Surprise CCJ from QDR Solicitors

broadsid

I noticed on the 20th of this month that I have a CCJ on my record (decision was made in June 2022). Upon calling the county court business center I discovered that this relates to a parking ticket from 18th December 2019.

I did not complain to the landlord at the time (although others have and been given no help), I received notices from the parking company (but ignored them).

I moved house in May last year and had a postal redirect until November. The cars V5 was not updated until this week.

The car park was for a pub of which I was a paying customer, however, I did not notice the signage indicating that I had to type my registration into an iPad at the bar.

What is the best way to approach this to get the case set aside? I don't necessarily mind paying the £289 being asked for - I really don't want a CCJ on my credit record, and would have paid had I noticed within 30 days of the decision.

Coupon-mad

Who is the Claimant parking firm? Don't pay them.  No reason to and that doesn't wipe the CCJ, only marks it satisfied.  

Save that money and use £275 of it, to instead file a CCJ Set Aside application (N244) and a Draft Order and Witness Statement & Skeleton Argument.  You'll be asking for the £275 fee to be ordered back against the parking firm for failing to properly serve the claim.

Copy from the thread by @Brokenchief

No 'decision' was made in June.  There was no hearing, just a default CCJ (automatic process, due to no defence being filed).

Updating the v5C would not have alerted the scammers at any point either, so there was no failure on your part that affected the claim.  This is because they can't ask the DVLA twice.

However, the Claimant parking firm DID breach their Code of Practice, by failing to take mandatory steps to trace your address, before filing the claim.

Find out exactly what the Particulars of Claim said, who the Claimant was and the exact date they filed the claim (in May we assume).

With careful but prompt timing, you can file your application around the 4 month mark and argue the claim is 'dead' (entirely)...see the thread I linked by username above.

broadsid

Thanks @Coupon-mad, according to the County Court Business Center, the CCJ is from QDR Solicitors, from recollection, the parking fine was passed around different 'debt collectors' a couple of times before it landed with them.

I've read through the linked thread but I'm not quite sure I understand the significance of 4 month from the data of the CCJ? I was under the impression that it was important to responsd soon after realising the CCJ was on record?   

Coupon-mad

Yes you must act promptly but it is already a concern that you were posting about this 3 weeks ago, so it's already close to the wire.  You knew about the CCJ in August.

It isn't a fine, and the Claimant is definitely not QDR.  They are a firm of solicitors (a loose description by some people's opinion!) but they are not the Claimant.

You need to ask the CCBC for the facts (name of the Claimant, date of CCJ and Particulars of Claim) tomorrow, tell them you want to pay the £275 fee, and get on with filing the application this week.

You are not yet 4 months past the CCJ so you can't argue that bit YET (not in your Witness Statement) but you can of course throw it into the mix before the hearing, by adding a bespoke '4 months dead' skeleton argument later.  As seen in the thread by @Jack5656

For that reason, I would JUST do a N244 and a signed & dated PDF witness statement (plus evidence of moving address) and just ring up to pay the fee now, to get the ball rolling, and NOT yet attach the usual (word doc) DRAFT ORDER.

Save that additional doc till you are 4 months past the exact date of CCJ.

And then submit it in October to the LOCAL court (once the case has been allocated there) along with your costs assessment to claim the £275 court fee from this unreasonable Claimant plus any loss of leave/salary for attending the hearing, and attach your '4 months dead' skelly.

Along with the authorities linked by @Brokenchief and the RIGHT version of the applicable Trade Body Code of Practice,

broadsid

Thanks @Coupon-mad,

My case has been referred to a local court, I believe I now need to provide the following, can you take a look and let me know if this is ok?

DEFAULT JUDGMENT 
 
CLAIM No: XX 
BETWEEN: 
UK Parking Control Limited (Claimant) 
-- and -- 
XX (Defendant) 

 

1.1 I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. 
 
1.2 I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 14th June 2022. I am aware that the Claimant is UK Parking Control, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notices. 
 
1.3 The claim form was not served at my current address, and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment.  

1.3.1 The address on the claim is XX. I moved to my current address on 18th May 2021. In support of this, I can provide a scanned copy of  my bank statement showing my last mortgage payment at XX and a Credit report showing my updated address in June 2021 and electoral roll record update in January 2022 if required. 

 
1.4 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; 
 
1.4.1 I discovered a CCJ was lodged onto my credit file on the 22nd August 2022. 
 
1.4.2 On the 22nd August 2022, I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment. 
 
1.4.3 On 16th September 2022 I submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case. 
 
1.5. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the correct contact details for me at the time of the claim. 

 
1.6. On that basis, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to CPR 6.9 (3) where they had failed to show due diligence in using an address at which the Defendant no longer resides. The claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of my current residence, despite having some 12 months to establish an address. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgment. 

1.6.1 Under CPR 13.2 The court must set aside a judgment entered under part 12 if judgment was wrongly entered.  Given that CPR 6.9 (3) was not met, CPR 13.2 applies and the CCJ should be set aside. 

1.6.2 The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of an inexpensive and immediate credit reference agency address check. I would then have been notified of this judgment and could have taken action to prevent it.  

