraph of deciding to set aside, he asked me if I agreed with what he just wrote. Then he started the second paragraph, I mentioned the 4 months dead rule according to the CPR 7.5 and case law of Boxwood, Vino and Dubai cases, he said that's right, the claim should be dismissed. I waited for him to finish writing the paragraph. He asked me if anything else that I think should be added before he requesting the C to pay for my £275 fees, I said I would also like the additional cost for preparation and taking time off etc, he disagreed with some reason that I did not hear clearly. But I was happy enough for the set aside and dismiss of the original claim so I thanked J for his judgment and time.

My impression is that I was given enough time to talk, in fact to provide the guidance to the J as he has not got a complete bundle of evidence and he was not familiar with my case, understandably. I was lucky that the C was absent today to object anything that I said. So the worries of not updating address of DVLA has not even been mentioned. Therefore, it is important that we prepare for our own cases so that we can fill in the gaps and take over the leading role, to some extent.

I felt so relieved now. I could not do it without all your lovely members help on this Forum. I will be forever grateful for your tremendous guidance, patience and responses day and night!

I hope that my experience can also help others who are going through the similar challenges. The learning curve has not been easy I must admit but the result is so worth trying. I could have paid £280 to C to get my credit record clear within 30 days of CCJ being put against me, but I decided to fight through as it is unfair for the PPC to ruin people's credit and life like that. Each win of the court hearing is a step closer to getting them clamped down, in my belief.

Coupon-mad · 28 June 2022 at 12:56PM

Hooray! Well done, CCJ wiped, claim dismissed entirely and your £275 paid by the parking industry. Could not be better.

Each win of the court hearing is a step closer to getting them clamped down, in my belief.

Yes and no.

We've been winning in court for years but these cases are the tip of a very large iceberg and wins hardly scratch the surface

Even though this PCN battle is over, there is a far bigger 'war' for honest motorists to win.

Please do make time to come here every week over the Summer so you get to add your own voice to the Public Consultation. You will be allowed to respond to the Government online.

Explained in more detail here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6345732/secure-parking-solutions-ntk/p6

kiddo19 · 28 June 2022 at 3:36PM

I will come back to as regularly as possible after this experience. I was mortified to see the huge turnover of these disgusting PPCs after clicking the link in the above post. Feel truly sorry for those innocent people.

LL123LL · 5 February 2024 at 10:28AM

Apologies for jumping on this thread but I have read a number of threads on this extremely helpful forum and not sure whether I should start a fresh one or use one where people have been in a similar situation. Kiddo19 was in a similar position to me having been issued a CCJ which I have just found out about 2 days ago from the buyer of my house. It was only issued on 23 January so very recently so I am in the 30 day period where I need to either pay or fight.

My situation is similar in that I moved house 17 months ago and this CCJ has alerted me to the fact that I never updated either my driving licence or my log book. This is totally my fault, I simply forgot. I have just updated my driving licence yesterday and going to do the log book today when my husband returns with the car.

The other matter is that it was actually my husband who was driving and got the “parking fine” at a Leisure Centre in Battersea, London, where he was a member of the gym. The manager on site told him to ignore it on the basis that they don’t have a legal right to claim the money (which is of course incorrect) but my husband told me this and we binned the letter and didn’t think about it again. We moved house about 8 weeks after that letter came and we have therefore not received anything else until our buyer has told us about the CCJ 2 days ago, as she opened it by mistake. She has not told us about any other post and likely has been throwing everything away. I do not therefore know whether a claim form was submitted or when but I know it would all have been to our old address on the basis that I never updated it (and I now also know from this forum they only access the address once which they did when they sent the first letter to us which we ignored on the advice of the manager of the leisure centre so at the time of the very first letter they were sending to the correct address).

I am tempted very much to just pay this despite it being unfair as I’m extremely limited on time and my life is hectic looking after two toddlers as well as my mum who is not well and my husband works away most of the time, and I have no idea where to begin. And I am nervous about being that person who gets the unreasonable judge who places weight on the fact I still haven’t even updated my log book, albeit I will today. I understand a soft search should have been carried out by the firm but it appears that some people have not had success despite making that point. My main query really is whether the fact I was not the driver has any legs and whether a CCJ against me can actually be valid if I was not even the person who breached the supposed contract with the car park?

I know you will tell me I should fight this and rightly so but without it being a slam dunk I don’t want to end up with even more costs than the current CCJ or risk it not being overturned when currently I am in the timeframe where I can pay and have it wiped which is tempting even though morally is not the answer! But our mortgage is due for renewal in 3 years so I have to consider that as the most important factor. But as I was not the driver, I wonder if this gives me a bolstered defence? That could impact my appetite to fight this.

Thank you all very much in advance.