Advice on CCJ I didn't know about following a PCN sent to an old address?

omaho · 28 November 2017 at 6:21PM

Hi All,

I have just discovered I have a CCJ. Most of the correspondence regarding the matter was sent after I moved address. I am looking for advice on what options I have to get the CCJ taken off my record and if I should pay anything. I'm pretty sure the answer to the second question is yes!

A brief (as possible) timeline:

17th April 2017: PCN issued by London Parking Solutions Ltd.

Regarding the alleged offence, the Car waited for a few minutes in the bay of a private car park. The driver did not get out and the engine was running the whole time. A passenger got in the car and the car left. No ticket was issued at the time and no attendant questioned the driver at the time the car was waiting int the space.

The PCN was received in the post a week or so later. It was for 'not displaying a valid permit'. I can only assume the car was on camera and the number plate was crosschecked.

I responded 2 weeks later with a very brief letter saying words to the effect of "I did not park illegally, please do not contact me on this matter again." It was very brief.

I received a response saying that my 'appeal' (I didn't appeal as such) was rejected a few weeks later. I didn't reply as I didn't think it would go anywhere.

10th June: I then moved house and forgot about the issue all together.

Last weekend I discovered a pile of letters that had been sent to my old address*. They were progressively more threatening, passed between various debt collection agencies, culminating in claim form from the "County Court Business Centre" (money claims online) on 19th September notifying me of a court action. This was followed by an order on 19th October to pay the claimant £262.55 as I didn't respond to the claim form. I have also received a letter from their solicitors saying they have obtained a CCJ and are instructing bailiffs presumably on my old address.

Naturally I really don't want a CCJ on my record and given it has come to this I would be happy just to pay the full amount to make it go away. I believe that can only happen within the first month of the CCJ being issued and I have now missed that window by a few weeks. I thought I could contact their solicitor to see if they could make that happen. But I don't know if that is possible and if I would even trust them to help me.

Does anyone have any experience in making CCJs go away? Please could you advise?

*Regarding my old address I was actually renting the house off my mum. She doesn't live there. Since moving out it has been vacant mostly and I never got around to picking up my mail out of carelessness. the address is local to me, so i'm not sure how much of a defence that is for not reading mail sent to my old address and not knowing about the the court action.

catfunt · 28 November 2017 at 6:30PM

Do a search in the forum for "set-aside".
A set-aside is your only option, other than "pay and still have ther CCJ on your record for six years", andf no-one in this forum wil recommend that, other than the odd PPC apologist.

Plenty of threads on the subject of set-asides.

waamo · 28 November 2017 at 6:36PM

The post at the top of this forum titled **NEWBIES!! PRIVATE PARKING TICKET? OLD OR NEW? **READ THESE FAQS FIRST!** Thankyou! has a whole section devoted to the court process including how to apply for a set aside.

omaho · 29 November 2017 at 12:55PM

Thank you for your post.

Given that the CCJ was issued over 1 month ago i didn't know if I could go down the 'set aside route'. Am I still eligible to go down the set aside route given the time frame?

Also I did not know if 'not picking up my mail from my old address' was valid grounds on which to grant a set aside. Do you think it is?

Lastly, I thought you could only apply for set aside if you have a solid defence against the original parking fine. Do you think I do?

If the answer to the above 3 questions is 'yes' then I guess Ill give set aside a try.

Thanks for your help!

System · 30 November 2017 at 4:02AM

Answers are yes, yes, and you have to try.

The issue is that you should get an automatic set-aside and this bounces the decision to have a rehearing back to LPS. They then have to take the risk that if the don't win, they will not get anything from you and have to pay the £255 back. So more often than not, there is no rehearing and you are only out the £255 for the set-aside.

In any case the amount is much less than it costs you with a crap credit rating. So press on with the set-aside.

nosferatu1001 · 30 November 2017 at 10:32AM

If you are outside of 1 month, thenthe only way to NOT have ruined credit for 6 years is to get a set aside.

When you moved house you really should have updated your address with them, This is only prudent to avoid this situation. However if you can show they sent LOTS of letters that were not responded to then this is good - because, having responded to some and then stopped responding, they should have realised that there is a chance this address is no longer a good address and used a Tracing service to ensure the claim forms, lba etc were actually served on you. While they do not have to perform DUE dilgence, this is reasonable diligence they should perform. They had a couple months at least to realise nothing was being responded to

So look throug the set aside thresads. You need three elements

1) Draft order - wha tyou want the court to do. Set aside judgement of X , order claimant to repay set aside fee of £255 within 14 days of the set aside hearing, and if youre feeling brave, stirke out the original claim as having no merit
2) A statement to show why the set aside should be gratned. Show the number of lettters they sent that were not responded to, date of moving plus date of claim form to show a reasonable gap, and that you were "there to be found" (use those words) at your new address - electoral register, council tax, utility bills etc in your name, so thayt a tracing service would find you and you were not trying to hide

If you can show a lack of good service set aside should be AUTOMATIC, and massively increases your chances of gettin gthe £255 back

3) You should, to be prudent AND if you want the claim struck (the brave move I suggest above), include a defence to show a reasonable chance of success in the event of a hearing. this is to persuade the court that more time should be spent and it wont be wasted. One side of A4, double line spaced as per newbies thread. You will have to work with the details you have, however, again as per the newbies thread you MUST NOT try to find something too specific - these all revolve around contratcs meaning standing, signage amounts etc are all valid defence points you can add.

Advice on CCJ I didn't know about following a PCN sent to an old address?

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