URGENT CCJ 3 days left to pay - Gym Parking from 2019, Pay up or Pay set aside fee?

lost_panda

Hi All,

I have 3 days left to pay this CCJ in order for it not to stay on the register. I understand this is very late and am silly for letting it get to this stage.

Do I pay it off to avoid it going on the register, or do I have grounds to get it set aside?

I received a PCN back in 2019 for overstaying the parking at my local Xercise4less (now known as JD gym) gym which I was a member of in Fishponds, Bristol, which shares the parking with the shops next to it eg Poundland, B&M. I Cant remember if it was an extra long Gym session, or my battery had died and I had to Jump it with my battery pack, which used to happen often anyway;

I received the initial PCN for £60 and after reading forums online suggesting to ignore, I chose to bin them . (I was 19 at the time)

3 years later I received a letter at my parents address while i was at my student house from bwlegal stating that I owe them ~£285 as they charged interest on the parking ticket.

They made the claim and then I acknowledged the claim, but forgot to file a proper defence as I was very busy with Uni exams and and moving back from my Student house to my parents in July.

this is the extract from MCOL:

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 31/05/2022 

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 01/06/2022 

A judgment was issued against you on 31/08/2022

Email from JD Gyms:

Thank you for contacting JD Gyms, I hope you are well. 

I am sorry to hear that you have received a parking fine whilst visiting our Bristol club. 

The car park at this club is not owned or run by JD Gyms and unfortunately we have no control over the fines that are issued. If you wish to appeal the fine you have received, you will need to contact the company directly, and we can provide check-in information to help with this regarding the dates you have access the gym if required. Please note that contacting the company within 14 days of the ticket issue date may result in the fine being reduced however this cannot be guaranteed. 

If you do require further assistance in regards to your parking fine, please can I advise you will be required to contact the gym directly by going into the gym and discussing it with them.

I now have until the 1st October to pay or else the CCJ will stay on my record.

So now do I have any chance of getting this set aside or should I just suck up and pay it?

KeithP

Pay it before a lasting County Court Judgment appears on your credit file and remains there for six years.

You received a Claim then acknowledged receipt of that claim but then failed to file a Defence.

What grounds do you think there might be for a set aside?

Coupon-mad

Pay if I'm afraid as you have no grounds to set it aside.

BUT YOU CAN GET REVENGE:
please don't disappear just yet. A final Public Consultation is coming.

We need you; motorists need you to help us make a difference forever.  What a waste of your time this was, and why should there be such a litigation culture in parking?   It's truly horrible being pursued for £100 plus false 'fees' for no reason, by an ex-clamper aggressive firm, isn't it? 

Join us in trying to end the conniving PPC and DRA 'added fees' fuelling the court culture. 

There will be one window of opportunity later this year.  My best guess is now November/December but we WILL be talking about it when it is open!

Together, we can stop the rotten parking industry from riding roughshod over the new statutory Code and the charge level caps, and otherwise bullying all motorists forever, using the regulation to gain kudos and status.

If you are not likely to pop back here every week to check, please set up email alerts for this forum and bookmark this thread (below) as we intend that one of us posts on it when the Government opens the Consultation:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6333989/mse-parking-ticket-appeals-guide-feedback#latest

Read the latest posts there.

The PPC money-grabbers have blocked the new Code by filing for Judicial Reviews.  Stopped the declared and much welcomed parking code from February 2022, which stated that added £70 false 'DRA fee' extortion was to be banned and that parking levels would start at £50.

It's on hold. Motorists urgently need it reinstated and the ban on false 'DRA fees' confirmed, to stop the rot.

This will be your chance to make a difference, plus any other drivers you know (family, friends) who are also fed up to the back teeth with the greedy and unscrupulous parking industry and the stranglehold they have on people.

We need high numbers of real victims to make a point of responding to this final Consultation and your voice is vital.  look what they've done to you, nearly ruined a young person's credit rating for the best part of your twenties and forced you to pay three times more than the PCN to escape that fate.

