Have you read this?
READ THIS FIRST - Private Parking Charges Forum guideWithout seeing the details of the claim, it is difficult to advise. From what I can understand, the Registered Keeper (RK) received an unfair Parking Charge Notice (PCN) by way of a postal Notice to Keeper (NtK) because the driver was not aware that they were supposed to validate their cinema ticket.
The RK does not actually reside at the registered address and missed most of the correspondence and the subsequent debt claim from the CNBC and as a result, received a CCJ by default. The RK eventually found out about the default CCJ and has contacted the debt collector and agreed to pay the CCJ amount with a promise that they will get the CCJ removed from the register.
Now that the CCJ has been paid, the RK thinks they can just "...go to smalls claims court to appeal and get a refund?" Oh dear... this needs a bit of explaining.
Please answer these questions as they will assist in trying to untangle the SNAFU, if at all possible.
1. On what date was the default CCJ issued?
2. When the RK spoke with the debt collector, was it explained to the RK that simply paying the CCJ later than one calendar moth after the judgment date does not remove the CCJ from the register but only marks it as "satisfied"?
3. It would be useful to know who the claimant is and whether they were legally represented in the claim and if so, by whom?
Just to let the RK know, because the CCJ has been paid, liability for the claim has been admitted. If instead of paying the CCJ, the RK had applied for a set aside, the CCJ would likely have been removed and the clock restarted so that the RK could defend the claim properly.
The court will not look kindly on someone now applying for a set aside as it looks simply like "credit cleansing", which is not part of the overriding objective. It was a huge mistake contacting the debt collector. We always advise everyone to never, ever, ever communicate with a useless debt collector.
Anyway, the RK is where they are and the questions above need answering first, in order to see if there is any hope of recovering the situation. Once they have been answered, further advice and questions will be provided.
