A judgment was issued due to no reply (Claim letter was received 2 months after).

whynotpeter

I have been reading this forum for months and I would like to thank you guys for helping all people here fighting injustice caused by private parking companies. I really appreciate that we have people like you investing your time to give us hope that we can fight back and get justice here.

MY CASE:

A judgment was issued against me few days ago (I can see that on Money Claim website). I failed to respond on time to an issued claim from May as I didn't receive the letter until 2 months later when new tenants passed this to landlord and landlord to us- it had been delivered to the old address. Issue was claimed on 21.05, we moved out on 24.05, and we must miss this by a day or two …
I was planning to fight this in court, but I missed my initial chance.

After I received claim letter (2 months after it being issues) friend of a friend who has a legal advice company told us that he will write to court to help us to settle this. However, I never received any proper update from that person nor proof of taking any actions (I don’t want to involve this person any more as there was no contract between us).

I would like now to ask for advice should I apply for set aside for this? If there are good grounds for this? If I understand correctly, I might have a good case for winning, so the court could agree.

If I cannot apply for a set aside, and I need to pay for this to avoid credit score impact, is there any way to try to get this money back – by sending a request to pay, and in the end going to small claim court?

 

I know that a lot of mistakes happened here and some unfortunate event with missing the claim letter, but do you think this is a case for fighting?

 

TIMELINE

We had a contract with the landlord to park in this specific bay. (02.2023 – 07.2023). My wife (register keeper) and I. Contract hadn’t mentioned any external company, or any additional externals rules to be applicable for using the parking spot.
We were given a small piece of paper (parking permit) and were asked to put it on a visible place to secure our spot.

On 2nd of June, I found a PCN (parking charge notice) for not displaying the permit from PPM (parking and property management company).

On 13th of June, I appealed for this via their form.  It was rejected on 27th. Additionally, they mentioned in their rejection that there are five more PCNs and provided details.

I appealed for five more on 27th via 5 forms, I received rejection on all of them in one email next day.

3 of 6 tickets were cancelled after property manager (landlord) contacted parking company on 3rd of July.

On 18th of July, I appealed to IAS for remaining three – and it was rejected on 25.07.

We moved houses in 07.2023. Sold old car (updated logbook) in 12.2023.

In 02.2024 I updated via email BW Legal with my current address (as mail redirection was not sending all letters to new place and some of them were sent to different flat in my building).

We moved houses again on 24.05.2024 (the same building). I can confirm that with confirmation from council with address update.

In July, we received letters which were delivered to the old address – one of them was a Claim Form issued on 21.05.2024. (for 2 PCNs – 200 + 120 for recovery cost + 50 court fee + 50 legal representative cost, in total 420 quid).

On 2x.09 a judgment was issued against me.

FACTS

Only 1, the latest parking charge notice could be found on our car windscreen. 5 others were received via email in rejection of first appeal (I appealed for these as well).

(I am not sure is that relevant) The IAS response provided us proofs from PPM that we parked without permit – only on 1 of 3 cases there is visible PCN note.

Photos from the company have a blind spot of floor where the parking permit was laying down.

The permit was a piece of paper which couldn’t be attached to the windscreen.

Close to our parking spot, the information is not visible – I feel the sign is small and 3 meters above the ground. There were more signs, more reachable than this).

When appealing on the parking and management company website – I didn’t clarify if I was a driver / registered keeper of the car.  At the time of appealing via their form, there were four options to pick who appeals –by default it was marked as a “driver”.
PPM proof send to the IAS shows that I selected that option – however, the field was not marked as mandatory (no asterisk - which indicates if field is mandatory).

Register keeper never received any communication for these PCNs.

Attachments: 

As a new member I can't post links right now - if anyone would like to see any of the below list, please let me know here or in private message and I can share images or send a link to my Google Drive with all these attachments. 

appeal to parking company; appeal to the ias; original PCN (redacted); contract for parking space (redacted), parking permit, sign available at the place.

Coupon-mad

You can certainly do a N244 application. See the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread and start with the email suggested but DON'T wait more than 2 weeks after that to actually apply.

All is explained there. No link needed. See my signature.

whynotpeter

I was building my WS and to take a break from it, I decided to write a set aside letter to parking company/BW legal.
While working on rewriting draft made by Zbubuman (thanks a lot for such perfect draft) I was checking received letters and I noticed that I actually never received a "letter of claim".
My last received letter from BW legal was from 23.01 (Final Demand) sent to incorrect address, few days later I received a bulk of letters into my mailbox sent to wrong address.

On 28/01 I updated BW legal via email and rejected their demand. On 10/02 I sent a new email, this time to parking company, to update my details and added CC for other BW legal I had found. 

1) Am I wrong, or this is a huge due diligence mistake made by them?
2) Do I need them 2 weeks to reply to my email?
3) Also Guys, could you please have a look at my set aside email to BWL? I might modify it too much:

Dear Sirs

 

This is an invitation to your client Parking and Property Management LTD to jointly apply to the court to set aside CCJ's in respect of a claim xxx.

On xx  of September 2024, I received an email notification from Credit Karma website following change of my credit score due to a court judgment issued on xx/xx/xxxx. This came as a tremendous shock, as no communication or correspondence was received from the Claimant or any organisation representing the Claimant that any legal proceeding will take a place.

 

I was able to establish that: 

1. the claim relates to alleged parking events at “xxx” on xx/xx/xxxx & xx/xx/xxxx. 

