Unexpected CCJ - Recovery of Debt letter from DCBL

fair2everyone

Good afternoon. My son received a letter (Notice of Debt Recovery – Unpaid County Court Judgment £277) from DCBL on Saturday 18th Nov. This was the very first correspondence he received about the issue and had no idea what it referred to nor who issued the CCJ. I started to search this site for information and after reading various threads from the NEWBIES section, concluded the first step was to search the Register of Judgments to determine that the CCJ was definitely there. The following steps have now taken place:

1. Register of Judgments showed a CCJ issued 12/10/23 by CNBC to his previous address – no other information but a telephone number for CNBC.

2. Monday 20th Nov, he phoned CNBC to ask what the case refers to as he had not received any previous letters. He also told them he intended to apply for the CCJ to be set aside. I did suggest he should ask them to email him a copy of the Particular of Claims but he omitted to do that!

3. CBNC told him the CCJ was for a parking offence at a Tesco car park on 26/04/23 and that if he wanted to apply for a set aside he would need to fill a form in and pay £255 and then attend in court. She said she couldn’t tell him anything else.

From what I have read on this site, I think his next step would be to submit a N244 but he thinks “is there any point as it was his fault he didn’t inform the DVLA of his change of address”.

Summary of facts:

• Moved from previous address Nov 2019, temporary accommodation until current address July 2020

• October 2022 received PCN for Speeding at new address – this arrived after the 2 week threshold but when queried was told it was because the original letters were sent to his old address and then returned to them (presumably by the new owners of the old address)

• Decided it wasn’t worth changing V5 as he was going to buy a new car!!

• 26/04/23, overstayed parking limit in Tesco

• 08/06/23 got the new car.

• 13/10/23 CCJ issued

• 18/11/23 received Notice of Debt Recovery from DCBL – who were obviously able to track him down quite easily.

• 20/11/23 contacted CNBC for details
  

Do you think that him actively choosing not to change the address on the V5 is a stumbling block – I ask this as the time frame from parking to CCJ doesn’t seem as long as other examples on this site?

And regarding the need to act promptly now he knows about the CCJ – how promptly should that be – this is effectively Day 3 and he still doesn’t know how many letters were sent and when the LBC was sent or the breakdown of charges. Does he have enough time to do all of this before submitting the N244?

I know we have a lot more reading to do in the NEWBIES thread but wanted to check that it is still doable – he doesn’t have any defence for the actual parking ticket.

Coupon-mad

From what I have read on this site, I think his next step would be to submit a N244 but he thinks “is there any point as it was his fault he didn’t inform the DVLA of his change of address”.

Yep. Every set aside case on here is like that!  Did you not realise that almost ALL are caused this way (DVLA causes this issue) and we succeed 99.9% of the time.

And almost all CCJ set aside Defendants get the fee refunded by the parking firm by the order of the court (it's £275 not £255). 

Read the recent ones by @Chesterfield1970 and the six other completed examples linked in the NEWBIES thread.

Your son must ring back and get the POC.

"he doesn’t have any defence for the actual parking ticket"

Yeeek!  Never say that. MY GOODNESS HE DOES & MUST STATE THAT HE DOES! 

fair2everyone

Thank you for the quick reply and for the confirmation regarding forward steps.  Re defence for the parking ticket - he overstayed the allowed time - I'm not sure by how much but he did say the allowed time used to be 1 hour and he hadn't realised it had changed to 20mins.  Is that what you mean or just the fact that the charge is now £277 and he disputes the amount?

Coupon-mad

I mean he has a real defence against the £100 PCN after the CCJ is set aside.  Course he does!  Obviously inadequate extra signage about a fundamental change of parking terms. This is a strong defence.

He might even get the claim dismissed in that first CCJ hearing in one go, for woefully inadequate POC.

Get him to phone for the POC and please tell him to feel confident he WILL BEAT THIS.

fair2everyone

Thank you.  I will!!

fair2everyone

My son has phoned CNBC to request POC be emailed to him and has been told it could take up to 2 weeks to get this and there will be a charge of £11 - does this sound correct?

Coupon-mad

No. Ring again in the morning.

fair2everyone

Apparently the guy has sent him an email address to use to request this and said include your card number for payment? 

fair2everyone

I presume we need to see some POC before we can submit the N244?  Do we request the same from the Parking company and ELMS Legal Limited or is that the SAR request? 

KeithP

Phone the CCBC again in the morning and ask once more for the PoCs to be emailed.
What email address did they give?

Never heard of a charge for that. Are you sure you are using the correct phone number? - 0300 123 1057

fair2everyone

I'll check - I've asked him to forward me the email. Thanks.
I think he will have used the number that was on the Register of Judgments - 0300 123 1056.  I'll suggest he tries the number you've given.  Thanks