Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi All,

I discovered last month, after a credit check, that I had a CCJ by default in 2023. The event occurred in December 2019. The signage was unclear and insufficient; it was a private land under construction with no sign at the entrance of the street. The amount of the claim changed from £100 to more than £300.

I moved addresses and never received the court form. I received a letter from the solicitors last year but ignored it. Previously, they sent a Letter Before Claim (LBC) to my old address in 2019. I moved from that address in 2020 and sold the car in 2020.

The claimant’s solicitors want me to pay in advance and admit liability to consent to an order, which I have rejected. I am writing a witness statement (WS) and want to approach it from two angles: the signage was incorrect, and I was not properly served.

I need someone to review my WS and advise if it makes sense. I have not yet paid the N244 fee as I am waiting to finalize the WS

Kind regards,

FLA



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Obviously a Gladstones issued claim. Fails completely to comply with CPR 16.4 and incudes their particularly unlawful interest at 10.25%.

You are not putting in a full defence at set aside stage. You are applying for the set aside and it must be under CPR 13.2 as the claim was not properly served. Also, in the alternative, you are applying under CPR 13.3 as you have a very good prospect of successfully defending the claim.

In your application you will also argue that the claim should be struck out for failing to comply with CPR 16.4 and you will provide applicable, persuasive appeals case law in CEL v Chan (2023) and CPMS v Akande (2024) to show that other similarly poorly pleaded claims that do not even comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) have been thrown out for failing to even show what the facts are that the claimant is relying on.

Also, you will argue that when the claim is set aside, it cannot be re-served as it has been more than 4 months since claim was issued. This requirement is stipulated in CPR 7.5(1). If the claim form is not served within this four-month period, it becomes invalid, and the claimant cannot serve it thereafter. To extend the time for service, the claimant must apply to the court under CPR 7.6. However, such an application must be made within the original four-month period. If the application is made after this period, the court will only grant an extension if the court has failed to serve the claim form or the claimant has taken all reasonable steps to serve the claim form but has been unable to do so and the claimant has acted promptly in making the application. This is outlined in CPR 7.6(3).

So, if more than four months have elapsed since the claim form was issued and it has not been served, the claimant cannot re-serve it.

All this needs to be detailed in your application, Witness Statement and Draft Order.

So, before you do anything else, show us what has been requested and we can provide the necessary help in putting together a proper application that will blow them out of the water.

Obviously a Gladstones issued claim. Fails completely to comply with CPR 16.4 and incudes their particularly unlawful interest at 10.25%.

You are not putting in a full defence at set aside stage. You are applying for the set aside and it must be under CPR 13.2 as the claim was not properly served. Also, in the alternative, you are applying under CPR 13.3 as you have a very good prospect of successfully defending the claim.

In your application you will also argue that the claim should be struck out for failing to comply with CPR 16.4 and you will provide applicable, persuasive appeals case law in CEL v Chan (2023) and CPMS v Akande (2024) to show that other similarly poorly pleaded claims that do not even comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) have been thrown out for failing to even show what the facts are that the claimant is relying on.

Also, you will argue that when the claim is set aside, it cannot be re-served as it has been more than 4 months since claim was issued. This requirement is stipulated in CPR 7.5(1). If the claim form is not served within this four-month period, it becomes invalid, and the claimant cannot serve it thereafter. To extend the time for service, the claimant must apply to the court under CPR 7.6. However, such an application must be made within the original four-month period. If the application is made after this period, the court will only grant an extension if the court has failed to serve the claim form or the claimant has taken all reasonable steps to serve the claim form but has been unable to do so and the claimant has acted promptly in making the application. This is outlined in CPR 7.6(3).

So, if more than four months have elapsed since the claim form was issued and it has not been served, the claimant cannot re-serve it.

All this needs to be detailed in your application, Witness Statement and Draft Order.

So, before you do anything else, show us what has been requested and we can provide the necessary help in putting together a proper application that will blow them out of the water.

