CCJ: Judgement for Claimant (in default) - urgent

bigmetaltube

Hello all,

I'd like to keep it brief - I've read the newbies sticky, and I'm basically at a point where I'm almost resigned to paying almost £500 but I'm posting here to see if it is worth fighting this before this goes on credit history.

I drove my brother's car (insured temporarily on me) and parked outside an abandoned office building near my home for 2 days. There are small 'Permit Holders Only' signs, however given the fact that the building is literally out of use and boarded up and there are no other occupied buildings in the area, I found there was no way to acquire a permit and therefore I assumed this was no longer enforced and there was no loss of business if I was to park in that area. Lo and behold they employ a chap with a smartphone camera to give (my brother) a PCN through the mail, one for each day (and so I had consecutive PCNs for essentially the same parking 'contravention'). As my brother travels a lot for work, he got these PCNs very late once they had each incurred significant admin costs etc. to the tune of £170 each. I was unsuccessful in appealing them.

Unfortunately again as the letters are going to a separate address which isn't monitored continuously, we were surprised to have received a claim form for Court. I used the Gladstone online portal to reply to this assuming this was a reply to the claim, but it appears this was not the case and we have since received a letter for a Judgment for Claimant (in default) from around 2 weeks ago, and so I have around 10 days to complete the obscene payment to ask the court to cancel the entry on the Register.

I'm not looking to get scolded on missed opportunities to fight this and I'm almost resigned to paying, this is a last shot to see if there is a way to do something as I know if payment is made then it's the end of the matter.

Thanks in advance.

KeithP

I don't see that you have any alternative other than paying.
 

Umkomaas

Against whose name was the court claim issued - your brother, or you. Not that it helps much in not paying this, but whoever it was issued against should pay Gladstones, so there's no confusion.  Obviously you'd reimburse your brother in the event of him paying. 

Johnersh

Brother could apply to set aside. Claimant would have to acknowledge to the court that they received a letter from the o/p but strictly speaking post-issue there is no keeper transfer, so they were entitled to ignore it.

you might be successful with a set aside with C given permission to substitute the defendant, but it’s messy. You are perhaps unlikely to get the application fee back (£275) and you’ve still got to defend the claim, with the cost to your time if nothing else, even in the event of a win.

I’d respect either view (fight or pay) but I can see that the most straightforward path would be to pay *within the window available* late payment = registration of the debt and your bro doesn’t want that.

Coupon-mad

As above.  Decide which path to take.

Finally, and this is just as important and won't take long:

Are you aware of this Inquiry that I think will interest anyone who has had to face the hurdles involved in a CCJ set aside case from a rogue parking firm:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80417494/#Comment_80417494

Closes in just over a week.

Those with CCJ evidence are encouraged to show your paperwork and tell the Committee that parking 'charges' should never cause this level of consumer harm.

Please say to the Committee:

1.  The Private parking industry and their roboclaim 'legal firm' greedy limpets are the cause of the small claims track and CNBC delays.

2.  Parking needs it own new pre-action protocol to stop their barely-legal limpets from adding false fees and to stop them from literally aiming for CCJs.

3.  Parking cases need an ADR to resolve cases out of court.  The DLUHC should be asked about this possibility.