Need Urgent help Please – received a letter from DCBL dated 30/04/2024 received 07/05/2024 – CCJ

Stressed_Out_VG

Apologies in advance about my lost post but I am super stressed out and just want to get this sorted out.  I have tried to explain everything that has led me to you so that I can get the best guidance/advice. 

On 7th May 2024, I received a letter from a DCBL (dated 30/04/2024) informing me that I have a CCJ against my name.  I immediately rang them as I was utterly surprised to receive this and wanted to get this sorted out.  Upon engaging in conversation with a representative from DCBL, I learnt it was for an unpaid parking charge issued by ParkingEye Ltd and was told that previous letters regarding the parking infraction were purportedly dispatched to my former residential address. I explained that this letter was the first I had received regarding this matter and went on to explain to DCBL that we moved out of the previous address at the end of November 2023 and I updated my V5 document with the DVLA on 1st December 2023. All the lady said was I could make monthly payments to pay off the £267. When I requested the Parking Charge Reference number, they told me to contact the County Courts directly and to find the contact number on my own. 

I used Google to try to find a number (which took me about 1.5 days to find the correct contact number for the court)  I also managed to find an email address for ParkingEye Ltd (info@parkingeye)  and I sent them an email explaining about the letter I had just received from DCBL and that I am trying to get in contact with someone to get my reference number and also more information as I wanted to dispute it. I explained I tried to ring ParkingEye Ltd but without the reference number, I was unable to speak to anyone or get anywhere.

08/05/2024 – I spoke to a lady (I think her name was Miss Lalley) at county court after waiting over 50 minutes to speak to someone.  She then provided the Parking Charge Reference number and said the incident had taken place on 13/11/2024 and I would have to attend a court hearing and make a payment of £303 if I chose to appeal through the court.  I immediately went onto the ParkingEye Ltd portal, where I discovered the incident had actually occurred on 07/11/2024.  I went onto submitting a late appeal for them to consider. I attached a letter which explained my situation and how I had only been made aware of the issue as all previous correspondence had gone to my previous address, when I moved from my previous address and when I changed my details with the DVLA.  I also questioned the legitimacy of the parking fine given the operational dynamics of the parking facility in question. As a prerequisite for entry and exit, a valid ticket must be procured and payment rendered, thereby precluding the possibility of incurring a fine under normal circumstances.  I went onto to say that the revelation of this matter necessitated proactive engagement with the County Court to ascertain the Parking Charge Reference number, further attesting to my lack of prior knowledge regarding the issue at hand and therefore in light of the aforementioned circumstances, I respectfully request a fair and impartial review of this matter, affording me the opportunity to present my case and contest the validity of the imposed penalty. It is incumbent upon all parties involved to ensure transparency and adherence to due process in resolving this issue.  I finished off by saying that I anticipate your prompt attention to this matter and earnestly seek a resolution that upholds principles of fairness and justice.  I also sent a screenshot of the email I had received from the DVLA stating that they had received my request to change my address.  I submitted my late appeal and it said to wait 28 days for a response.

I never heard back from them.   Just as a bit of background: My husband had been taking our sons to the hospital every six weeks for an eye appointment for the past two years. Typically, he uses a card to pay for parking, but on this occasion, he paid with cash.

20/05/2024 – I finally received an email back from info@parkingeye, thanking me for my recent correspondence and said in order for ParkingEye to look into my query, they required the full 12-digit parking charge number and/or vehicle registration.  I immediately replied and thanked them for getting back in touch with me.  I provided my vehicle reg number, I explained that the county court had provided me with my Parking Charge Reference number, which I gave them.  I told them that I had submitted a late appeal letter online via the portal but would be grateful if there is anything they could do for me in the meantime as I would really like to resolve this.  I received an automated response and found an email that said to email enforcement@parkingeye if it is regarding a CCJ. 

23/05/2024 – I submitted the following email:

“Dear Sir/Madam,

I sent a letter to you on Wednesday 8th May 2024 via your online portal as a late appeal but have not heard anything back as of yet (see attached letter sent).

I have furthermore requested help regarding this matter on 20/05 - email was sent to info@parkingeye

I am trying to get this sorted as soon as possible as I do not want to be liable for any further unnecessary incurring fees.”

28/05/2024 – I received the following response:

“Good Afternoon, 

 Thank you for your correspondence received in relation to the above referenced Parking Charge, which was issued following a parking event that took place on 07/11/2023 at Harrogate District Hospital - Main Entrance Patient and Visitors car park.

