UKPC PCN Fine/CCJ - please advise

rodriguez51

KeithP said:
I would word it in the same way as it is worded in the Template Defence thread and in the second post of the NEWBIES thread and in almost every other Defence you might find here.

That sentence should read...

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true.

Thanks KeithP, reading them through

Just to clarify will I need to submit a defence as well as my WS or will my statement act as my defence in this instance? I'm just filing the n244 applications I haven't done an N1 form as referenced in the defence template

Coupon-mad

If you are submitting a WS to support a set aside CCJ application, it needs to end with the longer statement of truth (as shown in the NEWBIES thread, or Google it) and the word 'defence' doesn't appear in it, because your WS is not a defence.

Why not make it easy for yourself and cover all your questions without having to ask anything else on this thread, by just copying what other successful CCJ 'set asiders' did this year?

e.g. to name just 5 of dozens:

@Brokenchief

@Jack5656

@verdomde

@aluminiumminimumimmune

@verdomde

rodriguez51

Coupon-mad said:

If you are submitting a WS to support a set aside CCJ application, it needs to end with the longer statement of truth (as shown in the NEWBIES thread, or Google it) and the word 'defence' doesn't appear in it, because your WS is not a defence.

Why not make it easy for yourself and cover all your questions without having to ask anything else on this thread, by just copying what other successful CCJ 'set asiders' did this year?

e.g. to name just 5 of dozens:

@Brokenchief

@Jack5656

@verdomde

@aluminiumminimumimmune

@verdomde

My statement of truth is the same as the one quoted in the newbie thread I think:

I believe that the facts stated in this defence 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.

I'm trying to find guides on filling out the actual n244 now if there is a specific link to that I can read through?

It looks like this so far

3.What order are you asking the court to make and why?

An order pursuant to CPR 13.2 & 13.3 to set aside the judgement dated xxx by consent because I wasn't living at the address the proceedings were served, and therefore I had no knowledge of the CCJ.

5.How do you want to have this application dealt with?

Hearing

6. How long do you think the hearing will last

30 mins

7. Give details of any fixed trial date or period

?

8.What level of Judge does your hearing need?

District Judge

9. Who should be served with this application?

The Claimant

10.What information will you be relying on, in support of your application?

The evidence set out below

[Copy and paste paragraphs from WS?)

Coupon-mad

I think filling in the N244 is covered on the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread already.

This cannot appear at the bottom of a WITNESS STATEMENT:

"I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. "

rodriguez51

Thanks I did mean to update that word. I've filled in the two n244's, got the email address for them along with a cover letter, WS and DO. I've already lost a lot of time so i'm just going to take the shot and send everything tonight.

If anyone can see any last bits I could add or update please jump in

                                                                 WITNESS STATEMENT

 

I am xxx and I am the defendant in this matter. This is my supporting statement to my application dated xxx requesting to:

a. Set aside the default judgment dated xxx, as it was not properly served at my current address.

b. Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

c. Order for the claimant to pay the £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee.

d. I also reference a further separate claim for default judgment xxx in which I have made separate N244 applications to the court, as this too was not properly served at my current address, both issued by the same claimant for substantially similar particulars of claim.

e. In order to save the court and both parties time I politely request the court for one single hearing for all the above claims.

DEFAULT JUDGMENT

1.      I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the parking event.

However I was not the owner or driver at the time of the event. As I had work commitments, the vehicle sale was supervised by a relative who unbeknownst to me at the time did not change the registered keeper.

2. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on xxx. I am aware that the Claimant is UK Parking Control Ltd, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notices.

3. The claim form was not served at my current address, and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment following a letter from UK Parking Control Ltd

The address on the claim is xxx. I was living at my current address at the time of the event at xxx. In support of this, I can provide a copy of my bank statements and Credit reports showing my address listed at xxx if required.

Please see the attached appendix A & B displayed on page 6.

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;

5. I discovered a CCJ was lodged against me in September when I was made aware correspondence was being delivered to an old address. I was both stunned and upset by this and therefore had to look for the best course of action on top of finding a way to pay for these to be removed.

6. On the 15th December 2022, I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment.


7. 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.

8. 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 that I no longer reside. The claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of my current residence. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgment.

9. I also refer to 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.

10. The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of a 29 pence bulk Experian trace or similar very 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. Checking for a new address is mandatory in the BPA Code of Practice (please see 24.1C - exhibit D & 31.1B – exhibit E on page 8) so this Claimant is knowingly in breach. Further, the new statutory DLUHC Code of Practice (stalled ONLY due to a challenge about the level of parking charges, and no other clauses are affected) states:

11.“If a driver, keeper or hire company does not respond to a notice of parking charge or subsequent correspondence, or a parking charge has not been paid in full, reasonable endeavours - including contacting credit reference agencies to undertake a ‘soft trace’ - must be undertaken by the parking operator and/or its appointed debt recovery agent to establish the correct correspondence details of the driver, keeper or hire company before commencing enforcement action. Where a new address is discovered the notice of parking charge should be re-issued at the original rate but with a further 28 days from service for a response (payment or appeal).”

12. I updated DVLA promptly and they updated my records on 22/01/2019 (page 9 – Exhibit  F) confirming I was no longer the keeper of the vehicle after the date of sale 28/10/2018. I also requested details of the buyer so I could direct the claimant to them however due to data protection they would not divulge the information. If the claimant were to contact the DVLA with the appropriate probable cause I would predict the information would be made available to them.

13. 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) I submit that this particular claim is dead and the period for service cannot be extended by this application process. I have 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 me with the information required under the pre-action protocol for debt claims, issued this time to the correct address for service for myself, which is xxx.

