Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge! - won

[Baggievann]

Hello Everyone,

I urgently need some advice from those with the knowledge. My fiancee and I have been applying for a mortgage and today our application was declined; I phoned up because there is no way it should have been but I was told I have been issued a CCJ! I'm very freaked out right now, but after paying for an Experian check, I contacted the court (Northampton) where it was issued and got told it was issued by Euro Parking Services LTD and awarded in May of this year. I contacted the solicitors, and then the bailiffs who have been given my case and apparently it has something to do with a parking ticket I was issued on the 28th of December 2015. I moved house on the 6th of November and applied to update my drivers license, which shows the date was updated on the 23rd of December, 5 days before this so called ticket was issued! I also of course changed my V5c accordingly, however I no longer have it as I sold the car on the 9th of March this year (ironically to raise funds for my house!).

All the letters from the parking company, solicitors, court and now bailiffs have all been sent to my old address which is confirmed by the court records. I have had no evidence presented to me from any of the companies regarding my guilt, nor had the opportunity to fight my case. The best form of proof I can provide is my tenancy agreement confirming that I moved house in November, my drivers license and I suppose perhaps a car history check which will prove I sold the car. Aside from that I don't know what evidence to provide as I really don't know what I have done wrong!

I have filled in an N244 form asking that the court set the judgement aside, but what evidence should I show and what will I need to do in order to make sure the court do the right thing and revoke my CCJ?

I'm really worried about this because if this is upheld I can kiss goodbye to home ownership for the next 6 years, which I really can't afford to have happen being in my 30's! Please Help!

Many thanks,
Alex

[mystery1]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Have a read http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...et-aside-a-CCJ

Any questions we'll try and answer. [MENTION=71570]R0b[/MENTION] is good at this

M1

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Thanks M1! I've read the thread and have followed the advice in it laid out by [MENTION=71570]R0b[/MENTION] and others. I am preparing a witness statement to accompany my N244 form now, seeing as I was awake at 5 am because of worrying so much

Could you have a look and see if it is appropriate please? I hope it makes sense, I'm tired and wired on coffee!

I, ################################################# will state as follows:

1. I make this Witness Statement in support of an application to set aside the default judgment entered on 23/05/2016.

2. The facts and matters set out in this statement are within my own knowledge unless otherwise stated, and I believe them to be true. Where I refer to information supplied by others, the source of the information is identified; facts and matters derived from other sources are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

3. There is now produced and shown to me a paginated bundle of true copy documents marked "##1". All references to documents in this statement are to Exhibit ##1 unless otherwise stated.

4. There now follows a factual history of what happened and why I believe the judgement against me is incorrect and should be set aside:

4.1. I am alleged to have received a Parking Charge Notice distributed by Euro Parking Services Ltd on 28/12/2015, in a place simply referred to as “Dangerfield”. At no point do I believe I received any such ticket on the date in question, and furthermore I have been provided with no evidence to support such a claim, as I shall outline in the following statement.

4.2. I found out about the CCJ against my name on 25/08/16 when I was declined for a mortgage by my bank. Having no prior knowledge of any outstanding convictions against me I registered with the credit-referencing agency Experian to check my credit file. Upon checking my credit history I discovered I had been awarded a judgment against my name on 23/05/2016.

The address stated on my credit file is the address ################################ (herein simply referred to as Nunroyd road).

On the date of the alleged offense, I no longer lived at the address associated with the judgment, and had in fact moved to the address shown in part 11 of form N244 (referred to from herein as Bateson Street) on the 9^th of November 2015.

4.3. It is my belief that judgment was wrongly entered as service of the claim form was defective. Furthermore I never received the Claim Form and did not have the opportunity to defend the claim.

4.2. I believe that the claimant did not take appropriate measures to ascertain my correct whereabouts before serving notice to the court. At the time of the alleged offence, I had already begun the process of registering my new details with my bank, credit referencing agencies, the DVLA and Electoral Roll. In support of this argument I have attached a photocopy of my drivers license clearly showing the issue date from the DVLA to be 23/12/15, 5 days before the alleged date of offense.

My credit report also shows that I was registered on the Electoral Roll in ######## Metropolitan District in January of 2016 at Bateson Street.

My credit report also shows my address to have been updated to Bateson Street by HSBC Card Services on 13/12/2015 from Nunroyd Road, and verified by Experian as entry B15.

4.3. Irrespective of my diligence in transferring my data held on record in good time to the correct address, the claimant has pursued action against me at an incorrect address. Due to this fact, I have received no evidence in support of the plaintiff’s claim. I am unaware of what charges, if any have been brought against me that justify legal action, and therefore believe I should be furnished with the opportunity to mount a defense of this claim through a setting aside of the original judgment.

