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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not understand why CCJs wreck your credit?

249 replies

whynotmethen · 15/08/2019 21:12

So I have a CCJ pending - not sure if that is the right term.

If I lose the case I will pay it right away - though I obviously hope I don't and believe I don't deserve to.

But if I do lose it will be held against me? How is that right?

Surely it means if you are poor you should never contest anything otherwise you are fucked if you lose??

OP posts:
Nicknacky · 16/08/2019 12:44

twatty Exactly, she was stuck. That wasn’t her choice to be there for that amount of time. It matters not that she would have paid to park for the same amount of time, she wasn’t parked.

Ninkaninus · 16/08/2019 13:21

Even if she had taken a ticket on the way in and been able to pay for the entirety useless period of time spent in the car park, why should she pay for a service she did not receive?? Companies like this are CFers in the extreme - they bank (literally!) on the fact that most people won’t want the hassle of fighting their corner.

whynotmethen · 16/08/2019 13:49

Yes, twatty, I wasn't parked at any point and there were no signs informing me that by entering I was liable to pay, whether parked or not, unless I left within 10 minutes. My thoughts when queuing were about getting out at some point in my life, finding a space, finding another carpark (big unfamiliar city), getting something to eat for me and my two kids before attending an event we had tickets for. Honestly, panic began to set in towards the end as it seemed like we would never get out and would miss our event (we didn't, but it started to feel like we would). It was cramped with lots of very tight corners, lots of the queueing was on slopes, going up & down. It was just a horrible, vile experience, even without the sodding fine.

At no point did I think 'Oh, I must pay for this before we leave,' and if I had I couldn't have because I was on my own with two small kids in a very slow moving queue so I couldn't have left my vehicle to go to the ticket machine and I very much doubt there's a person on this planet to whom it would have occurred to do so. After finally parking elsewhere, was I going to trek back and pay for non-existent parking, dragging my increasingly fractious kids with me using up the limited time I had left to find my way on foot to somewhere I had just driven by car following a SATNAV? No. Again, no one would have.

Did I ever have the chance to pay £2 but stubbornly thought 'No, I'm not paying that, damn it!'? No. The first time I knew I owed any money was when the £50 fine came through. If I could magically have avoided all this by paying £2 I would have but it was never an option.

Perhaps I should have foreseen this happening once I'd been in there a while, but I didn't. It's changed me a bit though because I've become quite obsessive about checking signs/looking for cameras in unfamiliar places I drive into. It's not really a nice feeling.

OP posts:
twattymctwatterson · 16/08/2019 22:41

Ok I do get why you didn't pay but in all honesty I think you're going to lose this op. I sincerely hope I'm wrong because I agree it's unfair

marvellousnightforamooncup · 17/08/2019 09:30

I think you've got a good chance actually OP (admittedly based on no legal experience but on righteous indignation on your behalf) and I admire your fighting spirit. It must be very stressful for you. I hope you win and can spend the money you would have had to pay on a dash cam.

Childcar12 · 17/08/2019 09:36

Good god OP I would have just paid the initial 50 after going down the original avenues! Sometimes “the principal”is really not worth it!!

Bunnyfuller · 17/08/2019 16:09

Erm.....don’t you have to take the ticket that spits out as you go into those car parks? In which case you should have taken a ticket, and need one endorsed to exit?
Or the ANPR ones don’t issue ANYONE a ticket, you just pay at the machine entering your number plate onto the machine prior to leaving. Both systems generally don’t let cars in until there are spaces?

Hmmmm. I think Britannia are assuming you pulled a fast one and just waited instead of parking. Seems weird you saying you were already in a rush and then the 40 min wait made you nearly late - you arrived super early for the event if you still weren’t actually late despite the delay, finding another car park and then walking to the venue.

Hmmmmm...

stairway · 17/08/2019 16:54

By the way OP if you do win you can charge them your own costs. There was a similar case on parking cowboys. The woman in question won as she was unable to park.

Piglet89 · 17/08/2019 17:37

@AgentJohnson I have an ex friend who can’t drive - has failed her test about 20 times, but still maintains she’s great at navigating from the passenger seat and knows loads about the challenges drivers face.

She came across as a complete idiot as well.

theduchessstill · 17/08/2019 21:19

Hmmmmm, what, Bunnyfuller??!!

You've read so much into it but lack basic comprehension skills it seems. It was a shit carpark imo because it had no full sign (not broken - there wasn't one) and it was pay and display - like I said, unlike any MS carpark I've been in. There were no tickets to get in or out - as I said this was annoying as if I'd needed a ticket to get out it would have had to have been resolved one way or the other there and then, and it wasn't. So, no barriers, just cameras. Also like I said, it's almost as if they want this kind of thing to happen so they can get money out of people. They have an awful reputation if you Google.