It is clearly stated on our signs that failure to adhere to parking regulations will result in enforcement action being taken and vehicle keeper details being requested from the DVLA to enable this. The DVLA release the name and address details of a vehicle keeper to registered companies, such as ParkingEye, if ‘reasonable cause’ can be demonstrated; i.e. a breach of parking regulations.

In this instance, 4 letters were issued prior to legal action but unfortunately, ParkingEye received no response. Our original notices outlined the appeals procedure offered by ParkingEye and provided a period of 28 days from the date of our initial correspondence to send any documentation you believe would aid an appeal to us directly. ParkingEye run a dedicated appeals team who consider each appeal on a case by case basis but we note that in this instance, no such appeal was lodged.

ParkingEye thereafter issued a county court claim on 19/02/2024 to recover the outstanding amount. However, as no defence was filed, nor was full payment received within the applicable time frame, the court granted a default judgment in ParkingEye’s favour. At this late stage, ParkingEye would be unable to accept an appeal and we require payment of the full outstanding amount.

We can confirm that £267 remains outstanding. Please find our payment information below.

If you wish to apply to have the judgment set aside then you can do so by filing an N244 form. Please note that such an application will require the payment of a court fee of £275 (payable to the court) and that there is no guarantee that the judgment will be set aside. This will also involve a hearing in front of a Judge. 

In certain circumstances, individuals may not have to pay a fee. A system known as the remission system is available to those who would have difficulty paying a fee and meet the appropriate criteria. It is for you to make the appropriate enquires about this system and details can be found at: gov website/get-help-with-court-fees

Payment can be made by telephoning our offices on 0330 555 4444, by visiting www.parkingeye.co.uk, or by posting a cheque/postal order to the below address. Please note that you must quote the above Parking Charge reference on the reverse of the cheque or postal order.

Yours sincerely,

Parkingeye Enforcement Team”

05/06/2024 – I got in contact with Citizens Advice Bureau, spoke to a lovely lady there, I explained my situation and how I had received a Parking Charge fine and everything thereafter.  She gave me some links and said to fill in the TE7 form and Parking TE9 form and submit it to tec@justice .  Which I did immediately.  She also said to ring DCBL out of courtesy to let them know I am in the process of getting advice.  The guy just said he will make a note but that I still need to pay them. I told him I will I am first getting advice before I do anything.

07/06/2024 – I received an email back from TEC – saying that the reference I submitted on my form is unknown as I had not given a valid penalty charge number and the PCN will be 2 letters followed by either 8 numbers or 7 numbers.  I then realised they don’t deal with Parking Charges and the lady from Citizens Advice Bureau had given me the wrong procedure to follow.

08/06/2024 – I put a post out to a Facebook group asking for some advice/guidance/help and briefly explained my situation.  One lady came back and directed me to MoneySavingExpert.com.  So here I am now totally stressed out, hardly sleeping and seriously overwhelmed with everything that I have done to try and get this matter resolved as I don’t have the money to pay for this and I wasn’t even the one driving.  PLEASE HELP!!

Gr1pr

What a mess, using old addresses is a typical reason for these problems, plus some people are lax in updating the DVLA, not saying you were, but it does happen 

Your first issue is getting it set aside, that does cost £303 , as you were told by others 

I suggest that you study the set aside advice in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum, second post, very carefully 

Nothing can be done until you get a set aside, if the CCJ is in your name. ? If its your husband who got the CCJ, then he needs a set aside, so the actual defendant needs the set aside ASAP 

Johnersh

this instance, 4 letters were issued prior to legal action but unfortunately, ParkingEye received no response. Our original notices outlined the appeals procedure offered by ParkingEye and provided a period of 28 days from the date of our initial correspondence to send any documentation you believe would aid an appeal to us directly. ParkingEye run a dedicated appeals team who consider each appeal on a case by case basis but we note that in this instance, no such appeal was lodged.

ParkingEye thereafter issued a county court claim on 19/02/2024 to recover the outstanding amount.

So despite having the clearest of indications that the defendant may not be receiving their communications they press on with court proceedings.

Be aware that the court rules require them to do checks -CPR 6.9(3). 

So are they really saying they had no reason to believe D had moved and yet they magically did once they had secured judgment? They managed to find D without too much difficulty once there was a judgment. Had they bothered to do the same search prior to commencing proceedings we'd not be in this mess. So they bear some fault in this.  

The onus on them to run checks is (in my view) greater the longer the time period between obtaining an address and the commencement of the claim.

Coupon-mad

 I got in contact with Citizens Advice Bureau, spoke to a lovely lady there, I explained my situation and how I had received a Parking Charge fine and everything thereafter.  She gave me some links and said to fill in the TE7 form and Parking TE9 form and submit it to tec@justice . 

