Post CCJ set aside - final hearing preparation

Coupon-mad

Had 12 months passed from the Parking Event before issuing court proceedings?

Castle

Coupon-mad said:

Had 12 months passed from the Parking Event before issuing court proceedings?

February 2019 Parking event, March 2022 CCJ per OP'S post on 26th March.

Mega_Maniac

As Castle says; that time has elapsed. 

Thanks again for the input, I'll email it over tomorrow. 

Mega_Maniac

I have had no reply to the email sent to SIP Parking Limited, so I am now moving on to requesting the judgement be set aside. I would be very grateful if someone could cast an eye over my N244 and Witness Statement to see if I am missing anything.

I am assuming at this stage that SIP pulled my address from where my vehicle was registered and then used this old address for all further attempts to contact me (if they did in fact attempt to do so). Although I did no update my vehicle registration each time I moved since the date of the parking event, it had been updated before the CCJ was issued and it was otherwise simple to find my address. 

I am not sure if I need to include information about my Vehicle Registration at this stage? I will add it if it is a good idea to do so. In no way do I want to mis-inform the court, I just don't want to add extraneous information. 

Mega_Maniac

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

1.         I am [address], and I am the Defendant in this matter. 

2.         This is my supporting statement to my application dated 22 April 2024 requesting to:

a.         Set aside the default judgment dated 18 March 2022 ( Claim No: [claim no]) 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

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

4.         I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 18 March 2022. I am aware that the Claimant is SIP Parking Limited and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice on 02 December 2019.

5.         The claim form was not served at my then current address, and I was therefore unaware of the Default County Court Judgment against me until I discovered the CCJ on my credit file.

6.         The address on the claim (as retrieved from my credit file) is: [OLD ADDESS]. I have moved a few times since the date of the alleged parking event and the following claim issued against me. The following are my address changes during this period, I received no correspondence at any of these addresses:

• Prior to September 2019 - Living at: “[old address 2]” - Electoral roll updated for this address in April 2019

• September 2019 - moved in to address: “[old address 3]” - Electoral roll updated for this address in October 2019

• September 2022 - moved to current address: “[current address]”

 

7.         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;

  

SEQUENCE OF RECENT EVENTS

8.         I first discovered there was a default County Court Judgment against me when I checked my credit score via the ‘Clearscore’ website on 21st March 2024. The information provided here did not detail the Claimant, only the address and date of the CCJ.

9.     On the same day - 21st March 2024, I phoned the CNBC to try to find out why this CCJ had been issued against me. I did not know exactly what to ask, but the person I spoke to said I could apply to have the judgment set aside sent me the details of how to do so.

 

10.         On 26th March 2024 - having done some further research online I discovered I needed to request the Particulars of Claim from the CNBC, I rang the CNBC again and they subsequently sent me the requested Particulars of Claim.

 

11.      30th March 2024 - I sent an email to SIP Parking Limited to the only publicly available email they display - info@sipcarparks.co.uk - to inform them that they had served court papers to an incorrect address, while they could easily have found my current address, thus not complying with the Civil Procedure Rules 6.9 and inviting them to consent to setting aside the claim, rather than wasting the courts time further. I requested an urgent reply to this email, and informed SIP that I was willing to defer making a unilateral application to set aside the judgment until 4 pm on 10 April 2024.

12.      On 22 April 2024, having received no reply from SIP Parking Limited, I submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgment and have the opportunity to fairly present my case.

13.      I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held my correct contact details at the time of serving the claim. The claimant would have had no response to any letters issued to the incorrect address, while my current details were readily available with a simple check.  I was therefore denied the opportunity to defend the claim. 

 14.   If the Claimant had taken the (simple and very inexpensive) actions required by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Code of Practice before litigation, my correct address would have been found easily. If those actions had been performed at the time, I would not have been deprived of the ability to defend the claim.

14.1. By reason of the Claimant’s breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, which amounts to an abuse of the process of the Court, the claim form was never properly served and pursuant to CPR 13.2, the judgment must be set aside (the N244 fee being ordered to be at the Claimant’s expense).  Further, the unserved claim has expired and must be dismissed because it is now too late for the particulars of claim to be re-served.

15.      Under CPR 13.2 The court must set aside a judgment entered under part 12 if judgment was wrongly entered.  Given that CPR 6.9 (3) was not met, CPR 13.2 applies and the CCJ must be set aside. In the alternative, CPR 13.3 applies due to the circumstances, which represent good reasons to set the CCJ aside, and in view of the fact that the Defendant acted promptly and has good prospects of defending the claim in the event that the court does not strike it out for want of service within 4 months.

 16.      Under Clause 24.1 C of the IPC Code of Practice Version 9, “22.1 Operators must take reasonable steps to ensure that the Motorist’s details are still correct if 12 months have passed from the Parking Event before issuing court proceedings.” Having been writing to an old address no replies would ever have been received. The Claimant failed to take reasonable endeavors to ascertain my correct current address prior to issuing proceedings and is therefore in breach of the Code of Practice. 

 17.   The Defendant was 'there to be found' for the sake of a 29 pence bulk Experian trace or similar very inexpensive and immediate credit reference agency address check. I would then have been notified of this judgment and could have taken action to prevent it. 

18.   Given that more than 4 months has passed from issue of proceedings and service of the claim was defective (i.e. it was never served) the Defendant submits that this particular claim is dead and the period for service cannot be extended by this application process.  The Defendant has no details of this claim, therefore, if the Claimant believes there is a cause of action then the correct procedure would be to file a claim afresh and to the right address, after furnishing the Defendant with the information required under the pre-action protocol for debt claims, issued this time to the correct address for service for this Defendant, which is: [current address]

19.      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.

20.      Furthermore, former Prime Minister Mrs 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.” 

21.   Further, should I have the opportunity to fairly present and defend my case I believe I would have a reasonable chance of a successful defense.  While the Particulars of Claim for this case provide very little information to go on as to what contractual terms were broken, given basic knowledge of the car park I can make reasonable assumptions about what these would likely be - given the Particulars of Claim outline an “incorrect session purchased” I can reasonably assume that I did purchase a ticket but that this particular car park considered my vehicle - a van - in a different class, and that the signage did not display this fact adequately. It is my understanding that this car park no longer exists, and as I have no information from SIP Parking Limited I cannot verify the veracity of their claim.

22.      Considering the above, I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgment 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.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth. 

Signed ________

Date __________

Castle

Is that your real name on the N244?

And, there's an address showing at Para 18 of your WS.

Mega_Maniac

Castle said:

Is that your real name on the N244?

And, there's an address showing at Para 18 of your WS.

Thanks, removed address. Is it advisable to redact names on the forum?

KeithP

Mega_Maniac said:
Is it advisable to redact names on the forum?

Have you not seen this banner at the top of every page on this part of the forum?...

Mega_Maniac

KeithP said:

Mega_Maniac said:
Is it advisable to redact names on the forum?

Have you not seen this banner at the top of every page on this part of the forum?...

Nope! I'll redact now. 

Coupon-mad

"endeavors"

Typo above.  Another horrible Americanism!

That's a good WS. Where's your Draft Order (separate Word doc)?