Manuel Petrovic, 22, appeared remotely at the County Court in Romford seeking to set-aside a County Court Judgement (CCJ), originally issued because of an unpaid parking ticket. The respondent to the application, ParkingEye, did not appear at the hearing and Mr Petrovic appeared unrepresented.
The CCJ had been made on 8th May 2019, whilst it is understood Mr Petrovic was being held on remand for the suspected murder of teenager Jodie Chesney. He was fully acquitted following a jury trial at the Old Bailey in November 2019.
Mr Petrovic told the court that debt collectors had turned up at his house whilst he was in custody and he had only discovered the CCJ after checking his credit rating. “I’ve recently come off remand … I want to turn my life around” he explained.
His defence, that he had sold the car to a “local friend” before the parking ticket was issued in January 2019 was unsupported by evidence at today’s hearing. “You say you sold the car in 2018 but you don’t say when or how you sold it” remarked Deputy District Judge Brian Robson.
“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt” DDJ Robson explained before granting the application to set-aside as the court was “satisfied Manual Petrovic has a potential defence to the claim”. However the judge warned “just because I’m setting aside this judgement doesn’t mean this will go away” and ordered that Mr Petrovic file a defence by 4pm on April 1st.
In The County Court and The Family Court at Romford
HEARING ROOM 3
Wednesday 17 March 2021 15.00
Before Deputy District Judge Robson
F3FC68N7 – Parkingeye -v- Manuel Petrovic – 30 MINUTES – REMOTE HEARING
Mouse in the Court 