Oh my days....sadly that was hopeless & wrong. The 'lovely lady at the CAB' gave you COMPLETELY the wrong advice.  Oh dear.  This was not correct.  Do not ask the CAB about parking charges from private firms!

Now get back on track by asking the CNBC at Northampton for a copy of the Particulars of Claim ('POC') by email and asking if the claim was filed by ParkingEye themselves or by DCB Legal on ParkingEye's behalf.

Come back to us when you get the POC and know if the claim was filed by PEye or DCB Legal.

Do not ask the CAB again.

Johnersh

Yes the CAB advice appears to be based on a misapprehension that this was a penalty charge as supposed to just a judgment debt.

Stressed_Out_VG

Gr1pr said:

What a mess, using old addresses is a typical reason for these problems, plus some people are lax in updating the DVLA, not saying you were, but it does happen 

Your first issue is getting it set aside, that does cost £303 , as you were told by others 

I suggest that you study the set aside advice in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum, second post, very carefully 

Nothing can be done until you get a set aside, if the CCJ is in your name. ? If its your husband who got the CCJ, then he needs a set aside, so the actual defendant needs the set aside ASAP 

My husband was the driver but the car is in my name. 

Stressed_Out_VG

I have started to fill in the N244 form.  But just wanted to check if I had the following correct and perhaps get a bit of guidance:

3.  What order are you asking the court to make and why?
An order that the judgement in default is set aside pursuant to CPR 13.2, alternatively 13.3, and the defendant be allowed to file a defence in the case. The defendant only discovered the judgment when they received a letter from DCBL.  The Claimant served proceedings at an address not used by the Defendant since November 2023.

10.What information will you be relying on, in support of your application?
I ticked the attached witness statement

The box provided - If necessary, please continue on a separate sheet
I don't really know what information I should put in there.

Gr1pr

Stressed_Out_VG said:

Gr1pr said:

What a mess, using old addresses is a typical reason for these problems, 

Nothing can be done until you get a set aside, if the CCJ is in your name. ?

If its your husband who got the CCJ, then he needs a set aside, so the actual defendant needs the set aside ASAP 

My husband was the driver but the car is in my name. 

Then I assume that the CCJ is also in your name, so you are doing everything in your name 

Its too late to name the driver, so concentrate on what you must do as the keeper and defendant 

Good luck 

Stressed_Out_VG

Coupon-mad said:

 I got in contact with Citizens Advice Bureau, spoke to a lovely lady there, I explained my situation and how I had received a Parking Charge fine and everything thereafter.  She gave me some links and said to fill in the TE7 form and Parking TE9 form and submit it to tec@justice . 

Oh my days....sadly that was hopeless & wrong. The 'lovely lady at the CAB' gave you COMPLETELY the wrong advice.  Oh dear.  This was not correct.  Do not ask the CAB about parking charges from private firms!

Now get back on track by asking the CNBC at Northampton for a copy of the Particulars of Claim ('POC') by email and asking if the claim was filed by ParkingEye themselves or by DCB Legal on ParkingEye's behalf.

Come back to us when you get the POC and know if the claim was filed by PEye or DCB Legal.

Do not ask the CAB again.

Do I use the following e-mail address:  Applications.CNBC@justice.gov.uk

Coupon-mad

No you ring them up at 8.30am one morning this week and get the two urgent things you need.

Stressed_Out_VG

Coupon-mad said:

 I got in contact with Citizens Advice Bureau, spoke to a lovely lady there, I explained my situation and how I had received a Parking Charge fine and everything thereafter.  She gave me some links and said to fill in the TE7 form and Parking TE9 form and submit it to tec@justice . 

Oh my days....sadly that was hopeless & wrong. The 'lovely lady at the CAB' gave you COMPLETELY the wrong advice.  Oh dear.  This was not correct.  Do not ask the CAB about parking charges from private firms!

Now get back on track by asking the CNBC at Northampton for a copy of the Particulars of Claim ('POC') by email and asking if the claim was filed by ParkingEye themselves or by DCB Legal on ParkingEye's behalf.

Come back to us when you get the POC and know if the claim was filed by PEye or DCB Legal.

Do not ask the CAB again.

Hi,

I rang CNBC this morning, they gentlemen on the phone has sent me an email with the POC and the claimant was Parking Eye and Claimaint solicitor was Parking Eye Ltd. He also sent me the forms for N244.

They guy also said that as this will be taken to court I will need legal representation - will I need to get a solictor?

Do I need to get in touch with Parking Eye or with Direct Collection Balliffs (DCBL) to inform them that I am filing the N244?