Hello
Thanks for your reply.
What I have is this:


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You need to get all the facts together a timeline rather than providing us with bits of information. All dates are important. Start with the date of the alleged parking event and progress from there, including the dates of address changes.

Once we have a timeline of events and sight of any correspondence, in both directions, and by who to who, we can put together your application. You only need to redact your personal details, VRM, PCN number, Claim number. The location and dates are important.

@b789

Thanks for writing.

12/2019: Parking event occurred.
01/2020: Received Notice to Keeper (NTK).
01/2020: Appealed to PCM UK.
06/2020: Sold the car.
06/2020: Moved abroad.
09/2021: Moved back to the UK to a different address.
08/2022: Moved to another address in the UK.
10/2024: Discovered County Court Judgment (CCJ) after a prospective landlord refunded my holding deposit.
10/2024: Contacted the County Court Business Centre (CCBC).
21/10/2024: Received Particulars of Claim (POC).
21/10/2024: Wrote to the claimant to seek consent.
24/10/2024: Received an email from solicitors stating I must accept liability.
29/10/2024: Rejected their offer.

So, show us what you wrote to the claimant when you tried to get a set aside with consent. Also show us the email from the solicitor and also show us the wording of your rejection of their offer.

You also state that you appealed the PCN in January 2020. What response to the appeal did you receive? You say that the amount went from £100 to over £300, so you must have had an appeal rejection and some debt collector letters. However, for it to have gone to more than £170, you must have received a Letter of Claim (LoC). When did you receive the LoC?

Can you confirm please.

SHOW US WHAT YOU WROTE TO THE CLAIMANT WHEN YOU TRIED TO GET A SET ASIDE WITH CONSENT

On 14/10/24, I discovered a CCJ had been issued against me dated 19/05/2023. I found this out after checking my credit file, which was the first time I became aware of any judgment or fine issued against me. This came as a tremendous shock, as I have had no communication from the Claimant or any organisation representing the Claimant regarding this claim.

I made immediate enquiries of the CNBC from which I was able to establish that:

1.  the claim relates to an alleged parking event on 26/12/2019

2.  the claim form was not served at my current address; and

3.  had I received the claim form, I would have been able to successfully defend the claim.

I did not receive any pre-claim correspondence, including the required letter of claim as per the PAP. Additionally, I did not receive the claim form or any particulars of the claim, which prevented me from defending myself. The Claimant is aware that people move homes occasionally and should have known that I did not respond to any communications sent to the address stated in the claim.

This situation is explicitly dealt with in the Civil Procedure Rules which provide at CPR 6.9(3):

(3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant … is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’).

The Claimant is a member of the International Parking Association (the ‘IPC’) and is bound by the IPC’s Code of Practice which gives voice to CPR 6.9(3) in the following terms:

22.1 Operators must take reasonable steps to ensure that the Motorist’s details are still correct if 12 months have passed from the Parking Event before issuing court proceedings.

If the Claimant had taken the actions required by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Code of Practice, my current address would have been found easily.

By reason of the Claimant’s breach of the Civil Procedure Rules, which amounts to an abuse of the process of the Court, the claim form was never properly served, and the judgment must be set aside at the Claimant’s expense and the claim dismissed because it is now too late for the particulars of claim to be re-served.

In view of the foregoing, I invite the Claimant to join with me in an application to set aside the judgment and dismiss the claim, with the Claimant paying the court fee and no order as to costs.

Please respond to the above offer as soon as possible so that, if the offer is acceptable to the Claimant, we can work together to right the wrong that the Claimant has done to me.

To give you a reasonable time to take instructions and for us to agree a suite of documents for the Court, I am willing to defer making a unilateral application to set aside the judgment until 4 pm on 01/11/24. If a joint application has not been made by that time, I intend to instruct a solicitor to apply to the Court unilaterally for an order setting the judgment aside, striking out the particulars of claim, dismissing the claim and awarding costs against the Claimant on a full indemnity basis.

