I Was Awarded A Ccj, But The Guy Hasn't Paid.

[sadanorakman]

Your advice please. I was awarded around £400 from a guy in the county court (CCJ). He has failed to pay me. He might own an old caravan and an old car, worth a few hundred quid each, but little else. I don't think he works.
I know that I can pay another £100 or so to have a County Court Bailiff visit him, but I don't think they have much authority. e.g. cannot enter property unless invited in.
Ideally I would employ a Sheriff instead as I believe they have more incentive and therefore greater success in obtaining results but I can't do that unless the claim is at least £600.
Should I just write this scumbag off, or risk another £100 to chase £400. Am I just throwing good money after bad?
Many Thanks

[bednobs]

if he doesnt have anything, he can't give you anything

[dannyk13]

Would the court have issued a CCJ if they thought he could not pay?

[ummmm]

Yes. They still issue them.

[Baldric]

https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-bailiffs

[EDDIE51]

If he really does not have the money, is not working and does not own items of value there is nothing you can do. Getting a bailiff's warrant will probably just cost you another £100 that he won't pay. You can't get blood out of a stone! I think sheriff's work for the high court not a county court!

[kissimmee]

dont bother chasing him some people collect ccj's like playing cards

[sadanorakman]

kissimmee, thank you. I think you are most probably right! Just irritates the hell out of me that I was taken in by this scumbag.
I would go to great lengths to avoid having a CCJ awarded against me, but I guess some people have absolutely no morals and frankly don't give a *** about such things.
Guess I'm annoyed at myself for being taken in by this guy, and the weakness of the legal system in this country. Makes me look the idiot not him, as he can con people, knowing full well there's little they can do to gain recompense.

[murraymints]

alas this happens often..put it down to experience but report it to trading standards so he can be put on a dodgy trader list for the future..I always check with them before I employ a small trader and have been warned off one or two in the past...

[EDDIE51]

You could send him a recorded delivery letter giving him 2 weeks to pay or you will be getting a bailiff to collect the money for you. It may work , if it doesn't at least you have only lost the cost of postage.
It's not the 'weakness of the legal system', if a person has no money , no income and no goods of value there is no system in the world that can get money out of them!

[sadanorakman]

Eddies, what's no money? Things are never as black and white as that are they?
The guy has a roof over his head, has three kids, a wife, runs an old car, and to the best of my knowledge still owns an old caravan. I do not know if it is a council house, rented, or privately owned, but both the guy and the house were pretty rough.
Even if the guy is only on income support, why shouldn't he be forced to pay me a fiver a week of it to settle his debt? unfortunately there is little the court will do to enforce this... seems our legal system simply lets these smaller cases slip through the net.
I bet you that he can still afford a cigarette when he wants one, or a pint. It's clearly me that's been left looking the idiot.
A recorded letter would unfortunately make no difference to this guy, as I went to huge lengths to appeal to his better nature before taking him to court, and at that time he only owed me £175, not the £400 he now does after the court action. I've threatened with Bailiff action by email, and he has simply ignored me.

[murraymints]

see my posting above ^^^

[sadanorakman]

thanks murraymints... he was not a small trader. It was a private purchase of a caravan... two grand. Granted not a lot of money as far as caravans go, but it is all I could afford at the time, and it was in reasonable condition.

[murraymints]

ah right..looks like you'll just have to write it off ...unfortunate..

[sadanorakman]

I think you're right. Just irritates that people can get away with defying a court order and suffer no consequence. Means that law fails.

[Hopkirk]

Perhaps think of some other little victories that you can have against him.

[Hypognosis]

@S O G

If you were buying a caravan from him, how come he ended up owing you money?

Am I slow in the uptake or something? How come others post answers with not even half the background story up front?

[Quoi]

Just reading your responses to the other posts I can see that this has got under your skin. It doesnt sound like he's going to pay whether he has any money or not. You lost £175 and life isn't fair. Big deal.... Don't spend even more money on this.. move on... it's not worth the hassle.

[Hypognosis]

@Quoi

I can accept your point that life isn't fair but I would, nevertheless, like to learn how to avoid getting into a situation where even a CCJ, in my favour, cannot help me.

[sadanorakman]

Thanks for all of your comments.

Hypognosis. I bought a caravan from him for £2000, which was shown in the pictures in the advert with a stabilising tow hitch fitted. When I arrived to pick up the van, he'd taken the hitch off and replaced it with a standard one.

I had traveled 100 miles for the sale, and insisted that If the hitch is not included, then I'd walk away. I agreed reluctantly to him sending a stabilising hitch a couple of weeks later, and he wrote accordingly on my receipt.

I gave him a month, then started to chase him... I then sent over a dozen emails and made a couple of calls over a period of a further three months, and the hitch still wasn't forthcoming. The van didn't tow stably and safely without one, so after fair warning to him, I ended up buying a second hand one, and asked him to re-reimburse me.

When he was still not forthcoming, I issued a small claim against him.

The hitch cost me £175, which is all he originally would have had to pay, but rather than do this, he ignored me. I even offered to enter mediation process with him but he refused.

The court costs were about £75 (£25 for initial claim, and £50 for the hearing), and I had to drive up to his local court to attend, so another round trip of 200 miles. I claimed for fuel, plus loss of earnings for the day, on top of the court fees, which took the sum owed up to about £435.

It took the Judge all of two minutes to decided that he had broken our contract, and award me the above sum. Of course naive me thought he would finally pay me what he owed once a court had issued a judgement against him... pppffffff Silly Me!!!

It's still all about the principle of the matter, not the money.

Fact is, there's little I can do to pursue it other than pay more money to the court. £100 pays for a Bailiff to visit, but they have no powers of entry, and are salaried, so have no personal incentive to gain resolution.

It is possible to have a county court case referred to the High Court for a nominal fee, and then instruct a Sheriff to attend who has more powers than a county court bailiff, and who is incentivised as a percentage of each claim, but I could only do this if the claim totals £600 or more, which it doesn't.

[dannyk13]

Surely the court can do something as he has ignored a court order
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/dealing-with-county-court-judgements-ccjs#if-you-dont-keep-to-the-terms-of-a-ccj