County court says summons “not served”

[Steve Jones2]

I performed a job in person at a customer’s house. He hasn’t paid the bill.
I issued a court summons, which wasn’t responded to.
I know he still lives at the address as I’ve seen him going in and out after he would have received the summons. He appears on council tax records.
I applied for a CCJ.

Just heard back from the court that it cannot issue CCJ as case hasn’t been served.
I’m guessing he must have returned the court papers, falsely claiming he no longer lived there.
What can I do? Can I appoint a bailiff to collect the debt as it stands?
Or do I go to his house and serve the papers personally? If I do this, what proof do I have that I attended? Is it simply a case of declaring that I attended?

 

[Gyumri]

I think you should first contact the court and ask them to clarify the matter. However, you should perhaps have filed a form N215 from memory - a certificate of postage confirming that the claim was properly served at least to the person's last known address.

How do I file a certificate of service when making a money claim online?

I recently submitted online a court claim for money owed. Prior to making the claim I had written to the defendant several times to explain the breakdown of money owed but not got a response. Now

law.stackexchange.com

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Sadly you are unable to instruct a bailiff without a county court judgement.

There are proper court serving services but you can serve them yourself

 

[Newchodge]

What do you mean

I issued a court summons, which wasn’t responded to.

I applied for a CCJ.

What 'summons' did you issue?

 

[Lisa Thomas]

There are process servers who can serve it for you. I can recommend one if you dm me.