CCJ award out of the blue.

Cosmo2Gaston

Just had a letter from Moorside Legal saying: 'You should already be aware that a County Court Judgment was awarded against you on 30/12/2024'.  We were absolutely not aware of it, or of any court case, and my first thought was that Parking Control Management were just trying it on. But it appears there has been a CCJ awarded. 

Back in 2023 we fought Gladstones (PCM's legal firm of choice back then) regarding not displaying a parking permit, by citing several judgements that ruled that, as a resident of the private road, our lease, giving us the right to park there, makes no mention us needing to display a permit, and that PCM cannot unilaterally alter the terms of that lease. Gladstones withdrew the case at the eleventh hour by not paying the court fee.

Now, PCM, using Moorside, and citing a different parking ticket (though under the exact same circumstances as the one above) have sent this notification of a CCJ without us receiving anything at all about it. Nor does the letter mention any case number. On the previous case, we had court papers to fill in, and the choice of court to attend. But in this single letter from Moorside, everything seems done and dusted without us ever knowing a thing about it. Is this some new and devious tactic? Is it possible to fake a CCJ so that it appears in searches, but without one actually having been given? 

I have just emailed Moorside, suggesting they might like to withdraw the CCJ, given that PCM dropped  a similar case because they realised they weren't going to win, but I got an automated message saying Moorside endeavours to reply within 28 days - so I'm thinking there might be a time limit, and that I should just go ahead send in the N244. 

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Gr1pr

Have you moved addresses   ?

The CNBC in Northampton will have posted the claim form to the address supplied by the parking company or lawyers,  it appears that you never received it, so maybe it went to an old address   ?

My advice is to phone the CNBC ASAP tomorrow morning and check the address on that claim reference,  plus the date of posting too 

Cosmo2Gaston

No, still at the same address. I'll take your advice and phone them, but I have no idea what the claim reference is. The letter from Moorside doesn't give it - which I find suspicious.

Ah, just done a quick google, and it seems the  claim reference might be mentioned on the CCJ listing. I'll take a look.

Cosmo2Gaston

No, it doesn't give a case number, just that a CCJ has been awarded. Still, if I can actually talk to a living person tomorrow, they might be able to find it for me, just on the name and address. 

Coupon-mad

Cosmo2Gaston said:

No, it doesn't give a case number, just that a CCJ has been awarded. Still, if I can actually talk to a living person tomorrow, they might be able to find it for me, just on the name and address. 

I urge you to RECORD THE CALL if you have to ring Moorside.

DO NOT agree to pay any money. Do not get talked into anything. Focus on what you need: 

You need a copy of the Particulars of Claim and you need to know the date of claim, the Claim number and which address it went to.

Those are the things you need either from the CNBC or from Moorside.

Have you read the CCJ set aside section of the NEWBIES thread second post? Read it first.

Cosmo2Gaston

So, having called Northampton, and waited the best part of an hour listening to their jingle, I spoke to a nice lady, but got nowhere since I didn't have the court reference, and she couldn't give me it. Nor could she confirm the address to which any court correspondence had been sent. She suggested I did a credit check using a free service called ClearCall, but apart from giving me a credit score, they were pretty useless. Paid six pounds to another site, and, hooray, I got the court reference - so to anyone having a similar problem, save yourself an hour of mind-rotting muzak, and just stump up the six quid. 

What the nice lady did tell me was that there was no time limit with regard to re-opening the case. I can only hope that she knows what she's talking about - and if anyone knows differently, please let me know.

If, indeed, she is correct, then I shall give Moorside a reasonable amount of time to respond before sending off the N244, asking for the case to be re-opened. And once again - if anyone thinks this unwise, please do say so.

So that is the state of play at present. What I find appalling is that PCM, knowing full well they had no case back in 2023, then go to another legal firm, and try this new tactic. How can this possibly be legal?

Gr1pr

Because the Private Parking Bill 2019 and better proper regulation has not been fully implemented yet, so please complain to your local MP about it and also sign the petition 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6580258/parking-fine-going-to-court#latest

And read

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6538052/reviving-the-private-parking-bill#latest

Think about a counter claim or similar AS WELL, for mendacious unreasonable conduct,  if they had the current correct address but used an old address,  the paperwork should tell you those details 

You should also be claiming back the £6 as well as anything else 

Cosmo2Gaston

Yes, I mentioned in the email yesterday, and the copy I sent by registered letter this morning, that if they didn't withdraw the CCJ, then I would be seeking costs, which would include the £300 court fee, the £6, the £8.30 for the recorded delivery letter today (so that they can't claim to have not received either). 

I also have no idea, so far, where this hearing was held. In 2023 we elected to have the hearing in Croydon, but since we received nothing about this new case until it was done and dusted, I suspect Moorside will have chosen somewhere miles away, probably Bradford - in which case, if we have to attend, I shall add on the cost of rail fares, etc. 

