I have recently applied for a new mortgage, as my fixed rate was up. And was very surprised when it was turned down on credit (I have had any late/missed payments).

I have checked my credit report, and found a CCJ at my old address, one I had not been living in for 18 months at the time the CCJ was sent, and as such had no knowledge of it.

I have contacted the court, and found out that this is from one of the local councils; for an unpaid parking ticket.
I can verify that I was in the area on the date that the ticket was issued (I have a log of all call outs I have attended in several years), though I know for a fact that I have never had a parking ticket in the town it was issued.

I have three questions (I have made a phonecall to CAB but have been told it will be 3 days before they can respond to it):

(1) Can I contest the CCJ - I never received any letters informing me off the ticket, the intent to prosecute me, or the CCJ itself.

(2) How do I proceed to contest a parking ticket (PCN), which was never issued to me, 2 years ago.

(3) If I have no leg to stand on, and am forced to pay for a ticket never issued to me, can the CCJ still be revoked, and do I stand a strong chance to pay only the initial reduced fee, not full fee + £105 legal costs, as this is the first time I have been made aware of it.

Thank you

Do we assume that this was a County Court action and that the parking ticket was issued by a private firm rather than a Local Authority?

Ah! No I see it was a Local Authority, strange that they should take action in the County Court as non-payment of parking fines are usually dealt with in the magistrtates court under local by-laws.
Can you confirm that this is a County Court judgement?

[quote=1337-kr3w;565377

I have three questions (I have made a phonecall to CAB but have been told it will be 3 days before they can respond to it):

(1) Can I contest the CCJ - I never received any letters informing me off the ticket, the intent to prosecute me, or the CCJ itself.

(2) How do I proceed to contest a parking ticket (PCN), which was never issued to me, 2 years ago.

(3) If I have no leg to stand on, and am forced to pay for a ticket never issued to me, can the CCJ still be revoked, and do I stand a strong chance to pay only the initial reduced fee, not full fee + £105 legal costs, as this is the first time I have been made aware of it.

Thank you[/QUOTE]

1)As this is about 2 years ago you would have to apply for leave of the court to re-open the case ‘out-of-time’.

2)Contact the issuer of the ticket.

3)The amount you would have to pay would generally be that ordered by the court, unless you can reach agreement with the claimant on a lesser amount. Once payment has been made and the claimant is satisfied you can apply to the court for a settlement notice, to which the claimant has to agree, which will record on the registers that the case has been settled.
A court judgement can only be revoked by having the case re-opened and the judgement set aside, see 1) above.

Thank you for your reply...

It is definitely a CCJ; it was held in a county court, and is recorded as such on my credit report.

I assume it would be favourable to reopen the judgement and have it set aside, and then contest (as with any luck I need not pay a ticket I have never been in receipt of), or at the very least try to settle the face value of the ticket (minus any other fees) outside of court. This would then remove the CCJ from me completely, rather than just flag it as settled?

My biggest gripe is that I am going to be disadvantaged due to having a CCJ, for a ticket, correspondence, and judgement that I never received.
I have checked my call outs and know that I was definitely in the area on the day that they claim a ticket was issued, this ticket was definitely not affixed to my car. I can only assume it was never put there, or it fell off (which if it is stuck on can't be likely).

This being the 3rd day I am hoping to speak to CAB today, but am not sure which is the best way to proceed. I don't mind paying £25 (the reduced rate for immediate payment on the ticket) to get this sorted out, as I am worried that I don't stand a chance contesting it, do I have to pay court fees to reopen and set aside the CCJ?

If you were to pay the fee, either the amount of the judgement or the reduced rate, although I can't see the Council agreeing to remit their court costs, you would still have the CCJ recorded against you. If you want to attempt to get it expunged then the only way is to apply to re-open the case 'out-of-time'.
I would suggest you contact the County Court that issued the judgement and seek their advice. It will be a matter for the judge as to whether the case is re-opened and you will have to appear in person to make the application. Personally, I suspect that there is only a small chance of a judge agreeing given the length of time that's elapsed since the judgement was made.

On Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:10:06 +0100, amiducour
wrote:


1337-kr3w;566220 Wrote:
Thank you for your reply...

It is definitely a CCJ; it was held in a county court, and is recorded
as such on my credit report.

[snip]

This being the 3rd day I am hoping to speak to CAB today, but am not
sure which is the best way to proceed. I don't mind paying £25 (the
reduced rate for immediate payment on the ticket) to get this sorted
out, as I am worried that I don't stand a chance contesting it, do I
have to pay court fees to reopen and set aside the CCJ?

