Parents Have Already Engaged with DRP and ECP. What now?

Ditto_

Hi everyone,

I've gone through what I think is relevant in the newbie posts and read through some other mentions of ECP and DRP to see if I can get an answer there. It may be me thinking my problem is solely unique which it probably isn't but I just need to double check here.

The short story is my mum received a letter from DRP saying she needed to pay for use of a carpark after apparently not responding to ECP and 2 other DRP letters, these letters never reached her. She contacted them saying that she shouldn't of been charged for the carpark, DRP irresponsibly told her to take this up with ECP when I'm sure they knew that ECP would only turn around and say you can't appeal and need to talk to DRP at this stage which confused her enough to let me know about this. So in total she has emailed ECP explaining her story and called DRP, DRP's response to there being no other letters received from them was that my mum to talk to Royal Mail and see what happened. My main concern here is that my mum has already spoken to DRP and that flies in the face of post #4 of the Newbies thread and what are the repercussions of that? Now that she has spoken to them is the advice to still ignore?

If you want context/ longer story then that's below:

Essentially my mum was referred to a community leisure centre for physio by the hospital and it is displayed that people using said car park are not required to pay and that they need to enter the registration in the building as ECP use ANPR. She's been going to this car park for months and only last month did she get a letter from DRP saying that this letter was her final warning and she ought to pay. Apparently this was DRP's third letter they had sent but the first 2 and whatever letter(s) ECP sent never came through my parents letterbox. I truly believe this is the case, letters are carefully stored in their household, nowhere for them to get lost.

Now please forgive her, she knew no better and didn't get in touch with me for this, but after getting a letter saying she had to make a choice she rang up DRP and tried explaining the above to them. They then directed her to talk to ECP, she emailed them and explaining the whole thing to them and shortly after that she let me know about all of this. Since then DRP have called her multiple times, and even asked her to talk to Royal mail about these disappearing letters. I genuinely feel that if these letters were so important they ought to be tracked! ECP also came back to her regarding her email and essentially said that all correspondence had to go through DRP now. The issue is now that she's spoken to DRP can she safely continue to ignore them?

I'll be contacting the leisure centre personally for peace of mind to see if I can get some evidence that she was at her physio, had been referred and also see if they can pull logs from the machine and if legitimate users of the leisure centre 100% need to enter their registration or whether the fact she's a legitimate user of the leisure centre trumps that. Collecting some evidence for the worst case scenario seems useful and according to my mum the people working there are nice so fingers crossed it doesn't become a chore getting some answers.

Coupon-mad

Block DRP's number on her phone.

Tell mum to STOP REPLYING to them or to GCTT (same firm as DRP) when that letter comes.

Complain to the site landowner and PALS at the Hospital which referred her with a promise of free parking.  Either might be able to step in and cancel the charge.

Check Mum's V5C logbook if she's moved in recent years.  Missing PCN letters are usually due to the car still being registered at an old address.

Mum should email a SAR to ECP so the missing letters are produced.  The NEWBIES thread explains how.

She COULD also (within the SAR email) give your address for service of letters and tell them she's 'moved' and to erase the old address.  The reason for this suggestion is to take the burden of the letters away from Mum (if she is elderly/vulnerable that's what I'd do).  Then you can get each letter and check there is no court claim, just scary letters. It is unlikely ECP will sue but someone needs to check each letter without getting anxious or spooked by template threatograms.

Ditto_

Just popping back on the forum for other reasons and thought I should update this discussion and thank Coupon-mad for their advice. 

We've blocked DRP's number, their letters have stopped coming through. Everything seems to be smooth sailing, so if you're going through the same sort of stuff definitely give this thread a readthrough especially the NEWBIES thread.

Thanks Coupon-mad from my mum and I!

KeithP

What about the other things it was suggested you do?

Don't throw everything away just yet. 
Remember, everyone has up to six years to pursue a claim through the courts.

Ditto_

KeithP said:

What about the other things it was suggested you do?

Don't throw everything away just yet. 
Remember, everyone has up to six years to pursue a claim through the courts.

Hey, sorry I really don't use the forum outside of trying to help this situation with my mum. But yeah we've looked at the V5C logbook and confirmed that there's no record that would suggest she's moved. Though we haven't gone ahead with the SARs for the letters.

That might be an issue with the update I'm giving so if you think it's needed to help then I apologise for not getting that done sooner and I'll see if we can get that done.

So the letters from DCBL kept coming, and we didn't play ball with any of it. Now she's received a claim through the post and I'm reading up on how to go about MCOL. I am reading that there is a good chance that DCBL will discontinue this but I just worry that if they don't and it gets down to an actual claim I won't have evidence that my mum did put her registration in the machine or not and that's what the Judge will base things off of. She had a valid reason to be there for physio from the hospital but apart from that I don't know what will fly. 

I'll do my best to follow what's been written in the newbie post, if there's anything else that you think I should have or should do now then yeah I'd appreciate it!

Gr1pr

Its DCB LEGAL who tend to discontinue just before the hearing fee needs paying,  not DCBL, ( DCBL are no longer involved   )

Its already at the actual claim stage,  if she has an N1SDT claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL 

Her sworn statement is enough to state that the correct vrm details were put in, plus that these machines are known for faults etc, its up to the claimant to prove their claims, or they fail  ( the defendant doesn't have to prove anything   )

Being a valid patient is OK, proof of full payment is ideal if she has it

Post the Issue date from the top right of the claim form below,  plus post a redacted picture of the POC from the lower left of the claim form below after hiding the VRM details first 

Coupon-mad

Ditto_ said:

KeithP said:

What about the other things it was suggested you do?