Not sure what you're accusing me of - waiting instead of parking?? What for?! I was in a strange city - I wasn't 100% sure where the venue was in relation to carparks and it was stressful. As it turned out, we were ok for time, but while queueing it started to feel like we were never going to get out and if we did I didn't know how long it would take to get to another carpark and then walk. I had arrived very early yes, as I always do when going to unfamiliar places because I hate rushing. It was lucky I did as it turned out.

Why the fuck would I waste time on this thread if I knew what had really happened was that I cheated the system? Why?

Fucking Hmmmmmmmmmmm to you Hmm Hmm Hmm

theduchessstill · 17/08/2019 21:20

Name change fail, oh well Smile

RingtheBells · 17/08/2019 21:46

So only 10 minutes to get in and out of a multi-storey that is probably busy a lot of the time, they must collect loads of fines, I hope you win this OP. A lot of ANPR car parks are pay and display not pay on exit so why would you get a ticket from a machine on the way in as PP said.

VivaLeBeaver · 17/08/2019 21:54

You should win it in court. They need to prove that you parked, they need to provide a photo of you in a parking space. Have you got photos of the signs in the carpark as I imagine the signs will refer to charges relating to parking and you never parked. The burden of proof is on them.

The FB group mentioned earlier is excellent. Tony who runs the group fights them for £10 and has a good track record.

I run a different FB parking group (won’t be of any use to you as it’s against a specific parking firm) and we’ve found that courts are very reasonable and listen to you.

MRex · 17/08/2019 22:18

@VivaLeBeaver - is your parking group against Saba? I know someone who isn't on facebook, but is having issues with them, wondered if there's any other contact if so?

VivaLeBeaver · 17/08/2019 22:35

No, not saba. Sorry.

PlutocratCow · 17/08/2019 22:47

I disagree that sometimes fighting on principle isn't worth it... That's how parking companies bully people in cases like this.

Op, good luck. Hoping you win, the car park operators sound like robbing charletons and probably hoped you'd just cave.

Thank god some people stand against this shit.

If I were you and lost, I'd pay immediately but spend some free time unleashing as much shit on the scumbag owners as legally possible (pay in copper coins, sign them up for junk mail, call them multiple times so calls can't get through, anything to cause them pain.

Shouldn't be legal to operate like that.

VivaLeBeaver · 17/08/2019 22:58

The parking ticket I’m fighting if I go to court I will quite possibly pay more for legal representation than what I could pay if I paid my “fine” today. But I will happily fight it all the way even if I end up paying double. Agree that some principles are worth fighting for.

NaviSprite · 17/08/2019 23:02

Just to advise from someone who has worked for a credit reference agency, it is shitty that the CCJ may be levied against you but if you do lose and can afford to pay the debt do so within 28 days (the usual advice is 30 days) and the CCJ will be recorded as ‘set aside’ therefore removing it from your credit report.

VivaLeBeaver · 17/08/2019 23:03

Send a Subject Access Request to Britannia asking for the following

A copy of the postal PCN
A copy pic of the relevant site signage & a map of same showing the sign locations.
A copy of the agreement between the landowner/authorised agent & Britannia.
Any pictures of the parked vehicle
Any other documentation which they would rely on in court in order to prove their assertion.

They have 30 days to respond. Tell them it’s a formal SAR and failure to comply will result in them being reported to the ICO. If they don’t respond do report them to the ICO.

MRex · 17/08/2019 23:07

Ok thanks @VivaLeBeaver.

Bellasblankexpression · 17/08/2019 23:09

Pay the £200 OP. Yes it sucks and it’s infuriating but a CCJ will make life so so difficult for you and you’ll have to deal with it for six years. If things get rockier in the economy things will be even tougher with a CCJ to your name. I would pay it twice over to avoid a CCJ even if I had to beg and borrow. It’s really not worth the moment of righteous fury (even though I agree they are totally in the wrong). I’d pay it and then sell my story to one of the rags that love this crap highlighting how you felt you had no other choice but to pay and how unfair it is.

VivaLeBeaver · 17/08/2019 23:19

But OP won’t get a CCJ as things stand. As long as she goes to court and fights it the worst that can happen is the court find in favour of the parking firm. At which point she pays the “fine”. No CCJ is issued.

It’s only if she either lost in court and still didn’t pay or ignored court papers and didn’t turn up for a hearing and lost and didn’t pay that a ccj would be issued.

You do not get a ccj for defending yourself and losing.

NaviSprite · 17/08/2019 23:25

I’m not saying she will, I’m just advising that should it happen (and I certainly don’t think it should) and she is concerned about the impact to her credit report - that paying it within 28 days will remove it. I have no expertise on parking fines and such, but I just wanted to offer that information as you have offered yours (which I will admit is far more useful than mine Smile).

NaviSprite · 17/08/2019 23:27

Sorry thought you were responding to me @VivaLeBeaver as my thread didn’t update properly! Doh!

bellinisurge · 18/08/2019 08:15

@VivaLeBeaver
"A copy pic of the relevant site signage & a map of same showing the sign locations.
A copy of the agreement between the landowner/authorised agent & Britannia."
That would not be caught by a subject access request.

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