If you were to pay the fee, either the amount of the judgement or the
reduced rate, although I can't see the Council agreeing to remit their
court costs, you would still have the CCJ recorded against you. If you
want to attempt to get it expunged then the only way is to apply to
re-open the case 'out-of-time'.
I would suggest you contact the County Court that issued the judgement
and seek their advice. It will be a matter for the judge as to whether
the case is re-opened and you will have to appear in person to make the
application. Personally, I suspect that there is only a small chance of
a judge agreeing given the length of time that's elapsed since the
judgement was made.

Surely this is wrong? If he was never properly served with proceedings
(which may or may not be the case), he is *entitled* to have the
judgment set aside, however long a time has elapsed.

--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"

*Entitled* - sorry but no! The Civil Proceedings Rules are that an application to have a judgement set aside or varied must be made within 7 days of the order being made, (actually 'served' but it would only be necessary to show the judgement had been dispatched by first class post to show 'good service', whether it was received or not).
Thus in this case the application would first have to be to apply out-of-time. If that were granted, and there's no guarantee it would be, then an application could be made to re-open on the grounds that the respondent was never properly served with notice of the proceedings, and it would be for the respondent to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that he didn't receive the notice of proceedings, and it's not easy to prove a negative!
If the court agree to re-open the case then the respondent would apply to have the judgemment set-aside. If the court were satisfied by the respondent's arguments, and the original plaintiff would doubtless argue against it, then the court could set the judgement aside and the whole case then start again from the beginning.

I've read this through three times and it still sounds complicated, even to me!
I'm glad I didn't make the rules, I only have to follow them :-)

Thanks for explaining this so thoroughly; I will try to take a few days off work next week to visit the council and court personally, the council hasn't bothered returning calls, despite having many messages left.
I will try to get the case re-opened, I would much rather get it set aside so as I can dispute the original ticket, which I never received, and even if I still need to pay this, do not want a CCJ I should never have been served (even if there is justification for the ticket, I should have received it and then would have paid it), and won't be penalised with an extortionate mortgage rate for the next six years.

On Sep 26, 5:10*am, amiducour
wrote:
Don Aitken;566670 Wrote:





On Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:10:06 +0100, amiducour
wrote:
-

1337-kr3w;566220 Wrote: -
Thank you for your reply...

It is definitely a CCJ; it was held in a county court, and is
recorded
as such on my credit report.
--
[snip]
--
This being the 3rd day I am hoping to speak to CAB today, but am not
sure which is the best way to proceed. I don't mind paying £25 (the
reduced rate for immediate payment on the ticket) to get this sorted
out, as I am worried that I don't stand a chance contesting it, do I
have to pay court fees to reopen and set aside the CCJ?-

If you were to pay the fee, either the amount of the judgement or the
reduced rate, although I can't see the Council agreeing to remit their
court costs, you would still have the CCJ recorded against you. If you
want to attempt to get it expunged then the only way is to apply to
re-open the case 'out-of-time'.
I would suggest you contact the County Court that issued the judgement
and seek their advice. It will be a matter for the judge as to whether
the case is re-opened and you will have to appear in person to make
the
application. Personally, I suspect that there is only a small chance
of
a judge agreeing given the length of time that's elapsed since the
judgement was made.-

Surely this is wrong? If he was never properly served with proceedings
(which may or may not be the case), he is *entitled* to have the
judgment set aside, however long a time has elapsed.

--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"

*Entitled* - sorry but no! The Civil Proceedings Rules are that an
application to have a judgement set aside or varied must be made within
7 days of the order being made, (actually 'served' but it would only be
necessary to show the judgement had been dispatched by first class post
to show 'good service', whether it was received or not).
Thus in this case the application would first have to be to apply
out-of-time. If that were granted, and there's no guarantee it would
be, then an application could be made to re-open on the grounds that
the respondent *was never properly served with notice of the
proceedings, and it would be for the respondent to prove, on the
balance of probabilities, that he didn't receive the notice of
proceedings, and it's not easy to prove a negative!
If the court agree to re-open the case then the respondent would apply
to have the judgemment set-aside. If the court were satisfied by the
respondent's arguments, and the original plaintiff would doubtless
argue against it, then the court could set the judgement aside and the
whole case then start again from the beginning.

I've read this through three times and it still sounds complicated,
even to me!
I'm glad I didn't make the rules, I only have to follow them :-)


The simpliest way forward is to have the judgment set aside - see
uk.legal under "Small Claim" as a thread to this is being debated at
present. If you manage to get it set aside (which is probable based on
the facts) then at least for the time being the CCJ disappears, you
could then either argue it with the authority or simply pay it and
then inform the court that the claim has been paid and the CCJ dies
never to be seen again.