Judgement for Claimant from UKCPS (plus a couple of other parking woes)

ohffssss

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for the fact that I know that probably all of the information I need is already on here somewhere, I'm just having a really hard time deciphering it and quite overwhelmed so don't know where to start.

For context, my car has been registered at my Mum and stepdad's house since I bought it a couple of years ago - I always update my insurance according to where I spend most of my time, but I've been in a years-long battle with my landlord which has both drained my capacity to deal with further legal issues, as well as cast a lot of uncertainty over my permanent address, hence why all of this has been left to fester as long as it has.

My stepdad has been alerting me to various parking-related notifications I've received to their address - they're all from UKCPS (there are 4 in total, all at different stages) but actually over two different sites - two from Leeds train station and two from a car park in Headingley.

The two from the car park in Headngley are because I parked in an empty car park for about 2-5 minutes each time to go into a shop - I didn't realise until I came back the second time that there was a notice, and the charges relate to 'leaving site'. There's a thread or two on here confirming the nonsense of it all at that particular car park.

The two from the train station have been whilst I have been waiting for my Mum either picking up or dropping off - she has early onset Alzheimer's and the journeys are becoming more challenging for her, and the last couple of visits have meant that I have either been stopped a minute or two longer making sure that she is okay (please don't offer any judgement on this situation - it is a constant renegotiation of safety vs independence and we are trying our best, just don't need parking fines punishing us for it in the meantime).

When my stepdad told me about the letters, he had looked up this forum and basically told me the very shorthand advice to 'ignore them', which given that I was already dealing with my landlord trying to turf me out on a no-fault eviction notice plus a poorly parent, that is what I gladly did.

In the meantime, my stepdad then changed his tune and told me that I need to properly deal with this, update my address (currently have no fixed abode), and sent me a copy of a Judgement order from the courts. As well as this, I am getting letters and calls from both Moorside Legal and Trace Recovery and I can't even keep track of which letters relate to which attempted charge.

Now that things have settled (come to an agreement with landlord, I did 'win' but I am now effectively homeless 👍️), I have more capacity to sort it out, frankly because I feel quite harassed and want it all to stop… but don't know where to start!

Thanks in advance for any advice or pointers, sorry for the life story and sorry I wasn't able to glean what I need from the various posts and templates, I promise I tried!

DE_612183

1. you need to read the newbies thread
2. you need to ascertain exactly which point which of these claims / invoices are at

Once you know that we can work out whether you have a CCJ that you need to apply to get set aside, or whether you still have the opportunity to counter act any of these claims.

I presume you have not appealed any of these so you have not declared you were driving for any of them

Perhaps list each one of this thread with a redacted copy of the most recent correspondence

ohffssss

Thank you for your swift response - I'll focus on the one that seems to be the most urgent for the time being, hope that's okay.

I have not appealed any of these - I think my stepdad replied to a couple of the letters basically saying that they had the wrong address and that he was not obliged to give them my new address, but no further specifics given beyond that. My stepdad did say that he wondered whether this letters was even legit but I fear that might just be wishful thinking…

Le_Kirk

That judgement (in default) is because you didn't reply to the claim form - presumably, because you didn't receive it, as you didn't or weren't able to check your post at your Mum/Step Dad's house regularly. Nothing wrong with having an address that isn't yours on your V5C, it only needs to be one at which you can be contacted.

If you don't care about having a CCJ on your credit file for six years, you can ignore it, however, if you want to remove the CCJ by using the set-aside process you need to react promptly; the system doesn't like tardiness. For help on set-aside go to the NEWBIE sticky second post, scroll down until you find: -

CCJs are different, but beatable:

HAVE YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT A CCJ (JUDGMENT FOR CLAIMANT) AND NEED IT SET ASIDE?