4.4. I provided my former landlord with a forwarding address on 13/11/2015 at 17.11pm, which was acknowledged by him on 13/11/2015 at 19.27pm, further supporting the fact that I have not attempted to avoid any debts or claims against me.

4.5. The CCJ that has been put forward against me has had a hugely detrimental effect on my personal life, and ability to gain credit. As previously mentioned my fiancée and I have had our mortgage application declined because of this spurious claim, and I believe that it would be highly unfair to have my credit history tarnished for the next 6 years due to a claim relating to damages brought forth by a Private Parking Company. Particularly one I have not had the opportunity to defend.

4.6. I have been unable to verify the nature of the offence to the court in this form, with regard to the location, claimed breach of contract, and all circumstances surrounding the charge due to this lack of receipt of evidence.

Are there any other elements that you think I should put forward as an argument? As I understand it, If I can prove that the claimant did not make reasonable attempts to trace my whereabouts it would require the judge to issue a default setting aside of the claim. Would the evidence provided here support such a decision?

If there's anything else you need in terms of dates or info I'll happily provide if it gets this millstone from around my neck!

Many thanks,
Alex

[R0b]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Can you post up a word copy of this, might be easier to make comments and track changes than set it all out here

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Sure thing, here you go, thank you so much for having a look!

[wales01man]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

In the WS you mention the driving licence change of address date but not the date the V5 address was changed they would have obtained the V5 address not your licence because they did not know who you were when they applied Was the car in question address changed before or after this alleged parking?

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

I phoned the DVLA and they could only confirm when they dispatched my new V5c which was issued on the 11th of February 2015. They advise that changes of address can take between 4-6 weeks so it's possible that I sent my V5c to be changed very shortly after the date of the alleged offence, around 31st of December. Being christmas time it could have taken a little longer to be processed. I have no evidence of when I sent the document as I just sent it as regular post.

Even if the V5c was incorrect at the time of the PCN being issued, a simple credit check would have shown my address to have changed though surely?! Are Solicitors/Bailiffs and PPC companies not supposed to do their "due diligence"? There would have been a period well within my application for a new V5c when the matter was being referred to solicitors that you would expect them to attempt a trace, which would have easily turned me up on the Electoral Roll, Experian, etc.

Is 6 weeks an inordinate amount of time for one to send off their V5c? I would have thought that it would not be considered a fatally long time, especially at a busy time like Christmas!
Surely my entire case won't be sunk through simply not having my new V5c back in time? Please tell me the justice system isn't that black and white!

Thanks, Alex

[R0b]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

In the WS you mention the driving licence change of address date but not the date the V5 address was changed they would have obtained the V5 address not your licence because they did not know who you were when they applied Was the car in question address changed before or after this alleged parking?

I did notice that, I've adapted the WS with comments so you understand what is to be done. I've removed the point about the driving licence too as it doesn't help your case and its up to Euro Parking to prove that they took reasonable steps an what those steps were.

If you also have bailiffs then I would suggest that your N244 application needs to ask for the suspension of the warrant too, and this will need to be reflected in your draft order.

[wales01man]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Having read hundreds of cases on here the law can do anything wait for further advice from others before sending anything

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Hi R0b,

I've filled in the word document you sent me, thank you very much for it, it was immensely helpful! Aside from sending a copy of my tenancy agreement to the court, should I provide any other evidence such as the information regarding my change of address held on Expedia? They have dated confirmation of when I changed my details well in advance of the PCN let alone the CCJ. I'm really concerned now that the whole thing will rest on the technicality of my V5c not being updated quickly enough, even though I've accumulated plenty of evidence to suggest I was not hiding my identity and changing my details in good time!

Is there anything you can offer that might allay my fears!?

Many thanks,
Alex

P.S: Good point about Euro's needing to prove that they took reasonable steps to locate me. What would constitute "reasonable steps however"? I'm certain they have not carried out a credit check/report or consulted anything other than the V5c through my numberplate, surely just relying on one, occasionally inaccurate database would not constitute doing their due diligence under a "reasonable steps" argument would it?

[R0b]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

If your have a confirmation that your report was updated then you could provide that as additional evidence. As I have said it is up to them to provide evidence that they took some kind of reaosnable steps to find your whereabouts for the purpose of issuing the claim form. If you failed to respond to any of the correspondence they may have sent, it would not be unreasonable for them to find out where you still live at that address, and that could be a credit search for that information.

I'll see if I can find any case law to assist you but I'm sure there was on in particular that said for reasonable steps you have to take more than just the easiest one. For example, if a local property agent issues proceedings against a tenant but received no response to correspondence, it might be considered reasonable to attend the property in question to confirm.

