PCN turned into a CCJ

dw10aau

Hi guys,

So I got a PCN from Halfords 2 years back for overstaying in their car park despite getting a dash cam fitted. I went to Halfords with the letter and they said they would get it cancelled, this has happened previously for other dash cams and the ticket has been written off. The letters were going to my parent's house, I moved out in 2019 but the car I had was registered at my parents house even though my driving licence had been updated, I guess they got my parent's address through car registration? 
Anyway, my parents stopped getting letters so I thought Halfords had dealt with the issue, this stopped for a while until they started getting letters saying they would be taken to court and bailiffs etc. I don't get to my parents often so didn't get the chance to go to Halfords to complain. When I finally went to Halfords, they said the parking company (Excel Parking) were no longer in their car parks, so there was nothing they could do. They gave me a contact email at Excel parking and when I emailed them with receipts they replied that they'd passed it over to DCB legal and there was nothing they could do either. Whilst the emails were going back and forth between I and DCB Legal I got the letter regarding the court decision and pay within 30 days. I emailed DCB legal with the receipt of the dashcams which they said is not sufficient evidence I was in Halfords the day of the parking offence.
I have since found my old phone and have found confirmation that I had an appointment on that day and forwarded it over to DCB legal who have replied the below:

Good Afternoon,

 

We refer to our previous correspondence and outline that our position remains the same.

 

You were granted ample opportunity to prevent sufficient evidence prior to Judgment being entered.

 

To reaffirm, the opportunity to raise substantive disputes has now passed and so we will not be responding to the same.

 

If you fail to pay the Judgment balance within one calendar month of the date of the Judgment, the same will remain on your credit file for a period of 6 years. If payment is made outside of the one calendar month, the Judgment will simply be marked as 'satisfied' on your credit file.

 

Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account: -

• Account Name: DCB Legal Ltd Client Account  
• Sort Code: 20-24-09  
• Account Number: 60964441

You must quote the correct case reference (........etc) when making payment. If you do not, we may be unable to correctly allocate the payment. If further action is taken by us as a result of an incorrect reference being quoted, you will be liable for any further fees or costs incurred.

 

We would ask that you kindly furnish us with your most up to date telephone number, this can be emailed to us at info@dcblegal.co.uk"


I was wondering what you would suggest my next actions be? Halfords have offered to pay the fee but I don't feel it is right that I should pay and have something on my record which would affect my credit rating.

Thank you in advance

KeithP

This post isn't going to help you with your current issues, but just remind you and others where things went wrong.

When getting the original PCN, your first action should've been to update the address on your vehicle's Registration Document(V5c), immediately followed by a letter/email to Excel advising them of you change of address.

Gr1pr

Do you have a CCJ. ?  Yes or No. ?

If yes, what was the date on that CCJ. ?

What address did the claim form from the CNBC in Northampton go to. ? New address or an old address. ?

Did you receive that court claim letter and not respond, or was it never received by you. ?

Do you want to try for a set aside. ?

dw10aau

@Gr1pr

This is the most recent letter received and it went to my parents house, at no point have they sent anything to my current address

KeithP

dw10aau said:

...at no point have they sent anything to my current address

Of course they didn't.
At no point did you tell them your current address.

dw10aau

KeithP said:

dw10aau said:

...at no point have they sent anything to my current address

Of course they didn't.
At no point did you tell them your current address.

Chill Keith, I was just replying to the question of what address the letter was sent to and clarified no letters have gone to my current address incase there was a further question on it

Gr1pr

So issued on 17th of July using an old address I assume, meaning that they should have paid around 29p to discover your current address and post everything to the new address . You should update the V5C if not done already 

Hence why they obtained judgment against an old address , so why weren't you told about the court letters that preceded this one. ?

So its either pay it in full , or pay for a set aside with no guarantee of success 

dw10aau

Gr1pr said:

So issued on 17th of July using an old address I assume, meaning that they should have paid around 29p to discover your current address and post everything to the new address . You should update the V5C if not done already 

Hence why they obtained judgment against an old address , so why weren't you told about the court letters that preceded this one. ?

So its either pay it in full , or pay for a set aside with no guarantee of success 

Hi, yes it was my old address. I have a new car which is registered to my current address. 

There were other letters which went to my parents, but they would just say that there was another letter there for me threatening bailiffs. I ignored most of them as I was in dispute over the ticket

So best bet is to just pay be done with it?

Trainerman

Halfords have offered to pay the fee but I don't feel it is right that I should pay and have something on my record which would affect my credit rating



I don't understand this. If you DO NOT pay within the time demanded, then it WILL be on your record. If you do pay promptly then there will be no lasting effect on your record.

Of course, you have to decide whether to try for a set aside or not, which is another issue but I just thought a bit of clarity on the effect of Judgement might help

dw10aau

Trainerman said:

Halfords have offered to pay the fee but I don't feel it is right that I should pay and have something on my record which would affect my credit rating



I don't understand this. If you DO NOT pay within the time demanded, then it WILL be on your record. If you do pay promptly then there will be no lasting effect on your record.

Of course, you have to decide whether to try for a set aside or not, which is another issue but I just thought a bit of clarity on the effect of Judgement might help

Thanks, I just don't want to pay out of principal, they're scumbags. But if that is the best course of action.

I have seen the below and if I pay within 30 days I will not be on my record as you've said. 

If you pay within one month

If you pay the full amount within one month, you can get the judgment removed from the register.

Write to the court to say you’ve paid. You’ll need to send proof of payment from the person or business you owed money to.

So I pay the fee, ask DCB to send me proof I have paid and then contact the court? do you know how I would contact the court? would it be via letter?

LDast

Have Halfords offered to pay you back the CCJ amount? Whilst you wouldn't have had to pay a penny to anyone had you provided the correct address to Excel and DCB Legal, by failing to do so, you are in dangerous position.

If Halfords give you the money and you pay the CCJ in time, then that is the end of the matter but you will have to live with the knowledge that you have enriched the scammers unnecessarily.

You also have option to have the CCJ set aside under CPR 13.2 and alternatively under CPR 13.3. The claim was never served to a valid address for service. It will cost £303 to apply for the set aside but you can request that the cost is paid by the claimant if your set side is successful. A set aside under CPR 13.3 is a mandatory set side.

If the judge believes that the claim is poorly stated, they may even strike the claim out at the set aside. However, they may feel hat the claim should stand and order you to defend it and they may reserve the costs until after the claim is decided.

CPR 13.3 is a discretionary set aside and can be requested for several reasons, the main one being that you have a good chance of successfully defending the claim.

So, you have a few choices, one which gets you off the hook but with the knowledge you have funded the scammers unnecessarily, the other is to follow the legal process for a claim that you were unable to defend because it was never correctly served. However, you would have the chance to actually defend the claim or even be so fortunate to have ti struck out.

Choices, choices,