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Hello everyone, this might be a bit lengthy so please bare with me.
Unfortunately three days ago (15/6/22) I was made aware of a CCJ against me from September 2021. It was from Britannia Parking through BW Legal for an unpaid parking fine in May 2020. I had no idea that I had a CCJ against me and was not even aware of the fine itself until 15/6/22. I have applied for a job in the Metropolitan Police and it was a vetting officer who made me aware of it. It has been a very long process to get in and this is the career I have wanted for a long time, so to find this out is very distressing as the police won’t accept anyone with an outstanding CCJ. As soon as I found out I contacted the court associated (Northampton) and after getting details from them, then contacted BW Legal.
I called them up and asked then to clarify the details and explained that this has only just been brought to my attention from the vetting officer. They explained that the fine was issued on May 26th 2020 and it was done through an ANPR camera (so no physical ticket issued). The car park in question I have only been in once so I could easily remember that why I was in there. Essentially my boyfriend and I had an argument and I had gone for a drive to get away from it all. I pulled into this car park because I was crying and didn’t think I could safely continue driving. From memory I was there approximately 40 minutes and didn’t leave the car. This was also at about 2am so there wasn’t another car in there. I didn’t realise that there were cameras - or that I would’ve had to pay considering I didn’t leave the vehicle?
Anyway - fast forward to speaking to BW Legal, they explained that all letters regarding the fine had been sent to an address which I haven’t lived at for almost four years now. It was my family home which I moved out of to go to Uni in September 2018. My mum was the only person who still lived there and she moved out in April 2022. My mum and I were estranged for over two years and didn’t have any communication (we have a strained relationship). This was from when I moved to uni until the end of 2020. When we got back in contact, she never once mentioned anything about any letters coming for me and especially nothing of this nature. I explained this to the person at BW Legal and they said that between June 2020 and August 2021 they did three searches to find my current address as they hadn’t received any contact back from me. They said that they checked DVLA and log book records and the address never changed so that’s why they kept sending letters there. My car was registered to my home address as it was kept there for the majority of the year. While I didn’t speak to my mum - I left my car at her house as there was little to no parking whilst i was in student accommodation. I brought my car down to uni occasionally for a few weeks at a time - but for at least 8/9 months of the year it was sitting on my mum’s driveway back home. I had changed my address on both my drivers license and the electoral roll (as i registered in a new city) but not for my car.
The issue I have now is that obviously because it’s been so long it’s now on my credit record for six years. I’m only 21 so this is going to leave a huge impact on me trying to rent anywhere in the future or obtain any sort of credit until I’m 27! It’s been a huge shock and an incredibly stressful few days trying to decide what to do now. The vetting team at the Met Police wanted to know if I was planning to pay the CCJ off and of course I said I was once I could figure out the situation surrounding it. After speaking to the team at BW Legal I seemed my own legal advice and was advised to pay off the CCJ in full straight away so that I didn’t lose the job offer with the Met. They then said that I could look at getting the judgement set aside after paying it so that it’s not on my record. This is where I’m at now. I have paid the £274 CCJ in full and have obtained a N244 form from Northampton Court. However, after reading a few posts on here I can see that it is often negatively viewed if a CCJ is paid first before seeking it to be set aside as it is seen as admitting liability. I only paid it in full so that I did not lose the job with the police as I have spent almost a year in the application process and would hate to have to do it all again because of this. Is there any chance the judgement would be set aside? Or should I just accept the loss and learn from it? I would be looking to either get their consent to setting it aside or just submitting straight to the court but don’t want to waste even more money if there is little to no chance of me getting the desired outcome? The lawyer who advised me said that he believed I had good prospects of getting it set aside as the forms were sent to the incorrect address.
Any thoughts?? Thanks
Unfortunately three days ago (15/6/22) I was made aware of a CCJ against me from September 2021. It was from Britannia Parking through BW Legal for an unpaid parking fine in May 2020. I had no idea that I had a CCJ against me and was not even aware of the fine itself until 15/6/22. I have applied for a job in the Metropolitan Police and it was a vetting officer who made me aware of it. It has been a very long process to get in and this is the career I have wanted for a long time, so to find this out is very distressing as the police won’t accept anyone with an outstanding CCJ. As soon as I found out I contacted the court associated (Northampton) and after getting details from them, then contacted BW Legal.
I called them up and asked then to clarify the details and explained that this has only just been brought to my attention from the vetting officer. They explained that the fine was issued on May 26th 2020 and it was done through an ANPR camera (so no physical ticket issued). The car park in question I have only been in once so I could easily remember that why I was in there. Essentially my boyfriend and I had an argument and I had gone for a drive to get away from it all. I pulled into this car park because I was crying and didn’t think I could safely continue driving. From memory I was there approximately 40 minutes and didn’t leave the car. This was also at about 2am so there wasn’t another car in there. I didn’t realise that there were cameras - or that I would’ve had to pay considering I didn’t leave the vehicle?
Anyway - fast forward to speaking to BW Legal, they explained that all letters regarding the fine had been sent to an address which I haven’t lived at for almost four years now. It was my family home which I moved out of to go to Uni in September 2018. My mum was the only person who still lived there and she moved out in April 2022. My mum and I were estranged for over two years and didn’t have any communication (we have a strained relationship). This was from when I moved to uni until the end of 2020. When we got back in contact, she never once mentioned anything about any letters coming for me and especially nothing of this nature. I explained this to the person at BW Legal and they said that between June 2020 and August 2021 they did three searches to find my current address as they hadn’t received any contact back from me. They said that they checked DVLA and log book records and the address never changed so that’s why they kept sending letters there. My car was registered to my home address as it was kept there for the majority of the year. While I didn’t speak to my mum - I left my car at her house as there was little to no parking whilst i was in student accommodation. I brought my car down to uni occasionally for a few weeks at a time - but for at least 8/9 months of the year it was sitting on my mum’s driveway back home. I had changed my address on both my drivers license and the electoral roll (as i registered in a new city) but not for my car.
The issue I have now is that obviously because it’s been so long it’s now on my credit record for six years. I’m only 21 so this is going to leave a huge impact on me trying to rent anywhere in the future or obtain any sort of credit until I’m 27! It’s been a huge shock and an incredibly stressful few days trying to decide what to do now. The vetting team at the Met Police wanted to know if I was planning to pay the CCJ off and of course I said I was once I could figure out the situation surrounding it. After speaking to the team at BW Legal I seemed my own legal advice and was advised to pay off the CCJ in full straight away so that I didn’t lose the job offer with the Met. They then said that I could look at getting the judgement set aside after paying it so that it’s not on my record. This is where I’m at now. I have paid the £274 CCJ in full and have obtained a N244 form from Northampton Court. However, after reading a few posts on here I can see that it is often negatively viewed if a CCJ is paid first before seeking it to be set aside as it is seen as admitting liability. I only paid it in full so that I did not lose the job with the police as I have spent almost a year in the application process and would hate to have to do it all again because of this. Is there any chance the judgement would be set aside? Or should I just accept the loss and learn from it? I would be looking to either get their consent to setting it aside or just submitting straight to the court but don’t want to waste even more money if there is little to no chance of me getting the desired outcome? The lawyer who advised me said that he believed I had good prospects of getting it set aside as the forms were sent to the incorrect address.
Any thoughts?? Thanks
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