Unknown CCJ from UK Parking Control

Hotpoint1234

Thanks Coupon-mad

I appreciate neither application is guaranteed but would the judge look sympathetically on me paying the fine and getting the joint consent order as I need to remortgage, despite having a reasonable defence and not getting the paperwork? Would there be a strong chance of them granting the consent order to remove the CCJ in that case?

Or would it be 50:50 either way and I might as well submit the N244 and take my chances?

Coupon-mad

Hotpoint1234 said:

Thanks Coupon-mad

I appreciate neither application is guaranteed but would the judge look sympathetically on me paying the fine and getting the joint consent order as I need to remortgage

No that would be the worst thing to say!

Courts will not allow credit cleansing applications. DO NOT talk about that.

I would say if you include a decent (non-template!) defence with your N244 and WS and Draft Order, that would have more prospects of success than a consented set aside. Probably! Which court?

Hotpoint1234

Understood

It's Reading County Court

Coupon-mad

Average court I think.

Hopefully including a 'non-templatey' factual defence about no contract/very poor signage and no legitimate interest, should be enough to convince the judge that you should be allowed to defend, and that you genuinely did not receive the claim form and would always have defended this.

Hotpoint1234

I am going to submit the N244 shortly with the Draft Order and Witness Statement. Do I need to submit a defence document with it? I understand I should have this prepared for the actual hearing but don't need to submit it as part of the N244 process? I have made reference to the specifics of my defence in the witness statement as per below

Hotpoint1234

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT 

 

1.         I am XXXXX of XXXXXXX, and I am the Defendant in this matter.  

2.         This is my supporting statement to my application dated XX 2025 requesting to: 

a.         Set aside the default judgment dated XX 2024 as it was not properly served. 

b. The Claimant must re-serve the Claim form within 14 days. If the Claim is so served, the Defendant will have 14 days to file and serve a defence. 

 

DEFAULT JUDGMENT 

3.         I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged event. 

4.         I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on XX May 2024. I am aware that the Claimant is UK Parking Control Limited and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice from XX 2022. 

5. I have never received any court documentation making me aware of proceedings or a notification that a County Court Judgment has been made against me to my current address. 

6. The claim form was not served to me, and I was therefore unaware of the Default County Court Judgment against me until I looked at my Experian credit report for the first time on XX 2025. 

7. The particulars of the claim involved the legitimate usage of the car park in question to visit a restaurant and that the issuing of a PCN did not meet the legal high bar of legitimate interest and commercial justification set by the Supreme Court. 

8. CPR 13.3 applies in this instance, in particular CPR 13.3 (1) (a) that the Defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim. The Defendant must be allowed to defend the claim in court given its unreasonable nature and the very strong chances of success the defence can present in mitigation of the claim. The defence includes legitimate and reasonable usage of the car park with permission to use the car park for the restaurant on the part of the Defendant, poor signage, poor lighting after dark, and unreasonable conditions on the part of the Claimant for usage of the car park. 

9.  In addition to the above, it should be highlighted that the integrity and law-abiding intention of the Defendant should be taken into consideration on the basis that; 

   

SEQUENCE OF RECENT EVENTS 

 

10.         I first discovered there was a default County Court Judgment against me when I looked at my Experian credit report for the first time on XX March 2025. 

11.         On XX 2025, I purchased the County Court Judgment report from the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for England and Wales via the TrustOnline website in relation to claim XXXXX to confirm that this CCJ was linked to my name.  

12.      On XX 2025, I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment. I was told I would receive an email containing the Particulars of the Claim which I duly received on the same day. 

13. On XX 2025 I contacted the CNBC again to request details on how the court documentation was sent to me. The call handler confirmed that documentation was sent on XX May 2024 but was unable to confirm how the documentation was sent out and advised me to email the CNBC requesting the details. 

14. On XX 2025, I made a formal complaint to Royal Mail complaining about the lack of delivery of court documents and asking for any information they may have pertaining to delivery difficulties in the Reading area on or around the month preceding the CCJ date. I received a response from Royal Mail on XX 2025 stating that they were unable to identify a reason for failure to deliver and that standard first and second-class post is not tracked through the network.  

15. The Defendant is aware that letters and deliveries to my address are sometimes left outside of, or in the stairwell of, the Defendant’s block of flats rather than being delivered through the letterbox of the flat itself. Deliveries are also sometimes made to the next block of flats which has the same numbering but is in fact a different address. The Defendant has also sometimes received letters and deliveries meant for the next block of flats to my address in error.  

16. On XX 2025 I emailed the CNBC requesting the particulars on how the court documentation was sent out. I received a confirmation of receipt email, but no further response has been forthcoming. 

