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Parking charge - I didn't pay at the machine and didn't to pay online within 24 hours

13567

Comments

  • You've told us that this is UKPC using QDR, but your draft WS says you discovered that the Claimant was Civil Enforcement Ltd!

    Put the BPA CoP breach quite high up, after you state that the claim was served to the wrong address.  AND append a screenshot of the BPA CoP clause.
    I deleted my notes as I found a more recent better draft later on Jack5656 pages. Thanks I will amend this and add in the other point too. Ill post the amended draft after I have made the changes.
  • WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

    1.         I am XXX of XXX  and I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.


    2.         This is my supporting statement to my application dated 20 March 2023 requesting to:

    a. Set aside the default judgement dated X March 2023 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 Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee.

    Default Judgement

    3.         I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence.

    4.         I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on X March 2023. I am aware that the Claimant is QDR Solicitors Limited, and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice. 

    5.          The claim form was served to a previous address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until 14 March 2023 when I received a notification from Experian of a change on my credit score.


    6.         The address on the claim is XXX I moved to a new address on 23 February 2023. In support of this please see my mortgage offer, council tax bill, utility bill (Annex A)

    7.         I never had any notification of the claim until X March 2023.

    8.         This is a breach of the BPA Code of Practice Section 24.Ic ‘Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the contact details for the person you are writing to are correct’


    9.       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;

    Sequence of Recent Events

    10.       On 14 March I received a notification of a change in my credit score, I paid for a full credit report and found a CCJ dated x March 2023 had been lodged onto my credit file.

    11.       On 17 March 2023 I contacted the Registry Trust and paid £6 to obtain the case number of the CCJ, I then contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment.

    12.       On 20 March 2023 I phoned the Claimant, QDR Solicitors Ltd, to advise I will ask the court to set aside this default judgment as they sent all notifications to a previous address. The Claimant advised they were given my previous address, xxxxxxxxxx by the DVLA on xx January 2018.

    13.       On 5 April 2022 I phoned the DVLA to confirm they had a record of my request to update my address after I moved on xx December 2017. I updated the DVLA promptly in December 2017 and sent them my new address within 7 working days of moving.

    14.       The DVLA advised in a phone call on 5 April 2022 that they don’t keep a record of the date a V5C is received, but did confirm in 2017/2018 it was usual for an address update to take 4 weeks from receipt of the V5C. The DVLA advise their records show they issued a revised V5C with my new address on xx January 2018. This proves the Defendant acted promptly to notify the DVLA of a new address and it is unfortunate that the DVLA passed the previous address to the Claimant on xx January 2018 (for ref the new V5C was sent the day after DVLA gave CEL my old addreess!) , before issuing the revised V5C with new address on xx January 2018.


    15.       On 20 March 2023 I submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case.

    16.       I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s correct contact details at the time of the claim.

    17.       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 the Defendant no longer resides. The Claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of my current residence despite having some 10 months to establish an address. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgment.

    18.       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.

    19.       The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of a 29pence 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.

    20.       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. A failure to carry out proper checks to establish the right address for service before filing a claim not only breaches the CPRs but also the pre-action protocol for debt claims and the British Parking Association Code of Practice.  The Claimant acted wholly unreasonably by negligently or deliberately disregarding all rules and caused the claim to be improperly served.  They failed to serve it at all. 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 XXX

    21.       According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

    22.       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.

    23.       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.

    24.       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 £100 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. 

    25.       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.

     

    Statement of Truth

    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 & dated

     

     

    Annex A

    xxxxxx

    NB: A. The last sentence of 12 and also 13 & 14 are in italics as I have not heard got through to the Sols to hear what they have to say and will be updated / removed later on.

    B. The underlined sentence in 17 I am unsure if it applies to us or not as I have no idea what they claim they sent and when? (although nothing was sent to the old address since 2019)

    C. Should I include the detail that I appealed and complained about the parking fine and have received nothing from them since the first half of 2019?

    Grateful for any comments / tweaks.

    Thank you
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 155,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 20 March 2023 at 5:40PM
    The Claimant is not QDR Solicitors either!

    Change 'offence' to 'parking event'.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • The Claimant is not QDR Solicitors either!

    Change 'offence' to 'parking event'.
    Will do thanks, what about my 2 questions at the bottom B & C?
  • Also one last question do I file this at the local court to me? I can't find a definitive answer perhaps its a stupid question I don't know... any help appreciated.
  • B789 said:
    Also one last question do I file this at the local court to me? I can't find a definitive answer perhaps its a stupid question I don't know... any help appreciated.
    If you're at WS stage, it will have already been allocated to your local court. Why are you asking this? You should have received a notice of allocation at some stage after you submitted your N180.
    I have received nothing! I am submitting a N244 to request a set aside?
  • B789
    B789 Posts: 3,441 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 22 March 2023 at 11:38AM
    Which court issued the CCJ? If it was a default one, then I think it is the CCBC (Nottingham). It should say on the judgment you eventually received when you found out about the CCJ.
  • B789 said:
    Which court issued the CCJ? If it was a default one, then I think it is the CCBC (Nottingham). It should say on the judgment you eventually received when you found out about the CCJ.
    You are correct I found out by calling the CCBC and being sent the particulars by email they were the ones that served the CCJ so I send the N244 to them then?
  • B789
    B789 Posts: 3,441 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 22 March 2023 at 12:21PM
    nellie555sharks said:

    You are correct I found out by calling the CCBC and being sent the particulars by email they were the ones that served the CCJ so I send the N244 to them then?
    I think so but I stand to be corrected by one of the experts.

    What happens after that is that it gets allocated to a court local to you.
  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 25,078 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 22 March 2023 at 3:06PM
    B789 said:
    Which court issued the CCJ? If it was a default one, then I think it is the CCBC (Nottingham). It should say on the judgment you eventually received when you found out about the CCJ.
    Northampton isn't it?
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