Don't throw everything away just yet. 
Remember, everyone has up to six years to pursue a claim through the courts.

Hey, sorry I really don't use the forum outside of trying to help this situation with my mum. But yeah we've looked at the V5C logbook and confirmed that there's no record that would suggest she's moved. Though we haven't gone ahead with the SARs for the letters.

That might be an issue with the update I'm giving so if you think it's needed to help then I apologise for not getting that done sooner and I'll see if we can get that done.

So the letters from DCBL kept coming, and we didn't play ball with any of it. Now she's received a claim through the post and I'm reading up on how to go about MCOL. I am reading that there is a good chance that DCBL will discontinue this but I just worry that if they don't and it gets down to an actual claim I won't have evidence that my mum did put her registration in the machine or not and that's what the Judge will base things off of. She had a valid reason to be there for physio from the hospital but apart from that I don't know what will fly.

Not a concern!

Read the court outcomes reported by

@flowercuppatea
and @babtunde345
and @Lemonhead39 

Ditto_

Gr1pr said:

Its DCB LEGAL who tend to discontinue just before the hearing fee needs paying,  not DCBL, ( DCBL are no longer involved   )

Its already at the actual claim stage,  if she has an N1SDT claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL 

Her sworn statement is enough to state that the correct vrm details were put in, plus that these machines are known for faults etc, its up to the claimant to prove their claims, or they fail  ( the defendant doesn't have to prove anything   )

Being a valid patient is OK, proof of full payment is ideal if she has it

Post the Issue date from the top right of the claim form below,  plus post a redacted picture of the POC from the lower left of the claim form below after hiding the VRM details first 

The issue date is the 4th Aug 2025, so I'm taking it that the date that we need to submit this defence by is 6th Sept 2025? I've completed the AOS on MCOL, the dropbox guide really helps so big thanks to whoever put that together!

Below is a picture of the POC. I don't know if it's entirely relevant but I don't believe anyone does pay for the leisure centre, it's a just sign up and make use of the facilities. My mum has proof from the leisure centre that she did attend her appointment and has done for all her other sessions which Euro Car Parks have had no issue with as she always uses the car to help her get about.

Ditto_

Coupon-mad said:

Ditto_ said:

KeithP said:

What about the other things it was suggested you do?

Don't throw everything away just yet. 
Remember, everyone has up to six years to pursue a claim through the courts.

Hey, sorry I really don't use the forum outside of trying to help this situation with my mum. But yeah we've looked at the V5C logbook and confirmed that there's no record that would suggest she's moved. Though we haven't gone ahead with the SARs for the letters.

That might be an issue with the update I'm giving so if you think it's needed to help then I apologise for not getting that done sooner and I'll see if we can get that done.

So the letters from DCBL kept coming, and we didn't play ball with any of it. Now she's received a claim through the post and I'm reading up on how to go about MCOL. I am reading that there is a good chance that DCBL will discontinue this but I just worry that if they don't and it gets down to an actual claim I won't have evidence that my mum did put her registration in the machine or not and that's what the Judge will base things off of. She had a valid reason to be there for physio from the hospital but apart from that I don't know what will fly.

Not a concern!

Read the court outcomes reported by

@flowercuppatea
and @babtunde345
and @Lemonhead39 

Much appreciated, the thread from babtunde345 was an eye opener to just how little these guys care when they're in court, that's genuinely a sad affair  
Can't imagine how much money they've taken off people to warrant them still to go after people like this.

Ditto_

Coupon-mad said:

Ditto_ said: 

Much appreciated, the thread from babtunde345 was an eye opener to just how little these guys care when they're in court, that's genuinely a sad affair  
Can't imagine how much money they've taken off people to warrant them still to go after people like this.

Yep. It is easy to defend and you'll win.

But this month, we need you to help fight the war as well as your own battle. Have you seen it? PLEASE bookmark this thread below and do the government's Public Consultation if you haven't done it yet.

Their proposals are wrong. We must stop them.

See this thread: -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline! Just 2 weeks left but please don't rush it. You can do some then save it and come back to it as you have time.

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that.

So to try to help, I've written some guidance on that thread.

Any questions on the Consultation please ask - on the dedicated thread - but I've covered up to question 20 already in that first post, openly telling everyone what I'm going to put and/or what sort of evidence you might wish to use for your response, if you agree with what we'll be saying from our experience.

Whilst your answers must of course be your own, there are vital points to safeguard motorists interests to make, that many people may not think of without our guidance because we see cases every day and we know the legal background. 

However, people like you have lived & breathed the intimidation, greed and unfairness first hand so your voice is needed!

Yep will 100% help out here! Genuinely poor behaviour going after people like this.

I've made a first draft of paragraph 3 for the defence, would appreciate a once over and suggestions:

3. The Defendant was attending the leisure centre on the material date for hospital‑prescribed physiotherapy. This was one of a series of such appointments (over seven in total), all evidenced by appointment letters and attendance records. The car park is advertised as free for leisure centre users provided a vehicle registration number is entered into the machine inside. The Defendant is sure she complied with this requirement, as on all previous and subsequent visits. The machines are known to be unreliable, and it appears the data was not correctly captured on this occasion. The Defendant received no correspondence at all from Euro Car Parks prior to the sudden involvement of debt collectors, therefore had no fair opportunity to appeal or resolve the matter.

Coupon-mad

Perfect!