VCS issued 3 CCJ’s against me through DCBL

bbdnw1106

I am so sorry if starting a new thread for this is the wrong thing to do but I really need specific help as this is all having a detrimental effect on my life.

At a previous address I lived at in 2017, Vehicle Control Services were appointed by the management company to monitor parking spaces within the gated complex. We were told we would receive a parking permit for our allocated parking bays. 

There was no additional cost for my space as this was included within my rent.

Myself and a number of tenants / homeowners did not receive the permits and were issued with tickets despite notes in our cars. 

Not long after this, the management company informed us that they were no longer using VCS and so permits were no longer needed, however at this point I had received three parking fines but at the advice of both Hilditch lettings and the management company I was told we would not need to pay. As backup, I sent an email to VCS providing proof of my tenancy and car details along with a letter from Hilditch. I never heard anything again.

After having a baby and staying at my parents for a while due to complications I returned home to find a number of letters from DCBL to say a CCJ had been issued against me and I had to pay £350 immediately. I rang the office to explain my situation even offering to send proof of letters that myself and baby had been extremely poorly hence why I had not been home but they were not interested and so rude and would not even let me pay in instalments as the following day was the end of my 2 weeks grace and that if I didn’t pay in full that night, bailiffs would be there the following morning. I simply did not have the money to pay.

The following morning bailiffs did indeed arrive along with a channel 5 film crew which cause me a great deal of distress and I ended up being bullied into paying over £1000 in total. This CCJ is now satisfied and gone from my report having been over 6 years ago. Even now writing about that day makes me feel so humiliated and embarrassed. Never in my life have I owed money and always paid rent and bills on time. I sobbed to the bailiffs who I only let in to get rid of the cameramen blocking other tenants in the car park.

Knowing that this was now in the past and never having any debt, loads or credit cards I joined a credit agency to build my credit a few months ago only to find that they had issues a further 2 CCJ”s against me for the same thing (parking in my own space I paid for) however the letters were sent to that address nearly 8 months after I had moved to a new address so I had no clue this had even happened and would have certainly gone to court to defend myself had I known.

I am a single mum with 2 children and don’t make a lot of money at all in my job. The home i currently live in, my parents had to lend me 6 months rent to pay upfront due to how bad my credit clearly is. 

The CCJ”s were issued November 2018 and January 2019 and I moved out of the property in March 2018. With these being so old do I just have to wait now for the 6 years or is there any way I can have these removed?

I am so sorry for this essay and for starting a new thread.

Coupon-mad

OMG you poor thing. Horrendous...that £1000 was never due.

These were not fines and you could have had the CCJs set aside and paid nothing.

If your case involving these notorious thug bailiffs was shown on TV, including footage taken inside your home on DCB's body cameras, I honestly think you should ask a specialist solicitor to help you to sue Channel 5 for a significant sum in compensation.

They've already paid out loads:

https://pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/newspaper-corrections-media-mistakes-errors-legal/channel-5-second-payout-cant-pay-well-take-it-away/
 

Knowing that this was now in the past and never having any debt, loads or credit cards I joined a credit agency to build my credit a few months ago only to find that they had issues a further 2 CCJ”s against me for the same thing (parking in my own space I paid for) however the letters were sent to that address nearly 8 months after I had moved to a new address so I had no clue this had even happened and would have certainly gone to court to defend myself had I known.

I am a single mum with 2 children and don’t make a lot of money at all in my job. The home i currently live in, my parents had to lend me 6 months rent to pay upfront due to how bad my credit clearly is.

The CCJ”s were issued November 2018 and January 2019 and I moved out of the property in March 2018. With these being so old do I just have to wait now for the 6 years or is there any way I can have these removed?

I would apply to set them aside.

We can help you but first of all, go & check online if you can get 'Help with Court Fees' which would possibly make the set asides free.  You might qualify due to low income.

I would suggest that you act quickly - by the end of JULY so work on it this week, and apply using form N244 to set both CCJs aside and also state that you wish to defend the two latest claims, if the court decides not to strike them out (cause of action estoppel applies) AND have good prospects of a counterclaim for the £1000 back too, because all claims were inflated and none were served to the right address, despite DCB Group easily discovering where you lived.

B789

If the claims were sent to a wrong address then you can apply to have the CCJs set aside. There is some work you need to do to achieve this and we are here to assist and guide you through the process.

It's such a pity that you did not know about this forum back when you had the ex-clampers chasing you for an alleged debt which you would have most likely defended easily at the time.

You say that the CCJs were issued in November 2018 and January 2019 and that you moved out of the property in March 2018. What were the CCJs issued for? Wasit for parking in your own parking space? What were the dates of the PCNs that the CCJs were issued for? Is it possible that you never received any communication about the newly discovered CCJs because your address in your V5C logbook was not updated from a previous move?

You will need to submit an N244 application to the court for the set-aside. You can ask for a set aside with consent from the claimant but they are not likely to agree so unless you pay them the £108 court fee. You can apply for a set aside without consent but that is £275. However, you can ask the court for that fee to be reimbursed by the claimant.

There is extensive advice in the Newbies/FAQ thread, second post, about how to go about a set-aside. You do need to read it carefully, probably several times, in order to fully comprehend it.

For now, you need to contact the CCBC and ask them for a copy of the particulars of claim. You will also have to prepare a witness statement to submit with your N244 explaining why you are requesting a mandatory set aside under CPR 13.2 because the original claim was never served or served defectively and that a discretionary set aside is also viable as you have a very good prospect of successfully defending the original claim under CPR 13.3.

Do you have access to the original lease or AST for the property when the parking charges were made? It is very important that you obtain a copy of that document and tell us what it says about parking. What is doesn't say about parking is equally important.

bbdnw1106

Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate your help more than you know and sorry if this has been covered before.