Please responds by immediate return.

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So, show us what you wrote to the claimant when you tried to get a set aside with consent. Also show us the email from the solicitor and also show us the wording of your rejection of their offer.

You also state that you appealed the PCN in January 2020. What response to the appeal did you receive? You say that the amount went from £100 to over £300, so you must have had an appeal rejection and some debt collector letters. However, for it to have gone to more than £170, you must have received a Letter of Claim (LoC). When did you receive the LoC?

Can you confirm please.

You also state that you appealed the PCN in January 2020. What response to the appeal did you receive? Rejected

You say that the amount went from £100 to over £300, so you must have had an appeal rejection and some debt collector letters.

However, for it to have gone to more than £170, you must have received a Letter of Claim (LoC). When did you receive the LoC? I never received the LOC.

The claimant’s solicitors have now provided me with a LBC copy. They sent a 1st Letter Before Claim (LBC) in December 2022 to my 2019 address (I have a copy because the claimant's solicitors sent it to me). The letter I received in January 2023 was titled LBC but was actually a threatening letter. I did not read the letter labeled as an LBC, and I lost it.

From 2020 to 2022, they did not perform an address trace, or they knowingly sent the first LBC to an address from four years ago, despite being aware that I no longer lived there.

The court form never arrived to my current address.

Please edit your reply to show the full dates. They are not secret and will not affect anything.

Done @b789
Many thanks!

Here is a suggested WS and draft order to go with your N244 application. Double check it and insert any missing dates in the appropriate placeholders:

IN THE COUNTY COURT[/center]

Claim No: [Claim Number]

BETWEEN:

Parking Control Management (UK) Ltd

Claimant

- and -

[Defendant's Full Name]

Defendant

---

WITNESS STATEMENT

I, [your full name], of [your address] , will say as follows: 

1. I am the Defendant in this matter, and I make this witness statement in support of my application to set aside the County Court Judgment (CCJ) entered against me on 19th May 2023. The judgment was entered in default due to defective service of the claim.

2. I first became aware of the claim against me on 14th October 2024, after a prospective landlord refunded my holding deposit due to a County Court Judgment (CCJ) appearing on my record. This was a tremendous shock, as I had not received any claim form or detailed particulars of the claim in relation to this matter.

3. After making enquiries with the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC), I obtained details of the claimant, their legal representative, and the Particulars of Claim (PoC), which confirmed that the claimant had obtained a default CCJ against me relating to an alleged parking event.

4. Upon further investigation, I established the following:

(i) The claim relates to an alleged parking event on 26th December 2019;

(ii) The claim form was sent to an old address at which I no longer reside; and

(iii) Had I been given the opportunity, I would have successfully defended the claim.

5. I did not receive any pre-claim correspondence, including the letter of claim required under the Pre-Action Protocol (PAP), nor did I receive the claim form or any particulars of claim, depriving me of the ability to defend the claim. The Claimant, knows that people move homes from time to time, also should have known that I had not responded to any communications sent to my old address.

6. This situation is directly addressed in the Civil Procedure Rules, specifically CPR 6.9(3), which states:

'(3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (“current address”).'

7. The Claimant used an outdated address ([insert address where claim was served at the time]), at which I no longer reside. I believe this is where they served the claim, constituting a clear breach of both the Civil Procedure Rules (CPRs) and their obligations under the Approved Operator Scheme, specifically the IPC Code of Practice. Further details and relevant issues are outlined below.

8. The Claimant was obligated to take reasonable steps to verify my correct address, as required under section 22.1 of the IPC Code of Practice v7 (November 2019) which states:

22.1 Operators must take reasonable steps to ensure that the Motorist’s details are still correct if 12 months have passed from the Parking Event before issuing court proceedings.

9. Given that more than 12 months had passed between the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued in December 2019 and the County Court Judgment (CCJ) obtained in May 2023, this duty was especially pertinent.
 
