CCJ for Parking Ticket – What Are the Laws?
For free and impartial money advice you can visit MoneyHelper.
For free and impartial money advice you can visit MoneyHelper.
Are you worried about a CCJ for your parking ticket? Well you’ve found the right article. Every month, over 130,000 people visit our website to understand more about fines and parking tickets.
In this easy-to-understand article, we’ll cover:
- The CCJ laws in the UK for parking tickets.
- The different types of parking tickets.
- Whether you have to pay a Penalty Charge Notice or a Parking Charge Notice.
- The impact of unpaid parking fines on your credit score.
The DVLA reports that over 11 million parking tickets were issued last year, which is up by 29% year on year!1 So you’re not alone.
We know that dealing with a private parking fine can be frustrating and confusing. But don’t worry; we’re here to help you understand your options.
Can you get a CCJ for an unpaid parking fine?
Yes, it’s possible to be issued a County Court Judgment (CCJ) if you don’t pay a Parking Charge Notice.
We first need to explain what a CCJ really is. It’s a type of court order that is regularly used to make individuals responsible to pay a debt.
The judge will issue a CCJ when the individual has chosen not to defend themselves in court, such as ignoring court summons from the claimant.
Once you have been issued a CCJ, you’ll be legally responsible to pay the parking fine.
If you don’t clear the debt, the private car park company could ask the court to allow debt enforcement action. This type of action is designed to ensure the claimant gets their money, and one of the most popular options is to use bailiffs.
Bailiffs will give you an opportunity to pay before coming to your home.
They do this by sending a letter called a Notice of Enforcement, which also applies a £75 charge to your debt.
If you don’t pay, they can come to your home and seize goods to be sold and clear the debt. This adds various and much bigger fees to your debt.
That said, I was recently featured in The Sun about parking tickets, where I encouraged everyone to check whether the ticket was issued by a member of a trade association. If they aren’t, then they probably can’t get your details from the DVLA to pursue you.
» TAKE ACTION NOW: Get legal support from JustAnswer
How about an unpaid council parking fine?
The escalation process is different for council parking tickets, meaning you won’t be issued with a CCJ but you can be issued with an Order for Recovery.
This is also a court order asking you to pay within 21 days – or face bailiffs
You can appeal an Order of Recovery if you think you shouldn’t have received it, such as having a PCN appeal already in process.
What happens if you don’t pay a Parking Charge Notice?
If you don’t pay a Parking Charge Notice after 28 days, the private company will chase you for payment.
But the exact methods and processes used aren’t as stringent compared with chasing Penalty Charge Notices.
Firstly, the private company might try and chase you for the payment themselves. Or they could outsource this task to a debt collection agency.
The company or the debt collection agency is likely to:
- Repeatedly contact you to ask for payment
- Add late fees when you ignore them
- Threaten court action if you don’t pay
It’s important to know what a debt collection agency really is and what it cannot do. Read about them here.
Whether the company will go through with legal threats is unknown.
Some private companies will take motorists to court when they’ve ignored a Parking Charge Notice, whereas some others might not.
Can it affect your credit score?
Unpaid parking fines on their own won’t affect your credit score, but a subsequent CCJ will damage your score.
If you don’t pay a private parking fine and get taken to court, you could be issued a County Court Judgment which decreases your credit score.
A record of a County Court Judgment on your credit file remains visible for six years, which could stop you from accessing credit or getting a mortgage in the future.
References