The address on the letter from Moorside, and the address on the £6 information bearing the court ref, are both correct, so it's strange that only the letter that arrived was the one saying we had a CCJ. Putting on my tin-foil hat, I can't help wondering if PCM didn't engage in some underhand activity. If I were such an underhand company, and I'd had to withdraw a case because I knew I'd lose on the evidence, then I might well think that the only way to win was by default. But how? Well, I might ponder - I know that my victim lives in a block of four flats, with a communal door onto the street - a door that has the only letter box, and a door that is almost always unlocked. Having started the proceedings, I would have a rough idea of when court papers might be pushed through said door, and into this communal hallway, which might lead me ponder the idea of asking the parking attendant to just take a look in while on his rounds, and take such letters into his safe keeping. But, of course, I'm sure this is too far fetched to be the case. No, a more rational explanation is that Martians landed nearby, and took the letter as a souvenir of their visit. I expect it's propped up on their mantelpiece as I write. 

Coupon-mad

There was no hearing.  No Judge.

This was automatic by Moorside pushing a 'request judgment' button when the D didn't defend. No human intervention by anyone in the court service is involved. The D lost 'by default'. No questions asked. No scrutiny whatsoever.

And the reason for that, is that the claim form went to the Defendant's old address. Happens all the time.

Moorside probably breached the BPA CoP by failing to trace the newer address until now (after getting a CCJ) which is a deliberate ploy seen all the time from parking roboclaim solicitors.

Read the CCJ set aside section of the second post of the NEWBIES thread and (URGENTLY - unless you've already sent it) email Moorside with the suggested email pointing out their breach of the CPRs and CoP.

ONLY give them ten more days, max!

DO NOT AGREE TO PAY THE PCN/CCJ SUM IN EXCHANGE FOR CONSENT TO SET ASIDE.

No paying!  No accepting their consent draft if it involves you paying them.

You do effectively have a deadline because a N244 must be submitted 'promptly' (undefined but even a few weeks has been deemed too long by a Judge).

Start preparing your N244 and do it this month.

Cosmo2Gaston

So, an update. It's taken a long time, but this week we finally got the hearing, and the CCJ has been set aside.

That is the good news, and practically all that really mattered, however I can't say I was overly impressed by the process.

To begin with, no one from Moorside Legal turned up, which I thought was quite likely.

I had thought, mistakenly it seems, that it meant an automatic win for us, but no, we went through a fifteen or twenty minute process, with judge (or whatever they are called in the County Court) seeming to be reluctant to find in our favour, but, given the precedents that were posted on this very valuable site, he did set aside the CCJ - but would not award costs (£303 as I recall) due to "the delay in replying to the initial letter," which was sent sometime in the Spring of 2024.

In our written defence I'd made it very clear that the first thing we knew about the case was the letter informing us that a CCJ had been awarded. I pointed this out, but he stated he didn't believe us. 

I would have liked to point out that, given PCM had previously aborted a case a year earlier because they knew full well our lease did not require residents to display permits, then it was highly unlikely that we would ignore a second attempt, and that some skullduggery by Moorside was involved, but by this time he'd informed us that the CCJ would be set aside, and since I found him quite unpleasant, I felt it better not to chance having the judgement reversed. 

However, once we have the confirmation letter regarding the setting aside of the CCJ, I shall look into just how it would be possible for Moorside to bring about such a ruse. My son (it was his CCJ) has lived in the same block for about fifteen years, and before that he lived with me, where I've lived for forty-four years, so the 'old address' scam wouldn't apply. 

I think it is possible that they used a fictitious address, and if so, then my question is, does the court keep copies of all the correspondence, and can it be accessed by the public? Or is there some other way to uncover the trickery?

Of course, given the state of the postal service these days (I regularly get letters addressed to neighbours) then it might have gone missing, though I'm sure there would have been more than one.

Anyway, that's the state of play at present. If anyone has any information about viewing court archives, and how to go about it, then I will be most grateful.

The loss of the £303 won't see me in the debtors' prison - it's more the principle of the thing.

Cheers

Coupon-mad

Well done!

And yes, some judges like to blame consumers (and favour Claimants too much) so thank goodness for the 2025 Court of Appeal judgment in VCS v Carr, which gave him no wriggle room and in fact - I think - should have seen him grant costs too. Maybe he used to refuse CCJ set asides and is annoyed to read in Carr that he has been getting it wrong!

Did he not strike the whole claim out?

So you have to now defend the claim?

While you wait:

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Please do the government's Public Consultation. We need every poster to complete this vital survey before the deadline next week.

See this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-now-extended-closes-friday-26th-september/p1

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that. It doesn't matter; no knowledge is needed except re your own experiences so you can call out a scam industry and you'll protect millions of motorists and help change the law. 

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