10. I did not receive any claim form or detailed particulars of the claim related to this matter until I became aware of it, as stated in paragraph 2 above.
 
11. As more than four months have passed since the CCJ was entered, during which I remained unaware of both the claim and the judgment, the claim should now be dismissed under CPR 7.5.

12. Due to the Claimant’s breach of the Civil Procedure Rules—amounting to an abuse of the Court’s process—the claim form was never properly served. Consequently, the judgment must be set aside at the Claimant’s expense, and the claim dismissed, as it is now too late for the particulars of claim to be re-served.

13. Should the claim not be dismissed, despite the substantial case law outlined below supporting dismissal at the set-aside hearing, I request the opportunity to properly defend it. My application relies upon the 'mandatory set aside' rule in CPR 13.2 (and, in the alternative, CPR 13.3)."

14. In light of the procedural failings and the resultant default judgment, I proactively reached out to the Claimant, offering them the opportunity to consent to a joint application to set aside the judgment and dismiss the claim. I proposed that the Claimant cover the court fee, with no order as to costs. This offer was made in a genuine attempt to rectify the situation without unnecessary court proceedings and to correct the procedural wrongs that had been caused.

15. To facilitate this, I offered to defer filing a unilateral set-aside application, allowing the Claimant reasonable time to consider the proposal and prepare the necessary documents for a joint submission to the Court. I clearly communicated that if no response was received, I would proceed with a unilateral application to set aside the judgment, strike out the particulars of claim, dismiss the claim, and seek full indemnity costs against the Claimant. Despite my reasonable approach, the Claimant refused this offer, leaving me no choice but to proceed with this application.

16. I have set out the grounds for my application in the attached draft order.

THE CLAIMANT FAILED TO SERVE THE CLAIM 

17. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 19th May 2023. I am aware that the Claimant is Parking Control Management (UK) Ltd and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice.
 
18. CPR 6.9 stipulates that an "Individual" should be served at their "Usual or last known residence."  As I have not had any correspondence in relation to this matter, other than the brief case details emailed to me on 21st October 2024 from the courts, it is clear that the Claimant, having obtained a previous address from the DVLA and having received no response, did not perform the requisite "reasonable diligence" required to find my correct address to serve the claim form in.

19. Had reasonable diligence been taken, my personal details are found in multiple public sources, including credit reference agencies and the Electoral Roll. The claimant did not have any contact with the defendant for over 12 months since the PCN was issued and thus should have considered they had incorrect details for service.
 
20. This is a breach of CPR 13.2(a), as the claim form was never served to my current address. Consequently, I was unaware of the Default Judgment until I discovered it, as stated in paragraph 2, on 14th October 2024. The judgment was therefore wrongly entered, as I was unable to submit an acknowledgement of service without notification of the case (CPR 13.3).

PRELIMINARY MATTER: Striking Out the Claim Due to Insufficient Particulars of Claim

21. Should the Court set aside the default judgment, I submit that the claim should be struck out as a preliminary matter due to the inadequacy of the Particulars of Claim (PoC), which fail to meet the requirements of CPR 16.4(1)(a). The PoC do not state a concise cause of action, rendering them deficient and non-compliant with the Civil Procedure Rules.

22. The Court is encouraged to consider persuasive appellate case law, particularly Civil Enforcement Ltd (CEL) v Chan (2023) and CPMS v Akande (2024), where claims with similarly vague and unparticularised PoC were struck out. Both cases support the principle that a claim must state clear grounds to allow a defendant a fair opportunity to understand and respond to the allegations.

23. In the current case, the Claimant’s PoC lack essential details and do not provide a coherent statement of facts, as required under CPR 16.4. Consequently, these deficiencies prevent me from fully understanding the basis of the claim or preparing an informed defence.

24. I respectfully request that the Court consider striking out the claim entirely on these grounds if the CCJ is set aside. This would prevent further proceedings on a fundamentally flawed claim and avoid unnecessary costs and time for both parties.

