Surprise CCJ after address change - try for a 'consented' set-aside?

Johnersh

Don't threaten unless you're prepared to follow through, that ends up looking weak. I'd cull the section about instructing solicitors.

stwg842

Hi all,

Thanks again for everyone's assistance with this so far - enormous help. I've just received a response from Civil Enforcement, and thought I just post it here to ask for advice on how to proceed.

Because my primary aim is to get this CCJ off my credit report entirely (since I would have defended against the claim had I known it was going to court), I'm inclined to accept the agreement to pay £95 to settle the PCN in exchange for a draft signed Consent Order from Civil Enforcement, as all detailed below.

I did not recall filing an appeal in Nov 2021 with CE directly, but this means they could potentially say that I should have informed them of my new address when I moved. The counter to that, I believe, is that even to the extent I should have done so, they still ought to have run a trace for updated address information when they didn't hear back at all from me after my initial appeal to them directly in Nov 2021.

My concern now - re: the inclination to pay the £95 to settle the PCN and then apply for the consented set-aside - is that a judge might object that I have insufficient grounds to set aside the CCJ, even with their consent, because of my failure to contact Civil Enforcement to give them a new address when I moved. That is, I'm concerned that a judge might object that I'm merely trying to 'credit clean', and wouldn't take into account my response that Civil Enforcement ought to have run a trace for up to date address information.

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Dear Sirs,

 

Re: Civil Enforcement Limited v [X]

Claim No: [X]

PCN: [X]

 

We refer to your email received [two weeks ago].

 

We note that you require us to set aside the CCJ at our own cost. Unfortunately, your actions have resulted in the CCJ being entered. We are willing to consent to the CCJ being set aside by consent, however you must bear the costs of the filing fee for this, on the following basis.

 

Numerous notices, reminders, debt recovery reminders, letters (including a letter before action and a reminder) and ultimately the claim form were sent to you at the address provided to us by the DVLA as your registered keeper address. You have confirmed the address when you lodged an appeal on our online appeals portal on 19/11/2021.

 

We responded to your appeal on 22/11/2021 informing you of the breach and provided you with the documents required in the appeal. Within the response to your appeal, we had also informed you that an appeal can be logged to the independent appeals service Parking on Private Land Appeals (“POPLA”). You were provided with a verification code in our rejection enabling you to do this, however, you had failed to utilise this code.

Taking in consideration the above, we had no reason to believe you were no longer residing at the address provided to us by the DVLA on 12/11/2021. The BPA’s Code of Practice you have quoted in your correspondence states the following, ’24.1c Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the Notice To Driver/Notice To Keeper/ reminders letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the contact details for the person you are writing to are correct”. This reinforces our position, as we had in fact received a response to the Notice to Keeper.

 

Notwithstanding the above, and as indicated in the opening paragraph, we are prepared to accept a significantly reduced sum of £95 to settle the PCN and to set aside the judgment by consent by providing you with a draft signed Consent Order to that effect. 

 

Please let us know your thoughts on the above offer. Should you not agree to this offer, you are at liberty to make a formal application with the Court.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

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Coupon-mad

Tell them you'll consider signing a draft Consent Order only if it cites CPR 13.2 (mandatory set aside due to improper service, because the Claim form was not received).  A wishy washy Consent form citing CPR 13.3 and saying the claim has been settled will not be accepted.