17. On XX 2025 I contacted DCB Legal proposing to submit a joint consent order to set aside the CCJ under CPR 13.3 with a deadline of XX 2025 for a response. I received a confirmation of receipt email. 

18. On XX 2025; over a month after I sent my email, DCB Legal responded requesting that I provide evidence of my formal complaint to Royal Mail. There was no response to any other point raised in my initial email including my request for a joint consent order to set aside and my attempts to settle amicably. 

19 . On XX 2025 I responded to DCB Legal evidencing my formal complaint to Royal Mail and requesting a response to the rest of my previous email. There was a minor delay responding from my side due to the break-up of a long-term relationship which I was struggling with. 

20. On XX 2025 I received a response from DCB Legal stating that they would be prepared to sign a joint consent order to set the judgement aside only on the condition that I pay the debt in full and cover costs. I did not consider this reasonable as I am attempting to defend myself against the claim, not accept it and cover additional unreasonable charges. 

21.      On XX 2025 I submitted my case to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case. 

22. CPR 13.3 applies and there are very good reasons to set aside this claim given the strength of the defence to the claim, which includes a disproportionate and indeed, false 'debt recovery' sum.  In fact, no debt recovery occurred nor cost the Claimant any money whatsoever, in addition to £100 parking charge.  The Government has described the false fixed 'fee' of £70 as 'designed to extort money from motorists' in the new statutory Code of Practice in February 2022.  

23. The landmark CCJ set aside Court of Appeal case in VCS v Carr heard in March 2025 is binding authority that under the Overriding Objective, a CCJ must be set aside if a Defendant did not receive it, so that they may defend the case. Mr Carr was also awarded his costs. In that case the claim was not received and Mr Carr spent months trying to resolve the matter before making his application to the courts. The Defendant in this instance has also not received the court documentation or had the opportunity to mount a defence. Indeed, I was not even aware of a Judgment being issued against me until I happened upon it by accident checking my credit report. If had been aware, I would have defended myself against the claim in the first instance. In this case, I acted as promptly and as reasonably as I could while attempting to resolve the issue directly with DCB Legal. I note that it took a combined total of over XX weeks to receive emails from DCB Legal which took up a considerable amount of time. The Defendant has very good prospects of defending a claim, if served with one, but has seen no evidence, basis nor particulars of claim, and the Claimant should be required to file afresh, if they believe they have a cause of action.  

24. Further, in VCS v Carr, the court also highlighted the importance of the overriding objective in CPR 13.3, which requires the court to consider the justice of the case. The Defendant is a law-abiding citizen with integrity. I have no other judgements against me and have never been in trouble with the law. I am not seeking to avoid presenting a case and am not asking for any costs. The Defendant has a strong defence including legitimate and reasonable usage of the car park with permission to use the car park for the restaurant on the part of the Defendant, poor signage, poor lighting after dark, and unreasonable conditions on the part of the Claimant for usage of the car park. The Defendant in this case was unable to defend the claim and the judgment should be set aside to avoid injustice. 

25. Furthermore, former Prime Minister May publicly pledged to investigate ‘abuse’ of the CCJ System and so called ‘Credit Clamping’ as reported in the Daily Mail article dated 12 September 2016.  

The Right Honourable Sir Oliver Heald on 23 December 2016 "announced a crackdown on unresolved debts which can damage people’s credit ratings without them knowing.” The Minister added, "It cannot be right that people who are unaware of debts can see their lives and finances ruined by county court judgments.”  

26. Considering the above, I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgment against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside. I researched case law thoroughly, acted promptly in the circumstances, and had no choice but to make this application in July 2025. The Claimant must file a claim afresh and allow the Defendant the opportunity to respond. 

Coupon-mad

I'd remove para 25 as it's too old.

Change 'the Defendant' to "I" throughout (e.g. 3 times in para 15 alone).

Have you attached proof of contacting Royal Mail? That will help support your case that you didn't receive the claim form.

Hotpoint1234

Changed Defendant to I throughout and para 25 removed

I have the emails to and from Royal Mail that I can attach. Do you reccomend I also include copies of the emails to and from DCB legal and or the CNBC that i refer to in the statement?

Coupon-mad

Yes I think you should.

Because otherwise it looks like you failed to 'act promptly' which (along with prospects of defence) is a major consideration for the court when using its discretion under CPR 13.3.

Save the actual defence for later, if your Draft Order says you will defend when served with the POC.

Hotpoint1234

Noted - any final recommendations or supporting cases you suggest? Otherwise I will submit the n244 and ring to pay tomorrow