THE CLAIM HAS EXPIRED UNSERVED

25. I challenge the jurisdiction of the Court to hear this claim now, as it would effectively require dispensing with service. There are no exceptional circumstances to justify the limited discretion of the Court to validate defective service retrospectively by reviving an expired, unserved, and meritless claim.

26. Service of the claim form to an outdated address constitutes defective service, resulting in the claim expiring unserved. The Claimant currently has no claim, as it was not properly served within the required four-month period, and it is now time-barred.

27. Continuing an expired, unserved claim more than four months after it was issued (but never properly served) is impossible under CPR 7.5, which prohibits such action.

28. The Claimant is entirely responsible for failing to serve the claim correctly within the four-month deadline, as stipulated by CPR 7.5, and, as a result, the claim has now expired unserved.

29. The Claimant should not be afforded further opportunities to waste the Court’s time after failing to follow pre-action protocols for debt claims, breaching the IPC Code of Practice, and failing to take “reasonable steps” (CPR 6.9) to verify my current address.

30. If the Claimant believes it still has a claim, the only appropriate course of action would be to file afresh and issue a ‘Letter Before Claim’ to my correct address, this time in compliance with the pre-action protocol for debt claims. I have received no claim form or detailed particulars of the claim at my current address, leaving me unable to build a defence.

31. Accordingly, this claim should be struck out as more than four months have passed since the issue of proceedings and the claim was defectively served (i.e., it was never served).
 
SET ASIDE APPLICATION WAS MADE PROMPTLY

32. I have responded to this matter promptly. I discovered a CCJ had been obtained against me on 14th October 2024, after a prospective landlord refunded my holding deposit. I promptly contacted the Civil National Business Centre on 24th October 2024 to obtain relevant information about this default judgment. 

33. On the 21st October 2024 I wrote to the Claimants legal representative offering to jointly apply to set aside the judgment. Despite allowing them a reasonable amount of time to seek instructions from the claimant, no response was received so on the [insert todays date], I have submitted my case in order to set-aside this judgement and fairly present my case 

34. Considering all of the above, I was unable to defend myself against this claim. I believe that the claim against me is without merit and the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly. Thus, I respectfully request that the judgment be set aside, the claim struck out, and that the Court consider ordering the Claimant to reimburse my application fee of £303 if this request is successful.
 
Statement of truth:
 
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth. 

Signed: 


Date:

Here is the draft order that should accompany the WS:

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No: [Claim Number]

BETWEEN:

Parking Control Management (UK) Ltd


Claimant

- and -

[Defendant's Full Name]

Defendant

---

DRAFT ORDER

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

UPON considering the application of the Defendant to set aside the Judgment by default entered on 19th May 2023;

AND UPON reading the evidence in support of the application;

AND UPON the court taking note that the Claimant was not entitled to default judgment, having failed to serve on the Defendant's usual residential address;

AND UPON more than 4 months having passed (CPR 7.5 refers) since the issue of proceedings on [date of issue];

AND UPON the court finding that the Particulars of Claim fail to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) by lacking a concise statement of facts and therefore do not constitute a valid cause of action;

IT IS ORDERED:

1. The Judgment by default entered against the Defendant on 19th May 2023 is hereby set aside.

2. The claim be struck out as more than 4 months has passed since the issue of proceedings on [date of issue] without proper service on the Defendant.

3. The claim is further struck out on the grounds that the Particulars of Claim fail to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) and do not provide a concise statement of facts necessary to establish a cause of action.

4. The Claimant shall pay the Defendant’s costs of this application in the sum of £303.

Date: [date]

You will need to attach any evidence and the following two transcripts. Each item of evidence must be numbered and noted within the WS where it is referenced. Use your initials and a number as in "AB-01", AB-02" etc. Number them in the same sequence that they appear in the WS so there is a logical flow.

CEL v Chan Transcript

CPMS v Akande Transcript