County Court Business Centre Judgment

earbuds58

Hi there everyone, I have read through the NEWBIES forum, but I would just like some clarification, as I am a bit confused where I stand with this particular claim. 

I am unsure if there is anything I can do in relation to contesting this. It has come directly from the court with a claim number on it. (I have attached a picture) Because I no longer live at the address the correspondence has been sent to I missed the opportunity to respond to the claim form the court allegedly sent. I get a lot of junk mail to my mums address and normally my mum bins it all but this being in a brown envelope she alerted me to it. (She wouldn't have binned anything in a brown envelope) 

I have followed all the brilliant advice from the forum. I.e. I have wrote a letter to my local MP, I have also sent a subject access request to Britannia parking limited. I have not sent anything to their lawyers (BW Legal) as of yet. I tried to acknowledge service (AOS) of the charge, but It seemed I had missed my chance for that? As there was no claim form with the letter; leading me to believe they hadn't attached it but then discovering the possibility that this was missed by me and this is now a step up from that? 

I would like to know if it is all too late now, and I need to pay the fine? I notice that there was something on my credit file having checked my Clearscore account (but now when I look I can't see it? Did I imagine this?  )

As an FYI, me and a friend drove into the car park after dark as I had to use my phone to contact a family member in an emergency. We were there for probably 25-30 minutes at most. We hadn't noticed any signage saying it was pay and display, as I said it was dark and we didn't leave our vehicles. We are both in the same boat with this, I was aware of the PCN as they contacted me and I'm ashamed to say I ignored their demands for payment hoping it would go away. 

I do regularly pay for parking and if I was aware I would never have stopped in the car park in the first place. I have multiple records on my bank statement of both paying parking fines and paying for parking tickets in private car parks! I felt on this occasion it was unjust to issue a charge to me and my friend for simply stopping in the car park to use my phone after dark so the sign couldn't be seen!  However I do accept my part in this and as with any problem, ignoring it is not the solution! 

Attached is a copy of the CCBC 'judgment for claim' and the letter from BW Legal which corresponds with the former. 

Any help would be much appreciated, I just would like to know if I stand a chance? I am short on money, I rent my home and study part time which obviously impacts my income. 

Thanks guys! Any help is appreciated, sorry if I've missed anything, I did dedicate my whole Saturday to this and even posted on Legal Beagles due to not being able to post on here and panicking. I have since calmed down and now just seeking a bit of help with it.

Hope you have a great day and keep up the good work! 

B789

Too late… you failed to respond to the claim in time and a default judgment was entered against you. You have no option but to either pay the full amount within 30 days of the judgment date after which the CCJ will be expunged from your credit record. If you don't pay it within 30 days, it will remain on your credit record for the next 6 years and will affect you badly if you need to apply for any credit whether a mortgage or a mobile phone contract. If you pay it off in instalments, it will remain on your credit file but be marked as "satisfied" which is almost as bad as not having paid at all.

I'm not sure why the judgment has ordered you to pay it in instalments. That would normally only happen if you had told the court that you could not afford to pay the full amount in one go.

For now, you have to decide how you want to pay the CCJ. It's as simple as that. You have no recourse.

If you think you may have other outstanding PCNs, you must inform the solicitors and the PPC that they must "erase" your old address from their systems and update it with your current address. The word "erase" is highlighted for a reason.

Boat_to_Bolivia

Just to clarify what @B789 has said, you need to pay in full within 30 days in order to remove the CCJ completely.

Do not be tempted to pay by installments as the CCJ will remain on your credit file.

Coupon-mad

Or you apply to set the CCJ aside on the basis that:

1. the claim (to your family's knowledge, and they pass post to you without fail) didn't arrive, possibly due to Royal Mail Strikes - you'd have to ring the CCBC to ask when if was dated and where it was posted…I suspect old address and that it was posted - in fact NOT POSTED - in December).

2. Even if the above is incorrect, the claim was improperly served due to no checks being made to trace you to your new address. (such checks being mandatory in the Code of Practice).

Treat the advice BELOW as if it were for you and make (and record on another phone whilst yours in on loudspeaker) a 'complaint' call to the CCBC and find out the 3 things this person was advised to ask, then read my reply to them today which links to examples of people who've already applied to set the CCJ aside and how they did it:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6442345/ccj-judgement-received-bw-legal-premier-parking-solutions-ltd

Look at what I advised there and the three cases to consider folliwing to see this off without paying BW Legal:

You must ring the CCBC in Northampton tomorrow and ask for a copy of the Particulars of Claim to be emailed to you while you are on the phone (do not trust them to email it later).

And ask exactly which address the supposed Claim form was sent to and on what date.

Then come back and tell us those 3 things. 

earbuds58

Thanks @B789 @Boat_to_Bolivia @Coupon-mad

That's all really helpful, I will call the CCBC in the morning and ask the questions suggested by Coupon-mad.

I would like the opportunity to contest this. Would the claim form have been sent in a brown envelope similar to the CCJ? If so I definitely didn't recieve it…

I will update you tomorrow, thanks again.

Coupon-mad

Yes I think so - but why not pm and aak any other poster who has just posted that they received a claim? Dozens of them every week.

earbuds58

What a suprise, they have said to me the claim form was sent out on the 14th of December; in the middle of the postal strikes.

They have sent me an email with the particulars of claim, it is just a scrambled mess of capital letters text. Is this right? I will post it below on a seperate message…

I did record our conversation, and for what it's worth she was pretty helpful and polite!

Further help in regards to next steps would be great!

Thanks guys, was close to surrendering to it this morning!

Many thanks, Sam

B789

Did the Judgement you've shown get sent to the old address or your current address? Are you certain that the claim was sent to the old address? Are you saying that your old address is your mother's address and any mail addressed to you is sorted and some is discarded and some is forwarded to you?

Coupon-mad

14th December is the exact same date as another person who is in touch with me and oddly, they ALL (or most) seem to be BW Legal cases.

Surely a postal strike issue but why did it affect this BW batch, I wonder, and not other cases?  BW must be rubbing their hands with glee at all these unserved claims to cash in on.

earbuds58

So, the facts are:

• It was sent to my previous address (mums)
• My mum doesn't always notify me of mail if she deems it to look like regular junk mail, it often gets mixed up and subsequently lost/ disposed of... 
• My car is still registered to my mums address (would this be likely to affect the CCJ being put aside on the basis that they presumably wouldn't be able to trace my new address given the DVLA have not been updated with it?)

earbuds58

Coupon-mad said:

14th December is the exact same date as another person who is in touch with me and oddly, they ALL (or most) seem to be BW Legal cases.

Surely a postal strike issue but why did it affect this BW batch, I wonder, and not other cases?  BW must be rubbing their hands with glee at all these unserved claims to cash in on.

And yes, seems far too convenient to me also Coupon