I have just found out I will get help with court costs.

I sent an email to channel 5 and Brinkworth Films (The production team) when this all happened demanding that I did not want to be on the show and that the whole experience had caused me a great deal of stress and anxiety. I had a response back to say it takes a long time to process and review footage and they simply just follow enforce writs as journalists and they have a right to do so and that they would pass my email on to channel 5 as they make the final decision. 

I never heard back. I don’t watch the show and to date nobody has ever informed me that they have seen me on it so I’m not sure if it ever did air.

I will fill out a form this evening if it can be done online or tomorrow and act on this straight away.

Again thank you so much for your reply and help with this

bbdnw1106

Thank you so much for your reply B789

It really is a pity I didn’t know of all this help and support I could get  at the time, I knew it wasn’t my fault but was made to believe that if I didn’t pay then it would be much worse for me and being on my own with a baby at the time I felt powerless especially when they are walking around with cameras itemising everything i owned. It really was humiliating

All three CCJ”s were issued for the same thing through VCS. Throughout roughy a 4 week time frame I was issued with three tickets for not displaying a permit in my parking bay. Although they were able to find out my name and address which proved in itself that was my bay.

I sent an email along with other tenants to say I had never received a permit and put a note in my car and then we received a letter from the management company to say they were no longer using VCS. I then didn’t hear anything from them for months until I returned home one day to find the letters re the first CCJ it then took them over a year to issue the following two (for three tickets that were issued within weeks of each other)

1 x PCN issued No. 2017
2 x PCN issued Jan 2018
First CCJ issued July 2017 (paid £1019 in instalments.
2nd CCJ issued 21st November 2018
3rd CCJ issued 31st Jan 2019


When I moved I also changed my car. I was on the electoral roll at my new address.


I will look now to see if I have a copy of the old AST somewhere if not I can speak to the estate agency who I was renting the apartment from and see if they can obtain this for me.

I have the dates and references in clearscore but will call CCBC and as them for that copy.

Thank you so so much

Coupon-mad

Good.

Send an email now to Ch5 asking how many times your case was aired and to send you the footage shown.

Given that this can get you tens of thousands in compensation, that has to be worth getting.  

B789

Take encouragement from the fact that you are now in the right place to receive assistance. As @Coupon-mad has stated above, send that email to Channel 5. You have a right to know. If your actions at the time were influenced by their actions (or that of their agents, the production company), there is a possibility that they may be liable in some way, possibly by influencing the debt collectors and your being in a vulnerable position at the time.

It will need some legal advice from someone much more experienced than me. We do have some solicitors and other legally trained contributors who would be able to possibly help. @Coupon-mad is incredibly adept at wording legal arguments.

Your case does appear to be a gross injustice and a prime example of VCS and their legal rottweilers abusing the justice system. Have you written to your MP to complain about this. It also sounds like you could get a local paper interested in this story.  

patient_dream

Coupon-mad confirms on my first thoughts after reading your post

This has happened before and probably more times than we know regarding that utter crap programme called " Can't pay we'll take it away"

Mother sues Channel 5 for £100,000 in privacy row after she was filmed being evicted from her home on 'Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9111101/Mother-sues-Channel-5-100-000-privacy-row-Pay-Away.html

Your first step is CH5 as advised who should take notice.  We, you, us have the world to expose this ... and we will

Be aware that on Youtube there are many of these crap videos. Whether they have been uploaded by CH5 or a copycat is not known

B789

Do we know the outcome of that lawsuit?

bbdnw1106

Thank you all so much, I genuinely thought there was nothing I could do with it being so long ago and without sounding really dramatic, I wouldn’t even be able to watch it as I wanted to forget about the whole experience because it was genuinely traumatic.

Having never had anyone I know contact me to say that they have seen me on the programme has made me feel slightly ignorant to it in a way as for years now I have hoped that my email to them when all this happened was enough for them not air it. Surely it didn’t make it to the programme as somehow I would have known? However coupon-mad is right I need to email them so I know if this did air or if indeed it could in the future because again without sounding dramatic if it has/were to I honestly don’t know how I would cope with that level of embarrassment and humiliation.

Although I have never been in debt I know you are never to answer / open door to a bailiff and the only reason I did was because I had producers ringing the buzzer along with tenants who were blocked in by the whole production team and cameras  and wanting to go to work, on top of this a screaming baby, I let them in out of sheer embarrassment and stress.

Not only this but 6 years on I am still massively impacted by this with not being able to rent without a guarantor or paying 6 months rent up front and I have never had a loan, credit card or debt in my life. I am literally being punished for parking in a bay that I was paying for!

I can’t find my AST so will call my old estate agent first thing for a copy of this. I have found an email from the DVLA confirming the date of my change of address which was August 2018 months before the second and third CCJ were issued at my previous address.

I have read through the newbie posts all night for help with the N244 and witness statements and have been copying over to a word document.

The one i focused on in particular was between coupon-mad and 123MrsT

Does it need to be that ling with all the legal points? Can I copy this and change wording to make relevant to my case?

There are still a few things I’m confused with (think I may have read to many)

Do I fill out one form for both CCJ”s? And do I mention the original CCJ that I paid which is now settled and off my report?


Many thanks

patient_dream

B789 said:

Do we know the outcome of that lawsuit?

I think CH5 settled out of court and cancelled the programme.

Then the next story about DCBL

Bailiffs who found fame on popular TV show sue ex-bosses for £200,000

Bailiffs Steve Pinner and Paul Bohill found fame on Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away and now they say it's TV bosses who owe them and they are taking them to High Court

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bailiffs-who-found-fame-popular-26277361

Unknown the outcome but guess DCBL paid them off just like they discontinue all the rubbish cases