14. The Claimant has issued a further claim, xxx against myself with substantially identical particulars, for the same cause of action. The issuing of two claims in a less than 4 weeks, by the same Claimant and for essentially the same cause of action, is an abuse of the civil litigation process. 

15. In Henderson -v- Henderson [1843] 67 ER 313 the court noted the following:
(i) when a matter becomes subject to litigation, the parties are required to advance their whole case;
(ii) the Court will not permit the same parties to re-open the same subject of litigation regarding matters which should have been advanced in the earlier litigation, but were not owing to negligence, inadvertence, or error;
(iii) this bar applies to all matters, both those on which the Court determined in the original litigation and those which would have been advanced if the party in question had exercised ''reasonable diligence''.

In Arnold v National Westminster Bank plc [1991] 3 All ER 41 the court noted that cause of action estoppel “…applies where a cause of action in a second action is identical to a cause of action in the first, the latter having been between the same parties or their privies and having involved the same subject matter.”  I politely request the court to consolidate the further four claims to be determined all together at one hearing, and to apply appropriate sanctions against the Claimant for filing five single claims.

16. The filing of two separate claims for duplicated parking charges is wholly unreasonable, and has cost me a hugely disproportionate £550. The Claimant should have brought their whole case as one single claim and should have checked the address before filing the claim as required under the Civil Procedure Rules and BPA CoP 23.1c. 

17. 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 3. above.

18. 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 fees of £275 from the claimant should this request be successful, or a total of £550 should the Court agree to one single hearing for both claims.

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

xxx…………………………………………….

[dated]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DRAFT ORDER
CLAIM No: xxx
BETWEEN:
UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED  (Claimant)
-- and --
  xxx(Defendant)
______________________________________________
DRAFT ORDER
______________________________________________

IT IS ORDERED THAT:
1. The default judgment dated on xxx be set aside.
2. Order for the claimant to pay the defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee and the claim to be struck out.
3. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 1.2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275
4. All enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

 

all pages numbered and titled. Again thanks for everyones input so far especially with so many similar cases each day to respond to.

Le_Kirk

rodriguez51 said:

DRAFT ORDER

CLAIM No: xxx
BETWEEN:
UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED  (Claimant)
-- and --
  xxx(Defendant)
______________________________________________
DRAFT ORDER
______________________________________________

IT IS ORDERED THAT:
1. The default judgment dated on DD/MM/YYYY be set aside.
2. Order for the The claimant to pay the defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee and the claim to be struck out.
3. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 1.2 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275
4. All enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

Adjustments as above.  You could put the date of the judgment, it will help the judge.  All paragraphs require a number.

1.      I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the parking event, However however I was not the owner or driver at the time of the event.

You don't start a sentence with "however", run it as shown.

10. The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of a 29 pence bulk Experian trace or similar very 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.

Do you need "29 pence" and "very inexpensive"?  You could not have been notified of the judgment even if the PPC had your correct address, you might have been notified and aware of the claim and could have taken steps .....

rodriguez51

Le_Kirk said:

rodriguez51 said:

DRAFT ORDER

CLAIM No: xxx
BETWEEN:
UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED  (Claimant)
-- and --
  xxx(Defendant)
______________________________________________
DRAFT ORDER
______________________________________________

IT IS ORDERED THAT:
1. The default judgment dated on DD/MM/YYYY be set aside.
2. Order for the The claimant to pay the defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee and the claim to be struck out.
3. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 1.2 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275
4. All enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

Adjustments as above.  You could put the date of the judgment, it will help the judge.  All paragraphs require a number.

1.      I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the parking event, However however I was not the owner or driver at the time of the event.

You don't start a sentence with "however", run it as shown.

10. The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of a 29 pence bulk Experian trace or similar very 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.

Do you need "29 pence" and "very inexpensive"?  You could not have been notified of the judgment even if the PPC had your correct address, you might have been notified and aware of the claim and could have taken steps .....

Brilliant, thanks. Amended

The dates on the DO are actually there I just redacted them in the post

The bolded has been in a few WS i've seen around here and thought it emphasised the negligence of the claimant well

Coupon-mad

Looks good to me with the edits already suggested.

1505grandad

Para 10  -  "Checking for a new address is mandatory in the BPA Code of Practice (please see (24.1C) - exhibit D & 31.1B – exhibit E on page 8)....."

Para 16  -  " The Claimant should have brought their whole case as one single claim and should have checked the address before filing the claim as required under the Civil Procedure Rules and BPA CoP (23.1c)."

Should (these) be the same?

rodriguez51

Hi guys, hope everyone had a good new year.

Just a quick update:

I've received an email from DCBL on behalf of UKPC

Without predjuice save as to costs

"Within your application you allege that you did not receive the Claim Form due to a change of
address and as such, were unable to respond to the Court documentation.
It is the Claimant’s position that the Claim Form was correctly served at your last known address
pursuant to CPR 6.9. Pursuant to CPR 6.9(3), the Claimant took all reasonable steps to ascertain your
current address by conducting a trace and this trace result provided the Claimant with ‘knowledge’
of the address.
Despite the above, our Client has taken a commercial view and asked that we propose the enclosed
Consent Order; in which Judgment would be set aside, providing the debt and court fee for the
Consent Order are paid in full.
If you agree to the enclosed and the same is sealed by a Judge, the registration of the Judgment will
be removed from your credit file by the Registry Trust and will no longer negatively impact your
credit rating. It will also conclude your liability to our Client in respect of this claim.
If agreed, payment of the Judgment sum of xxx, plus xxx consent order fee (total of
xxx) is to be made by no later than xxx to the below account"

That is regarding just the first of two ccjs as of now. Is this an expected email? Should I cease all correspondence to them now?

Thanks