help with parking eye fines - My Dad has dementia & has been binning them

Enfys18

Id be really grateful for some help, we received 2 parking eye tickets back in January . When we received the letters, I read on here for some advice and emailed the land owners of the shopping park saying - 

"Hello, I have received two parking tickets from parking eye. I was shopping with my elderly father he is disabled so we parked using his blue badge, he struggles with his mobility and also has dementia so any trip shopping takes a while & isn't easy. He has funny turns, gets confused easily and has to sit down. We didn't go over for long, I was wondering due to the equality act would he be protected and could you speak to parking eye to see if there is anything that can be done? I usually leave him at home when I come shopping for him as I'm his carer but the doctor suggested taking him out to help his mental health but unfortunately he's so slow walking.

Please can you help, this is very stressful & my Dads really upset and stresses out about it"

Today a Judgement for claimant (in default) arrived for £277 , I don't know what this means. Does thins mean that it has gone to court?
I think what has happened is my Dad has been binning any letters from them. Please advise what you think would be best to do.
I have just spent a few hours on here reading up about parking fines but still confused & not sure what to do.
Many thanks 

Snakes_Belly

I am not an expert on this and I will stand corrected,

The judgement in default means that the claim made by the PPC has not been defended. If it is not paid off within the given period of time a CCJ will result against your father's credit record and there may be action from bailiffs. 

The general advice is to pay the claim and then apply to have the judgment set aside. This will mean that your father or his representative will still have to defend the initial claim but will not incur a CCJ.  It sets the clock back.
 
I would involve your MP as these debt collection agencies need to be regulated. Before debt collection letters are sent out a debt collection agent should ensure that the person in receipt of the letter is not a vulnerable person.

Has your father been assessed by an EMI consultant?   

Had the claim been initially defended there is a good chance it would have been dismissed. Medical evidence will help. 

As I mentioned I am not an expert on set a side and there are regulars on here that are experienced regarding the process. I do empathise with your situation having been in a similar situation with my father. He was the opposite paying bills over again and going overdrawn as a result.    

Umkomaas

What was the date of the CCJ?  If the court claim was ignored, a default judgment is difficult to set aside (although I'm not sure whether there's any dispensation for things like dementia). 

The cost of a set aside is £275 (and might well not be recoverable even if the case is set aside and the defence of the parking charge is ultimately successful). If the set aside is not granted, the original judgment for £277 stands, and you've shot £275 down a black hole. 

Further advice really depends on the date the judgment was made and the date by which it was to be paid. Please come back with that detail. 

Snakes_Belly

"What was the date of the CCJ?  If the court claim was ignored, a default judgment is difficult to set aside (although I'm not sure whether there's any dispensation for things like dementia)."

Medical evidence would help and the fact that the debt collection agents do not make enquiries as to the vulnerability of the recipient. This is something to bring up in the next public consulatation. 
 

Fruitcake

Who is the registered keeper against whom the CCJ has been made?

Mouse007

... but still confused & not sure what to do.

I think the first thing you need to do is answer Fruitcake's question above and then fiind out which PPC, which solicitors and when and where the letter before claim and CC Claim went.

Usual advice is to ring the Court and ask.

What you do next depends upon the answers given.

patient_dream

As your dad has dementia, do you have power of attorney ?

Half_way

As fruitcake has said, who is the registered keeper?

 name of pakring company?

where is this shopping centre and what is it?

and as above, do you have power of attorney?

There will be an Equality ( aka disability discrimination) aspect to this, and this must be played out against the shopping centre - hence the questions about what/where etc

IF your father is the Registered keeper then the next course of action would be to get in touch with the shopping centre and tell them what has happened and that your father has been discriminated against by the shopping centre as a direct result of them allowing an unregulated private parking company to operate on their land.

 As a result your father has  been charged £277 and as a gesture of goodwill you would like the shopping centre to refund this sum levied by their agents.

and you must remind them that they are liable for the actions of those agents ( the parking company)

 In other words putting you/your father back in the same situation they were in before all this happened

Enfys18

Snakes_Belly said:

I am not an expert on this and I will stand corrected,

The judgement in default means that the claim made by the PPC has not been defended. If it is not paid off within the given period of time a CCJ will result against your father's credit record and there may be action from bailiffs. 

The general advice is to pay the claim and then apply to have the judgment set aside. This will mean that your father or his representative will still have to defend the initial claim but will not incur a CCJ.  It sets the clock back.
 
I would involve your MP as these debt collection agencies need to be regulated. Before debt collection letters are sent out a debt collection agent should ensure that the person in receipt of the letter is not a vulnerable person.

Has your father been assessed by an EMI consultant?   

Had the claim been initially defended there is a good chance it would have been dismissed. Medical evidence will help. 

As I mentioned I am not an expert on set a side and there are regulars on here that are experienced regarding the process. I do empathise with your situation having been in a similar situation with my father. He was the opposite paying bills over again and going overdrawn as a result.    

Thankyou for your reply. I will email our MP. Its disgraceful that this happens. No I don't think so, what is a EMI consultant?

Le_Kirk

I have assume the EMI consultant would be someone who would diagnose and deal with dementia but even Auntie Google cannot help with the acronym.

Enfys18

Thankyou for your replies. I don't know the date of the CCJ, the only paperwork I have is the judgement for claimant dates 12th July. At first I wasn't sure if it was even a real letter or a scam. Sounds like we need to pay it, don't want them having a CCJ. The car is in my Mums name. My brother has power or attorney for my Dad. He has a Dementia diagnosis from his Doctor. Mew & Mum have no idea where the other letters have gone, we think Dad must have binned them.