CCJ from a private car park

Fruitcake

As already advised by B789, from the profile page, click on the Discussions and/or Replies. This will take you to the threads where the information you want can be found.

JaySH

I am getting there. So I managed to find out the posts that Coupon-mad advised. 
This is a copy for my witness statement. So basically I need to fill in the N244 form and add this witness statement correctly filled? Make a payment online or via phone? and send three copies of the N244? 
I am trying to sort this today, but I am not sure if I have enough information about the CCJ to fill in yet.

WITNESS STATEMENT

I am xxxx and I am the defendant in this matter. This is my supporting statement to my application dated xx April 2022 requesting to:

a. Set aside the default judgment dated xxxxx 2018 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 JUDGMENT

1.1. I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged event..

1.2. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on xxxxxx 2018. I am aware that the Claimant is xxxxxxxx, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notices from the xx xx  2018, I contest this charge for the reasons below which will form my draft defence.:

- The fine issued was disproportionate to the loss incurred by the landowner.

- The notice to keeper was flawed,

- Unclear signage, the signs at the entrance to the car park did not make clear that it was managed, or required number plate entry therefore it was unclear what the contract arrangement was between the landowner and the driver.

The car park in question has attracted huge numbers of complaints about unfair fines of up to £100 for reasons such as the short time between parking the car and getting the ticket at the machine.

None of the signs posted in the car park, including at the payment machines, warn users of the regime which charges them from the moment they arrive.

There was no camera system when the event occurred and the pay machine is not within range.

1.3. The claim form was not served to a previous address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until xx April 2022 following a notification of an Notice of Debt Recovery from xxxx; Schedule (X)

The address on the claim is xxxx 2018. I moved to my new address on xxxx  2017 and moved again to my current address on xxx  2018. In support of this I can provide a scanned copy of my tenancy agreement, alongside a council tax and utility bill; Schedule (X)

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 xx April 2022.

1.4.2 On xx April I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgement; Schedule (X).

1.4.3 On xx April 2022 I have wilfully submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgement 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 Defendant’s correct contact details 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 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 judgement.

1.7. 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.

Furthermore, former 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.

1.8. Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgement 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.

DRAFT ORDER:

IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated xxxxx 2018 be set aside.

2. The Claimant to pay the Defendant’s costs of this application to the sum of £275

3. Unless the Claimant serves a copy of the Claim Form on the Defendant by 4 pm on 22 April 2022 paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275 and the claim shall be struck out.

4. If the Claimant serves the claim form as directed in paragraph 3 the Defendant shall file and serve a defense by 4pm on 30 May 2022.

5. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275 plus the Defendant's costs for attending the hearing in any event.

6. That all enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

B789

If you are expecting us to check your statement, you should at least do us the courtesy of proofreading it yourself before clicking the "post comment" button. Whilst we are here to assist you, please do not take us for granted. Also, if you were to send off, what you have posted above, you will be accused by the claimant of signing a statement of truth without even understanding what you are telling truth about because you have just copied and pasted a large chunk of the above without even checking it for errors.

JaySH said:

- The fine issued was disproportionate to the loss incurred by the landowner.

There was no camera system when the event occurred and the pay machine is not within range.

1.3. The claim form was not served to a previous address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until xx April 2022 following a notification of an Notice of Debt Recovery from xxxx; Schedule (X)

I've just highlighted a few errors above. You should know by now that it is not a "fine". It is a speculative invoice. Nothing anywhere as authoritative as a "fine".

What is meant by "...pay machine not in range"?

Do you really want to say that the claim was NOT served to a previous address or would you rather say that the claim form was incorrectly served to an old address?

Also, you should sequentially number every paragraph of your WS.
 

JaySH

B789 said:

If you are expecting us to check your statement, you should at least do us the courtesy of proofreading it yourself before clicking the "post comment" button. Whilst we are here to assist you, please do not take us for granted. Also, if you were to send off, what you have posted above, you will be accused by the claimant of signing a statement of truth without even understanding what you are telling truth about because you have just copied and pasted a large chunk of the above without even checking it for errors.

JaySH said:

- The fine issued was disproportionate to the loss incurred by the landowner.

There was no camera system when the event occurred and the pay machine is not within range.

1.3. The claim form was not served to a previous address and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until xx April 2022 following a notification of an Notice of Debt Recovery from xxxx; Schedule (X)

I've just highlighted a few errors above. You should know by now that it is not a "fine". It is a speculative invoice. Nothing anywhere as authoritative as a "fine".

What is meant by "...pay machine not in range"?

Do you really want to say that the claim was NOT served to a previous address or would you rather say that the claim form was incorrectly served to an old address?

Also, you should sequentially number every paragraph of your WS.

I am not taking anyone for granted. I am really grateful for this. I am not used to deal with this and I find really overwhelming all the information that I am only starting to understand. I have copied and paste from another post, but I am amending as I read along all the mistakes from the previous post. This is just a draft to have an idea of what I need to send with the N244. Anyway, thank you and have a good weekend.
 