It may also depend on when the claim was first issued, because it seems like a bit of a gap between the PCN and the default judgment so if that's the case they should have carried out further checks to ensure you still live there before issuing the claim.

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Great, thanks Rob!

On the N244 I have attached a copy of my credit report with relevant information highlighted, along with a timeline of events to help the court assess the evidence I have provided. If there is a precedent in law that states requiring a complainant to go further than tracing the simplest record of address that would be a boon to my defense no?

I'm very grateful to all your advice so far, thanks! I'm starting to feel a bit more positive now; though I'm still scared witless at the idea an unempathetic judge may just throw it all out. Any past dealings I have had with the CPS or criminal justice system have always seemed to be very one sided against the little guy.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed I have a strong enough case to at the very least get the CCJ overturned. I'll pay their blood money gladly if ordered to if it'll save my hopes of home ownership!

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Another thing; I obviously have zero evidence of having done anything wrong such as photos of the supposed parking infringement, where it apparently occured, signage in the area, photo of my car with the ticket on it etc. I'm going to send letters to the Bailiffs, Solicitors and Euro Parking requesting evidence that supports their claim against me. Firstly, should I use a correspondence address other than my home address to avoid bailiffs turning up at my door whilst the court considers my N244? Secondly, is there a template I should use to write a formal request for evidence from these people? I'll be sending it all via recorded post and keeping a tab on my expenses incurred!

Do I need to request the evidence at this juncture? It would seem wise to do so in order to fully assess their claim, but of course I'm wondering if they'll send me anything at all!

[R0b]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

I wouldn't send anything to the bailiffs, You could send a letter to Euro Parking explaining that you have no record of receiving this and have only realised the CCJ and bailiffs - you could invite them to consent to the set aside or It is your intention to suspend the warrant and set aside the claim on the grounds of defective service and you did not receive the claim form.

MB Garden Buildings Ltd v Mark Burton Construction Ltd 2014 at para. 35

I take the view that if a claimant has carried out inquiries with reasonable diligence as to the defendant’s last known residence before that date and on that date it was objectively reasonable for the claimant to believe that the defendant’s residence remained unchanged, then on that date it is still the defendant’s last known residence for the purposes of service by that claimant. Of course the longer the delay between the inquiries and the date of the step required for service the harder it will be for a claimant to establish that there was good service

Your argument will be this: When is it reasonable to believe the person no longer resides there? You would say if there is any suspicion of the last known address then it would be prudent to take reasonable steps and confirm the current address of residence. It would be reasonable to suspect that a delay between making initial inquiries and issuing the claim form or a lack of response to correspondence would give rise to the risk that the person may no longer reside at that address. In your case, there has been both a delay in issuing and lack of response and so Euro Parking must take reasonable steps to identify current address before it can issue the claim form.


You don't need to quote the above in your witness statement but you can use it on the day of the hearing if need be as a counter argument if Euro Parking turn up and say they took steps.

As for your credit report, I would blank anything unnecessary other than when you updated your records - you don't want the court or the other side knowing your personal information and liabilities.

In the N244 application, the section where is asks what you want the court to do, you can use the wording in the link provided by M1 bt you would need to add to it and say something like "Further, an order for the suspension of the warrant granted on XX XX XX (Warrant no. )"

If you don't have a copy of the warrant you will need that information to put in there.

[Baggievann]

Re: Please help! CCJ Issued without my knowledge!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to update you on my case with some good news! After all of the advice I received regarding my CCJ I went to court last month and within about 5 minutes the judge set my CCJ aside! Euro Parking and Gladstones didn't even bother to turn up, instead sending a letter to the Judge apologising for their absence, but they "feel the evidence is so overwhelming, they would not wish to waste the court's time and resources, with no disrespect intended." Suffice to say, the fact my drivers license was issued by the DVLA four days before the ticket was even issued was enough to have the case wrapped up rather quickly!

The judge gave them 21 days to serve me with evidence and papers and I even convinced her to make Euro Parking pay my £255 issue fee!

The 21 days has now expired and Euro Parking Services have not served me, nor paid me my issue fee, so I took great pleasure in sending Gladstones and Euro Parking a letter of intent yesterday, giving them a further 21 days to pay me before I issue court proceedings against them!

Now that the case is dropped, however, I'm still not finished. My credit rating and that of my partner is in tatters and I'm chasing referencing agencies to amend my details left right and centre. I want to take this further. I lost out on a house, have spent thousands extra in rental costs, and lost equity on a house purchase, not to mention had to deal with vast amounts of stress and time taken out to deal with this. Can I counter sue these people for damages? Has it been done before, and how could one go about doing this?

Many many thanks go to R0b for all his advice, you all do a fantastic job of helping others, and I'm eternally grateful that places like this exist to help provide consumers with free advice against these con-artists!

All the best,
Alex