CCJ court help required

[Steveg85]

I have a ccj judgement in progress from a parking fine now owned and pursued by MIL collections.
I first had contact in december 15, about a fine from a vehicle i sold in aug 14. The fine was january 2015. I knew it wasn't myself as i no longer owned the vehicle so told them this but apparantly it was up to me to prove this. I stupidly ignored them. Next step i receive the court letter last month. I acknowleged it was a 'serious letter but along with soliciters letters i'm currently trying to complete for a house purchase along with working away from home during this last month i have had to try to juggle this and complete to deadlines etc.
I completed the court form after 10days to acknowledge it and show i wanted to defend myself against the fine (£175), however i only posted 4 days later. As far as i was aware from the court letter i had 14 days to acknowledge i owed the money or 28 days if i was to defend myself.
I also contacted dvla at the same time to request proof of sale via their sensitive casework department which they said could take 2-4 weeks to process and send back info. I received this 7/4/16 confirming my sale date and to which new owner. I then received my court letter back stating i was late returning my acknowledgement. The ccj has been served and i need to pay in 30 days.
I intended on contacting court when they are open to question the situation on time limits, but i presume i misunderstood And all responses had to be back before 14 days.
I do not intend paying this as i have proof in my possesion i did not own the car but is my only option to pay £255 to get it set aside? If i pay before 30 days would i still have a ccj?
If i pay to set aside can i claim back the £255 plus other possible costs if i proove my innocence in any way?
I have found a lot of info from searching online but not about these last questions.

Thanks for any assistance in advance

[charitynjw]

Re: CCJ court help required

Hi Steveg85 & welcome to LB

Your explanation is a bit light on detail.

To begin with:

1) What is the issue date on the face of the court claim?
2) On what date did you acknowledge service & how?
3) If land mail, did you get proof of posting for 2) above?

[Steveg85]

Re: CCJ court help required

Hi thanks for your response, they posted it on march 6th which meant my time to respond began 10th march. I posted it i think 24th and they acknowledged receipt on 26th. I'm presuming by returning it as 'late' it needed to be there by the 24th? The way i read it was to acknowledge i needed to pay was 14 days but to defend i had 28 days. I sent back the defence section to explain i intended to defend and required more time as i had sent a letter to dvla and could be 2-4 weeks according to the customer service rep on the phone. I didn't get proof of posting but they have stamped my service/defence reply 'received 26th march' with a cover letter saying too late and now have 30 days to pay £175. I can afford to pay but it's the principle that i now have proof in my hand, but if it will cost £255 to set aside etc or pay £175 and have no ccj? Or would i still have the ccj if i pay up? I rand MIL Collections to explain i had proof and new owners details in my possesionif they could drop the case and i could forward on the correct information to them but they didn't want to know...