Anna Curtis, a solicitor in our specialist Dispute Resolution Team, looks at CCJs for parking fines and when & how they can be set aside.
Anna discussed CCJs being sent to the wrong address in another article, you can read that here.
What is a CCJ?
A CCJ is a County court Judgment. It is also sometimes referred to as a Default Judgment. A default Judgment is granted against a Defendant when a Claimant makes a claim against the Defendant and the Defendant does not respond to the claim.
There are various reasons why someone may not respond to a claim; they make think that by ignoring it, it will go away (it won’t). More commonly, claims are not responded to because the Defendant has not received the Claim Form due to the fact that they no longer reside at the address to which the claim paperwork was sent.
What can you do if a CCJ is delivered to the wrong address?
Anna has written a full article about CCJs being sent to the wrong address, you can read that here.
Can you get a CCJ for an unpaid parking ticket?
Yes. If you incur a parking fine and move from your current address before a court claim is issued, you may not receive the court paperwork and the Claimant may apply for a Default Judgment against you.
People often only become aware of a CCJ when they apply for some sort of credit like a mortgage and the credit is refused due to the applicant having a poor credit rating.
How to remove a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine?
The first step is to obtain any paperwork that you can from either the court or the other party. Any reference to a CCJ on a credit file will contain the claim number and details of the court.
It may then be possible to reach an agreement with the other party that the Judgment is removed upon the Judgment sum being repaid or it may be necessary to make an application to the court to set aside the CCJ.
However, a court will only remove a CCJ in certain circumstances.
What’s the difference between setting aside and removing a CCJ?
A CCJ will only generally be removed once it has either been paid within the first month of it being entered or once it has been set aside.
To read the full article, please click here.