1.7 Given that more than 4 months has passed from issue of proceedings and service of the claim was defective (i.e. it was never served) the Defendant submits that this particular claim is dead and the period for service cannot be extended by this application process.  The Defendant has no details of this claim, therefore, if the Claimant believes there is a cause of action then the correct procedure would be to file a claim afresh and to the right address, after furnishing the Defendant with the information required under the pre-action protocol for debt claims, issued this time to the correct address for service for this Defendant, which is XX. 
 
1.8. According to publicly available information, my circumstances are far from being unique. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses of results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country. 
 
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. 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.” Furtherance to points raised in 1.3 above. 
 

1.9 In the alternative, CPR 13.3 applies and there are very good reasons to set aside this exaggerated claim, which includes a disproportionate and indeed, false 'debt recovery' sum.  In fact, no debt recovery occurred nor cost the claimant any money whatsoever, in addition to £80 parking charge.  The Government has described the false fixed 'fee' of £70 as 'designed to extort money from motorists' in the new statutory Code of Practice this February, and has banned it.  The Defendant has good prospects of defending a claim, if served with one, but has seen no evidence, basis nor particulars of claim and the Claimant should be required to file afresh, if they believe they have a cause of action.  
 
1.10 Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgment 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 £275 from the claimant should this request be successful. 

  

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. 

 
 

signed ________ 

Date __________ 

 
 

Coupon-mad

Haven't you already submitted that WS with the N244?

If so, then what @Brokenchief submitted next wasn't a WS.

NAMER

Thanks for all this information in this thread,
It is really helpful, I have a similar but not exactly the same dispute with UK Parking Control Ltd.  Without going into all the details, here is where I am now.
Last year I was preparing for a court date (after filing a claim form and claim pack etc ) at Northampton Court courtesy of ZZPS on behalf of UK Parking.  The final date and proceedings tailed off, and honestly, it didn't occur that there was radio silence.

At some point thereafter late September 2022, I started getting new chasing letters from QDR Solicitors, instructed by ZZPS on behalf of UK Parking, all of which were sent to a previous address.  In my mind, I was still expecting a court date for this dispute and believed this was still ongoing. 
QDR continued to pursue me for the debt (£160 fine) it seems.   Fast forward to 20th Jan, I pick up my mail from my previous address to find a default CCJ awarded for (£160 fine+£107 fees etc) issued on the 10th Jan, (lucky to have received it within the 30 days, small mercy).  I have not received a claim form nor a claim pack from QDR, yet they filed for and were granted a CCJ.

I realise I can still pay the CCJ in full within 30 days and not have it on my credit history and register.  I also believe if I choose to appeal and have it set aside, this will need to be done in 14 days from date of issue i.e 24th Jan.
The points above by @broadsid and @Coupon-mad are really helpful and the most pertinent being;

1. All pursuance was to a previous address, I have proof of new address etc 
2. Also with various Royal Mail strike action, how can a court support action without proof of delivery if even to a previous address.
3. A discretionary point is that I already had court proceedings in motion for this dispute earlier in the year and this action was deliberately misleading.

My question is for the sum of £275 do I appeal to have this CCJ set aside, to only be faced with going back to the claim stage once more, to repeat the process again.  Do I have a good chance of being successful?

My blood is boiling and I am appalled at the thought of paying £267 to these sharks especially as a CCJ would be a massive issue for me but I do not want to continue to pour money into this even though I feel very strongly.
Any thoughts or advice would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

My question is for the sum of £275 do I appeal to have this CCJ set aside, to only be faced with going back to the claim stage once more, to repeat the process again.  Do I have a good chance of being successful?

 Yes and yes.

And if you are certain you already had a live (defended) claim for this exact same PCN, then add in the wording about cause of action estoppel (Henderson v Henderson) as discussed this week in the thread by @Sasanova

Then show us your draft WS and Draft order but on a new thread if your own, not here.

NAMER

Thanks, @Coupon-mad
I will do this and keep you posted

broadsid

@Coupon-mad thanks for the help so far, I have a court date this week - Wednesday 15th and I received the witness statement from QDR solicitors this weekend just gone.

Based on their WS I think my case is strong - their argument is that they checked my address with the DVLA and I've not provided evidence that I updated my address with the DVLA, however, as I did not respond to any communication and, as per the BPA code of practice, they should take reasonable steps to check a defendants address, I believe they are in the wrong for not running a soft search to find my current address through other means.

However, I am still unclear on the 4 months dead argument. I have supplied relevant case law in my WS, and my argument is that, as I was not served papers for the original case, for which there was a default judgement made against me in June 2022 and more than 4 months have passed until I submitted my set aside claim, the claim is dead.

Is the judge likely to ask me questions to ascertain my understanding of the 4 months dead legal case examples I've provided?

Coupon-mad

Possibly.

So read them and highlight the findings of the Judges at the bottom, which is where they'll have covered the point about the court being unable to resurrect a claim that was not properly served and/or what 'not properly served' means.

Did you put the BPA CoP into evidence as a link or exhibit?