Yesterday The Prankster received an email from a lady who has found she has a CCJ against her name. ParkingEye filed a claim against her using an address where she was not living. The lady, who was pregnant and unwell, is understandably worried.
She is not alone.
ParkingEye have made a habit of filing court claims using the wrong defendant address and every day the Prankster sees set-aside claims being heard in the court. A CCJ can stop you moving house, getting a new job or even gettigna new mobile phone and stays on your credit record for up to 6 years. It does not make sense that a Parking company can wreck your life without you even knowing, and without them bothering to spend around £1 to check that your address is correct.
Statistically, ParkingEye cancel 65% of cases on appeal and a further 50% are cancelled by POPLA, so the changes of the charge being valid are small. Hoever, while it costs ParkingEye only £25 to file a claim, it costs £255 to ask for a set-aside, even if it was ParkingEye's fault they got the address wrong.
Casehub are therefore considering taking a class action against ParkingEye.
If you have received a CCJ from ParkingEye, the Prankster recommends you register with Casehub. Casehub need around 300 claimants to start the action. Damaging your credit rating in this irresponsible way could cost ParkingEye £8,000 a time (see Durkin v DSG Retail)
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
Putting the fun back into parking
Click for guide to fighting ParkingEye court claims
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I don't have a CCJ, but over the course of my court case PE kept sending things to the wrong address, despite being told 4 times that we had moved. That was especially galling when they tried to justify that £20 of their settlement 'offer' was costs for administration.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or is it annoying that you can't get a check made for CCJs without spending money or signing up for a free trial which will cost you money if you forgot to cancel it.
ReplyDeleteSurely it should be possible to do an "am I in the clear" check for free and then pay if there is something to report...