Suggest you either use an Excel spreadsheet or find a sheet of A3 paper and write down all the PCNs along with their reference numbers along with the date of the PCN and alleged date of parking event, the particular parking company, the car park, the solicitors and the position you are at with each of them. You can use this to update yourself as you move through the process. The CCJ is the most important, then any live claims then letters before claim. Most "leaving site" claims are easily beaten - search the forum for similar cases.

ohffssss

Hiya, thank you for your help! Just looking through the template letter shared by @troublemaker22 on that post which looks like the first move - just really struggling to ascertain who I'd be sending it to? Also a bit confused about how to argue the situation with the address - you're right, I didn't see any claim forms and wasn't made aware of anything. Would the wording about this being an old address apply in this instance? Also would I be using the the claim reference on the default judgement in the heading? It's honestly difficult to keep track of which one this even applies to - I don't even have the paperwork in front of me, just crappy phone pics of a few random letters!

Apologies for the general disarray - I'm finding it really difficult to understand any of it and I think after my neverending landlord woes, my window of tolerance for legal processes is in the gutter, it just gives me a really bad headache 😫 I wish I could ignore it but the idea of this absolute nonsense affecting my credit rating for 6 years is too much to take.

Coupon-mad

Why did he fail to show you the Claim Form?! You only had to respond to that and defend. Now you've got a CCJ to unpick.

Does he now know what NOT to ignore? Your stepdad might get more Claim Forms arriving soon. He must show you them in time, not sit & wait for you to get a CCJ!

Of course a Claim Form is legit.

Hopefully you qualify for Help With Fees (Google it). Start the process.

ohffssss

Oh, trust me there are many questions to be asked about the way my stepdad operates

ohffssss

But yes if anyone can help clarify exactly where I should be sending this initial letter (working from @troublemaker22 's helpful template), and whether the wording about the address makes sense in my case, and I'll take it from there. Will definitely look into the Help With Fees too. To be honest I can probably cover the upfront costs of an N244 if it's looking fairly certain that I'd get it back just to avoid yet more paperwork, although if anyone has any insight on how long it can take to be reimbursed that would be great as well.

Coupon-mad

CCJ set asides take several months but yes, where an old address was used, most Defendants do recoup the fee as well.

Do you have a new address you can use (or a trusted friend's address) because I don't recommend you do an application still using the unreliable stepdad's address. Also your N244 partly depends on you saying you live elsewhere.

You email Moorside Legal first. Search the forum to find their email address.

Le_Kirk

You need the Excel spreadsheet and/or the A3 paper and start collating what you have, be they phone pics or letters and you can put reference numbers against parking companies, PCNs letters before claim etc.

Just looking through the template letter shared by @troublemaker22 on that post which looks like the first move - just really struggling to ascertain who I'd be sending it to?

Are you referring to the response to a letter of claim template? This is why you need a one page reference of all your claims and what stage they are at. You send the response to a letter before/of claim (LOC) to the solicitors that sent the LOC.

ohffssss

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926005#Comment_81926005

Thank you for this!

I can probably change where my car is registered to my Dad's address in the short term which is where I'm staying at the moment. If I change this on my vehicle logbook now, I don't know what difference that would necessarily make to my ongoing cases? Would I need to put this address anywhere in writing when arguing this particular case? I guess for now I'm just emailing anyway, seems like the most reliable way from what I've read? I suppose the confusing thing is that my legal address has been my own place in Leeds for several years - I guess the argument ultimately would be that they would have been easily able to obtain this address somehow to contact me about the claim directly, rather than sending things to my family address, but I wonder how that holds up and how it should be worded. Fact of the matter is that I did not see the Claim Form because I am not able to check my post over at Mum's regularly, and nobody thought to tell me about it if it did arrive.

Apologies for the general scatteredness - I think given that I've just wrapped up an extremely stressful 5-year long legal battle to keep a roof over my head and am trying to get my life back on track, to be thrown into another completely unnecessary legal issue is doing really bad things to my brain and making me feel quite physically unwell also. I'm trying to understand it all but it is painful and triggering which is really limiting my capacity to think clearly. Really appreciative of your help and guidance, it's very kind of you to share your knowledge with people in these situations!