JaySH

Right. Apologises again if I sounded like I was taking you all for granted. As I said before, not good at dealing with this right now due to personal circumstances. I feel really anxious about the CCJ, but due to all your advice and re-reading other posts I am starting to get somewhere.
So I am filling the document N244. The witness statement is now updated with information relevant to my case (the other was just a template from another post). I understand in the witness statement document I am also adding a default judgment and a draft order? I am adding some bank statements as proof of the address at the time of the CCJ. I have also applied for an access request to DVLA to have more evidence of the change of address. 
So basically now I have to wait to next working day, pay the fee and send all the documents and hope for a hearing.
I also email the county court to find more information about the claimant for the N244. I have been unable to deal with this last month for different reasons and I am now hoping that they take my personal situations on board.

Thanks everyone for everything. You all been really patient and awesome. Please any further advice/help I will also take on board otherwise you all have a good bank holiday weekend.

Le_Kirk

DRAFT ORDER:
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The default judgment dated xxxxx 2018 be set aside.
2. The Claimant to do pay the Defendant’s costs of this application to the sum of £275
3. Unless the Claimant serves a copy of the Claim Form on the Defendant by 4 pm on 22 April 2022 paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275 and the claim shall be struck out.
4. If the Claimant serves the claim form as directed in paragraph 3 the Defendant shall file and serve a defense by 4pm on 30 May 2022.
5. Should the Claimant discontinue the Claim after the CCJ is set aside, paragraph 2 shall cease to have effect and the Claimant shall pay the Defendant's costs summarily assessed at £275 plus the Defendant's costs for attending the hearing in any event.
6. That all enforcement be put on hold pending the outcome of the application.

In your judgment date, presumably you will put the correct full date before sending it.  For the other dates you just put DD/MM/2023 and let the judge fill in those blanks. Since you will be sending this as a Word document, it is easy for the judge to fill in the Xs.  The claimant do pay is the correct term; the first time I came across this I kept correcting it but was told by a legal it is correct!

JaySH

I have seen in a other post that he also added a "Sequence of recent events" after the default judgment.
So maybe I could explain what I have done in the last month since I contacted the county court and also explain my personal circumstances so they know why it took me longer? Or shall I just go easy and just apply to set aside based on the wrong address?

JaySH

This is another draft order that I have considered:

IT IS ORDERED that:

 
1. The default judgment dated on xx 2021 be set aside. 

2. The claim struck out as the claim form having not been served within 4 months of issue.

3. The Claimant do pay the Defendants costs of this application of £275 on an indemnity basis.

B789

A suggestion to start working with is below.

WITNESS STATEMENT

I, [Name], of [Address], will say as follows:

1. I am the Defendant in this matter and I make this witness statement in support of my application to set aside the County Court Judgment (CCJ) entered against me on [Date], in default due to a defective service of Claim.

2. I was not aware of the claim made against me until I applied for some credit on XX/XX/2023 when I found out the Claimant had obtained a default CCJ against me.

3. The Claimant served the claim to an old address at which I have not resided for more than X years. The Claimant had a duty to take reasonable steps to check for the correct address, in accordance with the BPA Code of Practice 24.1(c) and CPR 6.9.

4. I have not received any correspondence or notice regarding this matter until I became aware as per paragraph 2 above.

5. The claim was issued on [Date] and more than four months have passed since then, during which time I have not been aware of the claim or the CCJ. As per CPR 7.5, the claim should now be dismissed.

6. I believe that I have a strong defence to the claim, and should it not be dismissed, I wish to have the opportunity to defend it properly.

7. I have set out the grounds for my application in the attached draft order.

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Signed:

Dated:

Draft Order:

CLAIM No: XXX

BETWEEN:
XYZ PPC LTD (Claimant)
-- and --
XXX (Defendant)
______________________________________________
DRAFT ORDER
______________________________________________

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. The County Court Judgment entered against the Defendant on [Date] be set aside.

2. The original claim be dismissed as more than four months have passed since the issue date, as per CPR 7.5.

3. The Claimant do pay the Defendant's costs of this application, summarily assessed in the sum of £275.

4. The Defendant be allowed to file a defence to the claim within 14 days of re-service of the claim form at the correct address, pursuant to CPR 13.3.

5. There be a stay of enforcement of the CCJ pending the outcome of the Defendant's defence if filed.

Coupon-mad

Yes @B789, except 4 and 5 of that draft Order make no sense because 2 intends to kill the claim.

Also I don't like using para 2 about the "4 months dead" argument, WITHOUT telling the Judge in the WS what this point even means.  That's why the WS seen in the three example CCJ set aside threads are much longer.  The WS (or a separate Skeleton) always needs to include links to the 4 case law authorities that explain the "4 months dead" point, otherwise how will any poster be able to explain it when the Judge asks?

And I would always include in the WS, a quote from the relevant Code of Practice about the requirement to check details (i.e. a soft trace on the address) before litigation.

It is vital that Judges learn that it is NEVER OK to do no checks and just use an address bought from the DVLA months or years earlier, to file a court claim.

I don't know where the OP got this - below - from (not this forum!  Unless it was wrongly copied from some other poster's first effort instead of looking - of course - ONLY at their final finished one) but the OP must delete it as this has no legs at all:

"The fine issued was disproportionate to the loss incurred by the landowner."

Nope!  Never put nor say that.

Also the first WS draft wrongly says the CCJ was dated 2018, which it wasn't.