Help.. ES Parking, Gladstones, DCBL debt collector.

Gahill12

Help needed... I have read the newbies thread many times but still confused about how to proceed.

I have 2 x outstanding cases with ES parking.

1. I parked on a Site with an Iceland and a Superdrug in Manchester in July 2018. I was advised by both stores to ignore the chain emails and now it has reached a stage where i have received a debt collection notice.

I received a County Court Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre with ES Parking as the claimant and Gladstone as the Solicitor for £260. I was advised to ignore this.

However, after receiving a 2nd County Court Claim form i emailed Gladstones with the following -
"
Claim No: XXXXXXX

Following your most recent correspondence issued on 10/12/18, I find the nature of your claim not only vindictive and highly inhumane, but incredibly damaging to local businesses.
I also refuse to submit a form back to Gladstones Solicitors detailing every aspect of my life and my living.
Firstly, I have written to Lidl and to Superdrug, being a weekly user of these shops, I can guarantee the lifetime value of a customer to both Lidl and Superdrug is worth a lot more than this claim, and since this claim has started, I haven’t been to this site once.
Secondly, I find the nature of the claim very vindictive and I will be processing a counterclaim for harassment and entrapment if this is to proceed further. Hiring a Man to sit in an old Silver Mercedes (W registration), taking photographs on his DashCam of cars as they come and go, is not only damaging to the community, but is completely unheard of, and I am shocked this has got this far. The Site in particular is used by many and is circled by many local shops and businesses, whose customers use this carpark often, and is vital to their success, please explain to me how is this not damaging to local businesses?
Thirdly, on the day in question, 3/8/18, I entered the Superdrug Store and purchased goods. Please see attached screenshot from my Account showing the transaction date. You have failed to provide any evidence that I breached the rules stipulated in small signs around the Site, all I have is a poor photo of my Car.
I urge you to drop this Claim, following my points above. I trust this matter is now closed and I look forward to hearing so.
Kind regards,"

Safe to say I had no response from this even though I attached a photo of my bank statement showing the transaction and I chased receipt of this email by re-forwarding it to them a week later.

Since then I have recently received a 'Notice of Debt Recovery' from DCBL which has now has a cost attached of £350. Again i have been advised to ignore this but I'm worried its going to get worse.

Any Advice?

2, The second issue, involves the same parties but on a separate occasion 2 weeks later. Which I have just received a Claim Form but I haven't done anything with this yet.

I haven't been back to this Site since.
Any help would be appreciated. Apologies if this has been repeated.

ewandougie

I'm a little confused, Gladstones sent you two claim forms?

Do you mean income and expenditure forms? If it is one of those you are right in that you have no obligation to fill them out since you are not in a credit agreement with them.

Claim forms come from the CCBS in Northampton not from Gladstones.

beamerguy

Since then I have recently received a 'Notice of Debt Recovery' from DCBL which has now has a cost attached of £350. Again i have been advised to ignore this but I'm worried its going to get worse.

Could you please upload a copy of the DCBL letter to one of the free picture hosting sites ...... redacting all personal info.

KeithP

Gahill12 wrote: »

I parked on a Site with an Iceland and a Superdrug in Manchester in July 2018. I was advised by both stores to ignore the chain emails...

Gahill12 wrote: »

I received a County Court Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre with ES Parking as the claimant and Gladstone as the Solicitor for £260. I was advised to ignore this.

Gahill12 wrote: »

Any Advice?

Yes. Urgently seek out those who gave you advice earlier and ask them to contribute.

Seriously, whoever told you ignore County Court papers is an idiot.

As Beamerguy says, show us that DCBL letter.

KeithP

Gahill12 wrote: »

2, The second issue, involves the same parties but on a separate occasion 2 weeks later. Which I have just received a Claim Form but I haven't done anything with this yet.

What is the Issue Date on this Claim Form?

Did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

Gahill12

Hi,

Thanks for you replies.

They are are 2 x separate ES Parking Fines. The first one has reached a debt recovery letter stage.

The 2nd Claim form has the 20th Feb 2019 as the issue date. It came from the Business Centre in Northampton.

The DCBL letter is on the below - dropbox.com/s/p9opixuvxb6kdhs/photo.jpeg?dl=0

Thanks again all.

KeithP

Sadly, I think you need to pay £350.93.

Having ignored the Claim and offered no Defence, and then ignored the court order to pay the Claimant a somewhat lesser amount, you really have no excuse for not doing so.

KeithP

Gahill12 wrote: »

The 2nd Claim form has the 20th Feb 2019 as the issue date. It came from the Business Centre in Northampton.

With regard to your most recent Claim Form...

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th February, you have until Monday 11th March to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 25th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over two weeks away. Loads of time to produce a Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Gahill12

Thanks all.

To provide an update on this. I have contacted the debt collector and paid the first ticket off. Like you suggested, not a lot I could do with this unfortunately.

The 2nd claim; I have issued an AOS and I have submitted a very long and detailed defence. My status on MCOL is 'defence receieved'. I have since received a Claimants Questionnaire from Gladstone Solicitor, should I fill this in and issue it back?

How long dose this normally take?

Should I be doing anything else? Contact my local MP or issue a SAR?

As always, your help has been appreciated. Hero's amongst us.

D_P_Dance

I have contacted the debt collector and paid the first ticket off. Like you suggested,

You really need to get your MP on side here, you have been sewn up like a kipper by these scammers.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. It has cleared Parliament and hopefully, this will become law shortly.

Umkomaas

I have submitted a very long and detailed defence.

How 'long and detailed'? Not advised in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2.

Perhaps it might be wise to post it up here if you're going to be needing any help going forward.

Definitely issue a SAR to the PPC and solicitors. Here's a template to use:

https://legalbeagles.info/library/guides_and_letters/court/subject-access-request/

Your other questions are all handled in the above sticky. That needs to be your bible as you proceed with this case.