Easy parking mistake ruined my finances and credit score – how to avoid it happening to you

AN easy parking mistake left Vivien Laing led to her overdraft being slashed and credit card limit being lowered after she got a black mark on her credit report.

In March, Vivien saw her excellent credit score plummet from 800 points to just 576 – but she had no idea why.

After checking her credit score she was shocked to discover that a County Court Judgement (CCJ) for £238 had been registered against her.

The following month, Vivien, received a letter from a bailiff company chasing an unpaid debt for a parking fine for her doctor’s surgery incurred in September 2023. She called the firm and paid immediately.

“I made the stupid assumption that this was all connected to the CCJ,” said Vivien, who lives in Wiltshire.

You received a CCJ if court action is taken against you because you owe someone money, and the court rules you should pay it back. 

After further investigation she realised they were for different penalty notices, the CCJ relating to a fine in November 2022, both served by private car park operator Civil Enforcement Limited. 

Vivien was unaware that her GP’s car park was operated by a private company and that a one-hour time restriction applied. 

Drivers can avoid a fine by entering their car registration into a computer mounted on the surgery’s wall, a rule Vivien knew nothing about.

“Inappropriate system”

Vivien had asked her daughter to drive her car to the appointment that day, following a diagnosis of epilepsy.

After being kept waiting by the surgery, her stay in the car park ran to one hour and twenty minutes.

“I was more concerned about the way I was feeling, as I wasn’t feeling 100%,” said Vivien.

“You want to see your GP, you’re not thinking about how long you’ve been in the car park.

 “It seems inappropriate to me that any GP surgery should have that sort of system. But I suppose what are their other options. They must stop non-patients using the car park. 

“But what if someone collapses and has to be taken away by ambulance?” 

Vivien tried repeatedly to get in touch with Civil Enforcement by phone to find out why they had not contacted her about the CCJ, yet the bailiffs had found her for the September 2023 fine. 

After leaving four unanswered messages on the company’s enquiry line, she wrote a letter of complaint about her treatment and asked if the CCJ had been cancelled as she had now paid both fines.

A court response stating that the money had been received and the matter was now closed was the firm’s only response to Vivien’s search for answers. 

“Civil Enforcement’s public persona is non-existent,” said Vivien. “I know they are imposing fines on people which are technically justified, and the recipients won’t be pleased about it, but I feel they should be more empathic.”

Tracking you down

Between January and the end of September, according to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), 185 private car parking operators made more than 9.7 million requests for the personal information it holds on drivers so that they could track them down about a potential fine.

When drivers move home, by law they must notify the DVLA of their change of address quickly. 

They must update their address separately on their driving licence, logbook (V5C) and direct debits. 

Failing to update both the licence and logbook means that should a car park operator need to locate you to send a penalty notice – it will go to your old address. 

Vivien moved home in May 2020. While she had updated her driving licence, she had overlooked her logbook.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The irony is that Vivien went to the doctor to feel better and ended up feeling a whole lot worse – anxious and out of pocket. 

“Not telling the DVLA she’d moved was an oversight, but where is the fairness and decency in how this case has been handled? 

“It seems one honest mistake has resulted in someone being trapped in a system devoid of any scope for human contact and few signs of compassion.”

Damage to credit rating

Once a CCJ is recorded on your credit report it will remain there for six years, unless you pay the full amount within one month.

James Jones from credit referencing agency Experian said: “The presence of a CCJ is obviously a big red flag to most lenders and is likely to lead to a score reduction in the region of about 250 points on Experian scores. Once the CCJ goes, the score jumps straight back to where it was before.”

Jones advises drivers to regularly keep an eye on their credit score. 

Vivien says she expected more loyalty from her bank Santander, where she had banked since before its Alliance & Leicester days, and Barclays, her credit card provider as she had not run into credit difficulties before. 

Her overdraft was cut from £1,800 to £50 as a result of the CCJ and her credit limit cut from £10,500 to £8,000.

Santander says it wrote to Vivien in May giving her six weeks’ notice of her overdraft reduction and spoke to her over the phone to discuss matters as well as offering support.

Barclays also wrote to the customer ahead of her credit limit reduction and provided contact details. 

Multiple attempts to trace

After the Sun contacted Civil Enforcement Limited, the company offered to remove the CCJ and pay the court administration costs.

It said that while Vivien was at fault for staying in the car park for over an hour and did not update her vehicle registration details after moving home, it should have escalated her letter to its complaints department, which it did not. 

Under the British Parking Association’s code of conduct for parking operators, before they issue a CCJ, if there has been no response to its parking notice and reminders, the company must make reasonable attempts to make sure they have the correct contact details for the person they are writing to. 

Civil Enforcement says multiple attempts to trace Vivien were made.

Eventually, a search for the second fine carried out in April revealed her current address. 

Civil Enforcement says it manages nearly 10 million parking visits to its client sites every month, with over 99.6% resulting in drivers parking compliantly. 

Both Barclays and Santander say Vivien’s credit facilities can be restored.

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