Appealing A Newley discovered CCJ From a Parking Charge Notice

[aMulqs]

Advice needed:

I am a self-employed single parent who has spent the last few days trawling through posts and loads of information online and I think I have got a grounding of what to do. However, I don’t want to make things worse or make any costly mistakes.

This is my timeline/situation:

I moved house early May 2020.

Alleged parking event 30th 07 2020:

I took my 4 year old daughter down to the seaside for the day. It was a sunny day early in restrictions loosening and so it was extremely busy at the seaside. Having driven around for a longtime trying to find a space to park, I finally entered a small busy carpark and joined a que of cars waiting for spaces to become available.

Once I finally managed to park I went to to pay at the machine and saw I was able to pay via the ‘paybyphone’ App. Which I did, after a few attempts to get logged into the App.

After a few hours of fun at the seaside, I then returned to the car loaded my daughter into her seat, allowed another driver to pull out of a space and left the car park.




Around the 10th of August 2020, I visited my old address and was given some mail addressed to me at that address.

This included a Parking charge Notice dated the 8th 08 2020. The “PCN” was from Parking Eye. It showed ANPR time stamped images of my car entering and then exiting the carpark.

I was really confused to receive the charge notice because I distinctly remembered paying.

I looked in the App and found the ticket I had purchased that day and sent in an appeal via Parking Eye’s website straight away.

This was rejected. Because of the time spent sitting in the que of cars, unloading a 4 year old and logging into the ‘PaybyPhone’ App, meant the ticket I had purchased didn’t start until just under 22 minutes after I entered the carpark.

And the time it took to safely secure my daughter and then allow another driver to pullout a space, meant my ticket expired 3 minutes before I was photographed exiting the car park.

This meant that according to the ANPR images I had underpaid my parking by a total of around 25 minutes.

My argument is that there were no clear signs stating that I would be charged from the moment I entered the carpark. This is actually evident from the photos Parking Eye submitted in their defence. None of their photos show a clear warning that there is a limited amount of time given to park and purchase a ticket. And for the majority of that first 22 minutes I was not parked in a bay, I was sat in a que of cars.

As soon as I did park in a space I went and paid. For me to pay sooner it would have involved me having to exit my car whilst it was still in a que, leaving my 4 year old child alone in the car and blocking other vehicles. Go to the machine pay then return to my car to carry on waiting for a space to become free.

It is also not shown on the signs when entering the carpark or when sat in the que that it would be possible to pay via the App. That was only visible once I arrived at the pay and display machine.

Also neither on the pay and display machine, nor in the ‘PaybyPhone’ App is there an option to set an earlier start time for the ticket. Meaning even if it were made explicitly clear that I was being charged from the moment I entered the car park, there was no way for me to pay for the time that had elapsed by the time I arrived at the pay and display machine.

So as far as I am concerned I did all I could to park and pay correctly that day.

The rejection notice of my appeal was sent to me via email from Parking Eye to my email address.



So I took it to the next stage of appealing to POPLA.

This process dragged on for ages with long periods of no contact from them. The last contact I had was an email exchange between myself and POPLA their’s dated the 24th December 2020 asking me to submit more evidence as they couldn’t open a file or something and then my response 28th December 2020 sending them the evidence. I heard nothing more about it and so I hadn’t thought about it since then.

I have no recollection of updating either Parking eye or POPLA with my correct postal address. However, all communication was taking place via email.

Jump forward to last Thursday the 27th of January 2022. Whilst checking my credit score I noticed a CCJ placed against me on the 21st of September 2021. I called the NCCBC and found out it is from Parking Eye relating to this “PCN”.

So they must have sent letters, but to my old address.

I am obviously now wanting to have this CCJ set aside. Especially as I am starting to have to look for a new place for me and my daughter to live (my landlord is planning on selling up) and I am sure having a CCJ will cause me all sorts of issues finding somewhere.

My questions are:

Given the fact that Parking eye had an email address for me and that I had been taking part in the appeals process; Is it right to assume that, when they had no more responses from me to their letters, they should have checked to see if the address they had for me was still correct?

I have obtained a signed letter from the resident of my old address stating any correspondents sent to me at that address, bar a few after I initially moved out, will all have been returned to sender. So both Parking eye and the NCCBC should have received their letters back and seen that I was not at that address any more. Will this letter strengthen that argument?

