Ryan came into our Loughborough office for help with issues regarding a parking fine. He had got back from holiday to find court papers in his post relating to the fine. Ryan had ignored them and subsequently in May a County Court Judgement (CCJ) had been issued against him. A CCJ can affect a person's chances of getting credit in the future.

Ryan explained to one of our generalist advisers that in February he had parked in a local store's car park and spent approximately two hours shopping for his holiday. Ryan had seen a sign about how long customers could park for but he hadn't read it. The limit was one and a half hours.

At the end of February he had received written notification from a private car parking firm of a £100 parking fine. Ryan went back to the local store and spoke to a member of staff who apologised saying other customers had had the same problem. She took a photo of Ryan's receipt and told him she would tell management and get the fine cancelled. But in March he had received another notification from the private car parking firm about the fine owed and so he returned to the store. He was told it was being dealt with.

The CCJ issued in May stated that the original fine had now escalated to £197 as it included court costs. It also stated that if he paid it within 1 month he could apply to the court to have the CCJ against him taken off the register. That offer was to expire the day after Ryan came into our office. Client told our Adviser that he had lost the store receipt.

Our Adviser rang the local store in question on Ryan's behalf and was told that the photo of the receipt no longer existed and they couldn't confirm whether it had ever been passed to management.

The options our Adviser outlined to Ryan were:-
Pay the fine asap by end of the next day and ask for a receipt to be mailed to him.
Phone the court and ask what they require to remove his name from their register of CCJs - the Adviser explained to Ryan how a CCJ could impact on his credit rating.
It was also explained to Ryan that if he did not pay the amount, he would risk incurring further costs if more recovery actions were taken.

The Adviser also suggested to Ryan that he write to the local store to ask if they would help him with the costs, mentioning that he had been assured by one of their staff that the charges would be cancelled and he had trusted that would happen.

Ryan agreed to do this and said he was reluctant to shop in their store again.