Help with having a CCJ set aside

[janie87]

Hi,
Looking for any help/advice please on CCJ's. I recently found out I had been issued with a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine in Oct 2023. All correspondence from the parking management company was sent to my old home address (I hadn't updated my V5 document at the time) and so I was unaware of the fine otherwise would have paid it straight away.

I've been speaking to a ccj agency for advice and they say I have a case to have the CCJ set aside but will need to apply for consent from the solicitor's acting on behalf of the parking company. The paralegal I spoke with was confident the claimant would agree to consent as they have dealt with the same solicitors many times before and have experience in this.

Obviously there's a cost involved if I instruct the advice agency for help in drafting the legal forms for me - something I'm willing to pay if this is definitely legit.

Can anyone offer advice? Should I trust that the advice I'm being given is correct?!

Thanks!

[R0b]

Hi

Based on the number of parking queries and default judgments we receive on this forum, it is quite common for parking companies via their solicitors to either refuse to consent or, if they did consent, it would be on the condition that you must pay them first before they will agree to sign the consent order.

The problem with paying before the consent order is signed, is that in the eyes of the law, you are deemed to have admitted liability so the court has no duty to consider setting aside the default judgment, and may instead view you as someone who is wanting to repair the damage to their credit worthiness.

It's a very risky route to take and there is no guarantee that a judge would reject the consent order on the basis you have paid the judgment debt. Some people have taken a risk and got away with it since a consent order is simply a rubber stamp process but I have seen first hand where it has gone the other way and the individual is left with a CCJ on their record and no leverage since they already paid the judgment.

Personally, the law firms that represent these parking firms are so bad at the procedural process for legal proceedings, you typically have a good chance of getting it set aside by representing yourself, so long as you are comfortable doing so. If you were going to use a legal representative, you are unlikely to get your legal costs back from this, which may cost more than the CCJ itself but this is something you should confirm and satisfy yourself before proceeding with them - I suspect they will tell either that they will try but there is no guarantee and you will still have to pay their fees, even worse if the fees are not fixed and you are paying hourly rates.

If you want to go it alone, we can assist you on here with relevant documentation for you to fill in, assuming you give us some more background, but you have to act promptly.