I am really angry about this whole process and feel like taking it all the way to court.

However, does my defence sound strong enough to try to get the CCJ set aside and the original decision over turned, or should I try to see if Parking Eye will agree to the Consent Order and see how much they will want to be paid to just settle the matter?

The CCJ is for £207 not sure how it has got to this from an original amount of £60 - £100?
So I am guessing the costs will be either £100 for the consent order to set aside and the £207. Or £275 for non consent application to set aside and then hopefully have the decision over turned and claim that back from them.

I believe I may be entitled to help with fees. Should I apply for this now, or wait till I have paid either the £100 consent order or £275 court fee.

Having looked through lots of witness statements etc over the last few days, I am worried that I won’t use the correct legal jargon and could mess up my defence that way. How much does it go against people if they don't use the correct terminology? Or do Judges accept that we are not lawyers etc?

Actions so far:

I called the NCCBC on Thursday once I saw the CCJ to find out who it was from and they sent me the N244 form via email.

I have emailed them today to ask for a copy of the Claim form and any other information they can send in relation to this case.

I have started to try to draft a Consent order to send Parking eye, but am finding this a challenge as the templates I have found all seem too say stuff about agreeing to pay the outstanding amount and I am not sure I am willing to do that.

I have also been trying to draft the email to send Parking Eye to see if they will agree to the Consent order, but again I am struggling with this as I can’t see why they would agree if I am not offering them anything?

If any one has a simple draft what I need to say in my initial email to Parking Eye and in the Consent order I would really appreciate it. Or if anyone is able to cast an eye over what I have drafted and tell me what else I need to say.

Thank you for your time

[ostell]

Usually a consent order and the £100 charge would be that you agree to pay the amount (and the £100) and they will not consent to the order.


Is this helpful? Parking Prankster: Waiting for a space is not Parking. ParkingEye lose in court. Beware of snakes at Fistral Beach (parking-prankster.blogspot.com)

[AndrewC]

There are a few separate issues in your question, so I'll attempt to address each of them.

Whether or not you have a defence is a separate issue to whether you can have the CCJ set aside. You probably do have a defence, based on the link above. Waiting is not parking.

Parking Eye probably won't consent to the CCJ being set aside unless you pay them. I would advise you to begin the application process, particularly if you're entitled to help with fees.

You may be entitled to help with paying your fees if you fulfil certain eligibility criteria, for example if you’re on benefits or have a low income. If you think that may apply to you, you can apply online here:

https://www.gov.uk/get-help-with-court-fees

If you do intend to apply for help with paying the fee, you will need to submit form EX160 at the same time as you apply.

Your application is based on 3 grounds:

1. The claim form was not correctly served on you (the claimant had reason to believe you weren't at the address if post was returned to them).
2. You have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.
3. There is what the court rules call 'some other good reason', ie you didn't see the claim form before judgment was entered and the CCJ is having a detrimental impact on your credit record

( I am in the process of writing a book about how to remove a CCJ. Would you mind if I sent you some relevant chapters and that will give you the information you need? In return, I'd really appreciate your feedback on whether it's useful and how I can improve it.)

[MIKE770]

Set Aside Application

[aMulqs]

There are a few separate issues in your question, so I'll attempt to address each of them.

Whether or not you have a defence is a separate issue to whether you can have the CCJ set aside. You probably do have a defence, based on the link above. Waiting is not parking.

Parking Eye probably won't consent to the CCJ being set aside unless you pay them. I would advise you to begin the application process, particularly if you're entitled to help with fees.

You may be entitled to help with paying your fees if you fulfil certain eligibility criteria, for example if you’re on benefits or have a low income. If you think that may apply to you, you can apply online here:

https://www.gov.uk/get-help-with-court-fees

If you do intend to apply for help with paying the fee, you will need to submit form EX160 at the same time as you apply.

Your application is based on 3 grounds:

1. The claim form was not correctly served on you (the claimant had reason to believe you weren't at the address if post was returned to them).
2. You have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.
3. There is what the court rules call 'some other good reason', ie you didn't see the claim form before judgment was entered and the CCJ is having a detrimental impact on your credit record

( I am in the process of writing a book about how to remove a CCJ. Would you mind if I sent you some relevant chapters and that will give you the information you need? In return, I'd really appreciate your feedback on whether it's useful and how I can improve it.)