Get angry and get even.

You could even try a small claim against the gym for causing you this loss.  I would!  I doubt a gym will defend in time, or properly, and you could even get a default judgment against the gym.  Worth considering.

lost_panda

KeithP said:

What grounds do you think there might be for a set aside?

I thought maybe I would be able to get it set aside on the grounds that the interest charged was unfair and so on and that I had received it 3 years later after the initial PCN. But it seems after reading more that it wouldn't be a good enough reason for the courts.

Any chance the landowner would be able to intervene at all at this point if I manage to get the Gym / Landowner to agree to remove?

If not, I see that I made my mistake in acknowledging then failing to submit a defence, I'll just have to put that down to experience.

Is there anything I can do to complain or any way to get back at the parking company for this. I understand paying it off is the best action to avoid causing myself financial problems  but it does still seem unfair that they were able to charge hundreds of pounds of interest for a loss of income that they didn't actually incur. 

Le_Kirk

lost_panda said:

KeithP said:

What grounds do you think there might be for a set aside?

Is there anything I can do to complain or any way to get back at the parking company for this. I understand paying it off is the best action to avoid causing myself financial problems  but it does still seem unfair that they were able to charge hundreds of pounds of interest for a loss of income that they didn't actually incur. 

The way to "get back" at the PPC is to do what @Coupon-mad wrote above.

lost_panda

Coupon-mad said:

Pay if I'm afraid as you have no grounds to set it aside.

BUT YOU CAN GET REVENGE:
please don't disappear just yet. A final Public Consultation is coming.

""

Get angry and get even.

You could even try a small claim against the gym for causing you this loss.  I would!  I doubt a gym will defend in time, or properly, and you could even get a default judgment against the gym.  Worth considering.

Thank you @Coupon-mad and @KeithP for the reply, I will definitely be trying to get even and will be keeping myself updated on that forum.

I don't really believe in revenge, but this whole parking charges being abused in the small courts system is ridiculous. These Parking cowboys really need to get sorted out legally.

There I was thinking that my little parking ticket had gone after throwing it away only for them to slither their way back into my parents mailbox 3 years later.

And interesting that I would be able to make a small claim against the Gym. Although I don't really blame them as they didn't put the parking charge on me.

lost_panda

Le_Kirk said:

lost_panda said:

KeithP said:

What grounds do you think there might be for a set aside?

Is there anything I can do to complain or any way to get back at the parking company for this. I understand paying it off is the best action to avoid causing myself financial problems  but it does still seem unfair that they were able to charge hundreds of pounds of interest for a loss of income that they didn't actually incur. 

The way to "get back" at the PPC is to do what @Coupon-mad wrote above.

Definitely will, I've read the reply now, I sent that after their reply but hadn't refreshed the page.

Coupon-mad

The gym did cause this. They contracted the PPC.

KeithP

lost_panda said:

Coupon-mad said:

Pay if I'm afraid as you have no grounds to set it aside.

BUT YOU CAN GET REVENGE:
please don't disappear just yet. A final Public Consultation is coming.

""

Get angry and get even.

You could even try a small claim against the gym for causing you this loss.  I would!  I doubt a gym will defend in time, or properly, and you could even get a default judgment against the gym.  Worth considering.

And interesting that I would be able to make a small claim against the Gym. Although I don't really blame them as they didn't put the parking charge on me.

Then who do you think employed the parking company?

lost_panda

KeithP said:

Then who do you think employed the parking company?

Coupon-mad said:

The gym did cause this. They contracted the PPC.

Possibly, But the parking is part of a larger Retail park.

Also what grounds could I use to make the claim against the gym if I was to go ahead with it?

Coupon-mad

Did they fail to draw your attention to the keypad to exempt your vehicle or get extended time? Did the gym tend to keep the keypad in a corner?

Or, if and when you complained, did they fail to cancel the PCN, even though they could have?