A coffee and a CCJ please!

From: Peter

Subject: CCJ against me

Hi there.

I have recently received a CCJ against me for a parking ticking I received from Parking Eye.

I got the ticket for staying in a carpark for too long in a place where k was shopping and eating/drinking.

When I received the letter I was shocked and rang the coffee shop where I was eating/drinking to compain. The manager told me that he would sort it out and would call the company to have in removed.
After this I heard nothing else and presumed he had fixed it. However, the next thing I know is that I have a CCJ against my name for not paying the ticket!

I really cannot afford to have this CCJ against me as I am buying a house but I also do not want to pay the ticket for something I do not do wrong.

Please help?

Kind regards,

Peter”

 

This really is shocking; you can receive a County Court Judgment (CCJ) for taking too long to have a coffee!

The strange thing is that receiving a CCJ should not come as a shock. Firstly, you would receive the ticket and then several subsequent letters chasing payment (and possibly correspondence about the appeal, should one be lodged). After that, if the parking company still wants to enforce payment, then they will need to start legal proceedings. This will commence with a Letter Before Claim which is required by the Practice Directions (the rules that govern legal proceedings). If no defence is entered, then the court may issue a default CCJ. If the CCJ is not settled in 28 days, then it goes on the the CCJ register which would then appear on ones credit history – as Peter has found out.

It’s not clear why Peter has only found out about his CCJ now. If he ignored the stamped court papers, then he only has himself to blame – NEVER IGNORE COURT PAPERS (have we mentioned that before?!). If he never received the papers, then perhaps the car was not registered at his current address?

If you do find yourself in this position and you want to clear the CCJ, then you will either need to pay it (if within the 28 days), and/or apply for a set aside. If you apply for the set aside, you will need to have both a genuine excuse for not responding and a reasonable chance of winning. We would strongly recommend you get help, either from a solicitor, or one of the forums.

Have a look at our credit rating piece for more on the subject.