2. the claim forms were sent to an old address at which I no longer reside; and 

3. if I had been given the opportunity to do so, I would have successfully defended the claims. 

I received correspondence with huge delay at the end of January with Letter of Claim and Final Demand from xx/12/2023, xx/01/2024 and xx/01/2024, as it was sent to incorrect address “xxxxxx” of which I was never a resident.

On xx01/2024 I emailed contact@bwlegal.co.uk providing my address “Address and postcode: xxx” and email address. Email was also rejecting your client demand.

On xx/02/2024 I sent a new email to update my details  “xx” to info@pandpmanagement.co.uk and added disputeresolution@bwlegal.co.uk in carbon copy.

I have never received any pre-claim correspondence.

Claim forms were received nearly 2 months after claim was issued, due to my house movement on xx/05/2024 (claim was issued on xx/05/2024, and I was not able to receive it on time) thus I was deprived of the ability to defend the claim.

The Claimant is well aware that people move home from time to time.

This situation is explicitly dealt with in the Civil Procedure Rules, which provide at CPR 6.9(3):

 (3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant … is an address

at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take

reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of

business (‘current address’).

 

The Claimant is a member of the International Parking Community (the ‘IPC’) and is bound by

the IPC’s Code of Practice which gives voice to CPR 6.9(3) in the following terms:

 

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.

 

If the Claimant had taken the actions required by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Code of

Practice, my current address would have been found easily, and I would not have been

deprived of the ability to defend these claims.

 

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 forms were never properly served, and the judgments must

be set aside at the Claimant’s expense and the claims dismissed because it is now too late for

the particulars of the claims to be re-served.

 

In view of the foregoing, I invite the Claimant to join with me in an application to set aside the

judgments and dismiss the claims, with the Claimant paying the court fees and no order as to

costs.

 

Please respond to the above offer as soon as possible so that, if the offer is acceptable to the

Claimant, we can work together to right the wrong that the Claimant has done to me.

 

To give you a reasonable time to take instructions and for us to agree a suite of documents for

the Court, I am willing to defer making a unilateral application to set aside the judgments until 4

pm on xx October 2024. If a joint application has not been made by that time, I intend to instruct a solicitor to apply to the Court unilaterally for an order setting the judgments aside, striking out the particulars of the claims, dismissing the claims and awarding costs against the Claimant on a full indemnity basis.

 
If your client fails to recognise the value of the above far cheaper resolution, then two

applications will be made to the CNBC by the end of April, without consent, and your

client will be liable for all costs.

 

Please respond by immediate return.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

Mr XXXXXX

 

 

Gr1pr

Not receiving an LoC doesn't change anything, no Biggie, nothing to see there 

In your proposal above, I think April is a mistake. ?

KeithP

whynotpeter said:

If your client fails to recognise the value of the above far cheaper resolution, then two

applications will be made to the CNBC by the end of April, without consent, and your

client will be liable for all costs. 

...end of April?? That bit isn't right, is it?

whynotpeter

You are right, it's my mistake - I copied and pasted that without changing. - already corrected in my template, thanks.

I had hope that no LoC gives me a higher success for approval of my set aside.

A quick one question regarding WS - should I build it around primacy of contract. My eight-page parking contract doesn't mention anything about permits/displaying permits/parking company.

It contains this about third parties:

8. Third party rights

A person who is not a party to this licence shall not have any rights under the

Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this licence. 

Coupon-mad

No, that is not the crux of the WS because this first WS is to prove you were not living there, to support your CCJ set aside application. It isn't about defending the PCN yet.

But you should mention your lease and primacy of contract in one short paragraph about having good prospects of successful defence.

Add in excerpts from VCS v Carr, and the transcript (Court of Appeal level!) which isn't in the thread by Zbubuman, as it is so new.

See the CCJ thread by @icy_fox

I don't think you can say this if you moved the same month as the court claim was issued. how could they have known?:

the IPC’s Code of Practice which gives voice to CPR 6.9(3) in the following terms:
 22.1 Operators must take reasonable steps to ensure that the Motorist's details are still correct

But ouch, what an expensive lesson:

Did you not have any mail redirection? Why don't people do this nowadays?  That would have saved you a £303 court fee and temporary credit damage from this CCJ (apols if you did have Royal mail redirection and it failed).

whynotpeter

I didn't have it this time as I had bad experience before. I used that service before but it was very poor. Half of my mail was still going to old address, made complain with post office twice and it only got slightly better, however still chunk of letters were not being redirected.
Old neighbors were collecting this for couple months before they moved out.

Regarding my case I'm having second thoughts. I am afraid I may have difficulties to proof I acted promptly and that could be a good reason for judge to reject my appeal. I couldn't reply on time to defend the case but I could apply quicker for set aside before default ccj, which I didn't know (mea culpa) nor my helper. And this fee is quite discouraging.

Considering this, does it make sense to give up and pay ccj while its in first 30 days? 
If yes, is there any prospect to make my own claim in court to retrieve paid money?

I got that strange feeling it's much easier to make accusations and sue people/companies then defending yourself.

Coupon-mad

Yes you can pay it now in full (ONLY if within 30 days of judgment). The CCJ will be removed but no you can't sue the parking firm because I don't see grounds to do so.

You could think about suing the landowner for causing you this loss, if you think you have grounds.