Contesting Parking Ticket after Court Judgement

CrystalMummyof2

Apologies for my super late reply - had many family matters I had to support with, that coupled with work left me no time to rectify this. 

Thank you sincerely for your help and support!! 

@Coupon-mad All the letters they send me were missing the 'A' letter from the building number. This includes the correspondence from the Court and some bwlegal letters. 


I finally managed to draft up the witness statement, adding the Equality Act for the Court to consider, hope I wrote a reasonable draft. 

CrystalMummyof2

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

1.         I am xxxx of xxxxx, and I am the Defendant in this matter. 

2.         This is my supporting statement to my application dated xx August 2024 requesting to:

a.         Set aside the default judgement dated xx March 2024 as it was not properly served at my current address.

b.         Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

DEFAULT JUDGEMENT

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 Judgement against me as the Defendant on xx March 2024. I am aware that the Claimant is UK Parking Patrol Ltd and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice from xx March 2024.

5.         The claim form was served incorrectly at my current address, and I was therefore unaware of the Default County Court Judgment against me until I received a letter from Northampton County Court dated xx March 2024 to my current address.

6.         The address on the judgement is xxxxx. Please note the building letter ‘A’ is missing in correspondence received from the Court and Claimant. In support of this, I also provide two utility bills registered to my current address, showing the correct address, dated 22 June 2024 and 9 July 2024 respectively.  

7.     At the time the defendant was visiting to support a pregnant sister, who lived within 5 minutes walking distance, in order to help with her 2 year old toddler. In support of this, I provide evidence of my sisters address, at the time. As such the Defendant did not overstay for more than approximately 15minutes, simply to support her sister.

8.         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

9.         I first discovered there was a default County Court Judgment against me when I received a letter from Northampton County Court Ltd on xx March 2024. The letter is dated xx March 2024.

10.         On 30 May 2024, I contacted the County Court as to inquire regarding the judgement issued. I note that the spelling of my address in this CCJ is incorrect, the building letter is missing the ‘A’. There is another property on this road with the same address number. 

11. I believe the Claim form and other parking tickets may have gone astray, lost, mailed to another address as the correct address wasn’t written. Furthermore, in this apartment complex of 60+ flats, post and parcels often end up lost, mailed incorrectly should the correct address not be written. Post is often mistakenly mailed to my neighbours should the full correct address not be present.

12.      On XX August 2024 I submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgement and 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 the claim. I was therefore denied the opportunity to defend the claim. 

14.      On that basis, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 6.9 (4a)  ascertains the defendant’s current address, the claim form must be served at that address. The Claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the correct address of my current residence despite having over 6 months to establish an address. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an incorrect address and an irregular judgement.

15.      Under CPR 13.2 The court must set aside a judgement entered under part 12 if judgement was wrongly entered.  Given that CPR 6.9 (4a) was not met, CPR 13.2 applies and the CCJ should be set aside.

16.      Under Clause 24.1 C of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice Version 8 (January 2020), “Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the contact details for the person you are writing to are correct.” The Claimant failed to take reasonable endeavours 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 judgement 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 xxxxxx

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 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.      In the alternative, CPR 13.3 applies and there are very good reasons to set aside this exaggerated claim, which includes a disproportionate and indeed, false 'debt recovery' sum.  In fact, no debt recovery occurred nor cost the Claimant any money whatsoever, in addition to £100 parking charge.  The Government has described the false fixed 'fee' of £70 as 'designed to extort money from motorists' in the new statutory Code of Practice February 2022 and has banned it.  The Defendant has good prospects of defending a claim, if served with one, but has seen no evidence, basis nor particulars of claim and the Claimant should be required to file afresh, if they believe they have a cause of action. 

22. In addition, given that the Defendant has asthma and was going out of her way to help her pregnant sister. I believe the Claimant has not taken into consideration the Equality Act 2010 17.2 A person (A) discriminates against a woman if A treats her unfavourably because of a pregnancy of hers, also 6.1 (B) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

23.      Considering the above, I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside. 

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 __________

Coupon-mad

UKPPO aren't in the BPA AOS.

Judgment (legal context) has no 'e' in the middle.

What exhibits about the address are you attaching? That's the crux of it.

CrystalMummyof2

@Coupon-mad Thanks again for responding!

No problem, I'll remove the 'e'. Sorry please clarify for me; by 'UKPPO aren't in the BPA AOS.' .. does that mean removing points 16 & 17?

I was planning to attach my latest Gas/Elec bill and Water bill. Maybe even proof of my sisters previous address? She has utility bills she'd paid for at the time.

Coupon-mad

UKPPO are in the IPC so you quote their equivalent claises/CoP instead of the BPA CoP.

CrystalMummyof2

hi @Coupon-mad I figured out that means removing/adjusting point 16 on my witness statment. However I can't find the relevant case for UKPPO.

I've tried looking on https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6387246/ccj-served-at-wrong-address-sorn-vehicle/p2 parkingpains1 post but couldn't see it, sorry! please let me know, thanks!

KeithP

When seeking a set aside, you're supposed to act swiftly.
It is now almost five months since you discovered the Judgment against you.

Coupon-mad

Oh dear.    

CrystalMummyof2

I understand however had family to take care of which has taken priority over this

I've been trying to read through and understand the different arguments but with the different parking companies it takes time. I'm trying to understnad how different people have shaped their statements, sorry its been difficult going back to try sort this out.

Coupon-mad

But you need to do it NOW.

This week. 

Now.