How to challenge a CCJ: 'I overstayed car park by three minutes and ended up with debt marker unknowingly'

A North London father of two, Matthew Pollen, experienced firsthand the detrimental impact of an unknowingly issued County Court Judgement (CCJ). Discovering the CCJ had been applied without his awareness, he embarked on a challenging journey to have it reversed.

A CCJ, a formal court directive in England and Wales, mandates individuals to settle outstanding debts. These judgements can severely harm credit ratings, hindering access to future credit.

Pollen’s CCJ arose from a minor parking overstay of three minutes. A subsequent parking charge notice from a private firm was dispatched to a previous residence, compounding the issue.

Motivated by his stressful ordeal, Pollen established ChallengeCCJ. This platform offers support to those in similar predicaments, providing a complimentary template to contest the negative credit marker or a paid service for £50 to manage the majority of the required actions.

Unexpected CCJ Impacts Credit Rating

I never anticipated facing a CCJ. Before it was registered against me, my understanding of what it entailed was limited.

Last August, while exploring remortgage options with my wife, I checked my credit score.

To my dismay, my score, which had consistently been strong, had plummeted into the 200s – indicating a very poor rating.

My initial reaction, typical of individuals discovering a CCJ in this manner, was disbelief. I assumed it was an error and thought a phone call would rectify the situation.

Thus began a stressful and anxious undertaking to have my CCJ set aside – legally removed from my record. For those unfamiliar with legal terminology, this means getting it deleted from my history.

My first crucial lesson was the complexity of the legal language.

Forms like N244, Draft Orders, Witness Statements, EX160 forms, Claim Forms, Subject Access Requests (SARs), Default Judgements, Set Asides, Consent Orders – the terminology was overwhelming. It felt like learning a new language just to comprehend the next step.

CCJ Stemming from a Simple Error

How did I incur a CCJ without any prior notification? Surely, I should have received numerous warning letters?

Indeed, letters were dispatched, but regrettably, they were all sent to my previous address.

The original Parking Charge Notice was issued when I collected my son from nursery in December 2022. We parked for 33 minutes in a car park that offered 30 minutes of complimentary parking with nursery validation. Unaware of the overstay by a mere three minutes, we left.

Having moved the prior month, we had not yet updated our V5C vehicle registration document – a common and easily made oversight.

The house move and temporary stay in rented accommodation during a stressful house sale contributed to this oversight.

While a V5C isn’t definitive proof of address, only indicating the registered keeper, which could be a family or business address, the parking company solely relied on it to send the PCN. I wasn’t even certain if I or my partner was driving that day.

The British Parking Association, governing private parking operators, stipulates in its code that ‘reasonable endeavours’ must be made to locate the driver, including ‘contacting credit reference agencies to undertake a ‘soft credit check”.

I possess multiple emails from the parking firm asserting they conducted a ‘trace’, as they termed it.

My credit report confirmed my updated address was visible on my credit file in both December 2022 and January 2023. Had they performed a trace in March, as claimed, they would have found my current address.

Due to their lack of cooperation, I submitted a Subject Access Request (SAR), legally compelling them to provide all data they held on me.

Surprisingly, no credit check had been carried out. They then claimed their ‘debt resolution partner’ would handle that aspect.

Calling them, I encountered a dismissive representative who stated, ‘We don’t need to do that; sending it to the V5C address is sufficient.’ Aha! I thought. They’ve admitted to not conducting a credit search. Surely, resolving this would now be straightforward.

However, that wasn’t the case. The parking company offered a settlement: payment of the original PCN and court costs for a consented set aside – a cheaper option at £119, avoiding a court appearance due to mutual agreement to retract the judgement.

Absolutely not, I refused.

I explained I wouldn’t have incurred the original PCN had I received it, as nursery validation was available. Furthermore, I refused to pay court costs for a situation that should have been avoided.

‘See you in court,’ was their response.

Millions of CCJs Issued Annually

I spent countless days researching online forums and social media groups, looking for similar cases and shared experiences. Many individuals had encountered comparable situations.

Over one million CCJs are issued each year, with 93 percent being default judgements. This occurs when the defendant, like myself, fails to respond to the claim form.

Even identifying the issuer of the CCJ is unnecessarily complex.

One must pay the Registry Trust £6 merely to obtain the claim number. Then, contacting the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) – often involving hour-long waits – is necessary to determine the details and nature of the claim.

Further, submitting a set aside application, comprising the N244 form, Draft Order, and Witness Statement, requires initial email submission followed by a phone call to pay the £303 fee – again, involving lengthy phone queues.

My paternity leave afforded me the time to navigate this process. Had I not had this time, I likely would have conceded to the offered deal, simply to expedite the resolution.

A court date isn’t automatically assigned, with average waits extending to approximately 50 weeks.

I was fortunate; submitting my set aside application in October resulted in a court date in March – a six-month wait. And surprisingly, they failed to appear!

Despite their absence, an automatic set aside wasn’t granted, although I believe it should be standard procedure. I still had to present all arguments from my witness statement.

Ultimately, the Judge approved the set aside and mandated the parking company to reimburse my £303 costs within 14 days. Have I received the funds yet? Naturally, not.

The Significance of Challenging CCJs

The system appears designed to obstruct individuals from contesting unjust judgements, effectively enabling parking companies to issue CCJs indiscriminately.

The disproportionate impact on individuals’ lives is significant. I’ve communicated with people forced to remain living at home due to being unable to secure rental agreements or mortgages. Others have faced barriers to job applications or phone contracts – all stemming from a missed £2.50 parking fee.

The resulting stress and anxiety dominate one’s life, becoming an incessant preoccupation, essentially putting life on hold for six years – the duration a CCJ remains on record.

This is the impetus behind creating Challenge CCJ: an AI-powered tool designed to simplify the process of disputing unfair CCJs, mitigating the stress and confusion of navigating the required steps.

It assists individuals in assessing the viability of challenging their CCJ and generates the necessary legal documentation step by step. No solicitors, no hefty legal bills – just a streamlined, effective method for recourse.

If you’ve been unexpectedly issued a CCJ, remain calm – it is possible to challenge it, and you don’t have to face it alone.

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