Thank you so much for your help, advice and the offer to send relevant Chapters from your book. I would very much appreciate seeing them and of course would be very happy to offer any feedback.

So I will not bother writing to Parking eye asking for a consent order. I will just proceed with completing the N244 and the EX160. I will post my draft versions of the Forms on here once I've completed them, for advice?

[aMulqs]

Usually a consent order and the £100 charge would be that you agree to pay the amount (and the £100) and they will not consent to the order.


Is this helpful? Parking Prankster: Waiting for a space is not Parking. ParkingEye lose in court. Beware of snakes at Fistral Beach (parking-prankster.blogspot.com)

This is a really great link to see. And it gives me some more confidence to stand my ground. Thank you.

When it comes time to entering my defence, or on my initial witness statement, should I include this information; 3JD08399 ParkingEye v Ms X. (Altrincham 17/03/2014). Fistral Beach. to show how a similar case has gone?

[ostell]

Yes, make a reference to that case. It is not binding but it shows a previous decision.

[aMulqs]

Hello I have finally got a date for the court hearing to get the CCJ set aside.

It is happening on Wednesday. I have also had an email direct from Parking eye with their defence and why the CCJ should not be set aside.

I would really appreciate any feedback on how I should respond to their case at the hearing.

My feeling is that this is just their obvious next step but of course it is a bit scary as I am not a lawyer and hoping that I am going to be able to hold my own during the hearing.

Here is a dead link to their defence document, which has been redacted of info:

hxxps://www.dropbox.com/s/hm9or43hkuyxhsu/Parking%20Eye%20defence.pdf?dl=0

[AndrewC]

Hello I have finally got a date for the court hearing to get the CCJ set aside.

It is happening on Wednesday. I have also had an email direct from Parking eye with their defence and why the CCJ should not be set aside.

I would really appreciate any feedback on how I should respond to their case at the hearing.

My feeling is that this is just their obvious next step but of course it is a bit scary as I am not a lawyer and hoping that I am going to be able to hold my own during the hearing.

Here is a dead link to their defence document, which has been redacted of info:

hxxps://www.dropbox.com/s/hm9or43hkuyxhsu/Parking%20Eye%20defence.pdf?dl=0

You should be able to get the CCJ set aside if you can show that it's damaging your credit record and that you've acted promptly. Paragraph 17 of their document wrongly measures promptness from the date of the CCJ. The court will consider promptness based on when you found out. What date did you first learn of the CCJ?

[aMulqs]

You should be able to get the CCJ set aside if you can show that it's damaging your credit record and that you've acted promptly. Paragraph 17 of their document wrongly measures promptness from the date of the CCJ. The court will consider promptness based on when you found out. What date did you first learn of the CCJ?

Hello thank you for coming back to me.
I found about the CCJ on the 27th of January 2022 when I conducted my own credit check. I emailed the court on the 1st of February 2022 to get details about the claim. I managed to submit the request to have it set aside on the 2nd of March 2022.

[MIKE770]

make sure you have a good case to present

[AndrewC]

Hello thank you for coming back to me.
I found about the CCJ on the 27th of January 2022 when I conducted my own credit check. I emailed the court on the 1st of February 2022 to get details about the claim. I managed to submit the request to have it set aside on the 2nd of March 2022.

It sounds like you've acted promptly and you should be able to have it set aside. It's helpful if you can show that you would have a good prospect of successfully defending. But even if you haven't (and it is difficult to defend parking charge claims), you can still have the CCJ set aside if you can show some other good reason, which often means proving that it's having a damaging impact on your credit score.

[aMulqs]

So all went pretty well.
The judge didn't accept that the claim wasn't correctly served.

There was no mention of setting the claim as dead. I guess because he didn't accept that the claimant had not served the claim properly.
However, he also said that he had no reason to believe that I didn't receive the papers and so agreed to set aside the CCJ.

He did say that it seemed I had a reasonable case to defend my case.
Meaning that it will now go forward to a hearing for the original charge given and that the looser of that will then bear the full costs.

So I have to wait now for another court date to contest the parking charge which could be next year sometime.

At least the first stage has been done and the CCJ is now at least going to come off my credit record.

Thank you for your help so far.