Has anyone taken Civil Enforcement Ltd parking firm to court and won?

LeanneSum12

Hi
I was issued a parking ticket for £100 in a pub car park whilst I was having lunch in the pub because I put my car registration in the machine incorrectly. When I received the charge, I contacted the pub who told me to appeal to the parking company. When I appealed, they said I would have to pay £20 for a keying error which I refused to pay as I had proved I was a customer at the pub at the time. The pub told me they would handle it and get the charge cancelled so I thought that was the end of it. A few months later I received a bill for £170 because the charge had not been paid. I got back in touch with the manager of the pub and complained because the member of staff I had spoken to had told me she'd cancelled the ticket and she obviously hadn't. The manager advised me to pay the fine and suggested he would compensate me later but he didn't. Instead he wanted to meet me for a drink to prove the staff are decent people. A few weeks after paying the escalated fine of £170 on my credit card, I received 2 threatening letters from Debt Collection Bailiffs Ltd stating the fine had not been paid. Clearly the parking company had not communicated with the debt collection bailiffs and this irritated me and stressed me out further. Finally, after emailing a copy of my credit card statement they stopped sending threatening letters.
My question is, should I try to reclaim the money from the smalls claims court and what are my chances of winning the case? Has anyone else done so and succeeded?
Thank you for your help.

Coupon-mad

You PAID £170?! Why would anyone do that?  Sorry but it's gone.  You did not need to pay.

You would have paid precisely nothing, and risked nothing, had you come here first and just defended the court claim.

You have no case, except against the pub and this is your case:

A few months later I received a bill for £170 because the charge had not been paid. I got back in touch with the manager of the pub and complained because the member of staff I had spoken to had told me she'd cancelled the ticket and she obviously hadn't. The manager advised me to pay the fine and suggested he would compensate me later but he didn't.

B789

Unfortunately, you can kiss the money goodbye. By paying it you have admitted liability. You have also marked yourself as a mug for further rich pickings by the scammers. You have been scammed.

You should never have paid the illegally inflated fee. If the pub own the car park, they could have ordered their agent, the PPC, to cancel it. You can ask the pub manager who is the monkey and who is the organ grinder in their contractual relationship.

You can just ignore DCBL. They are harmless and a bit thick. They send out these demands automatically. Don't contact them. They are useless. Nothing to worry about from them.

As for trying to claim the money back in a small claim, on what basis and point of law do you think you could use? Which PPC scammed you?

Beezabub7619

Ive received 2 seperate letters, twice in a week (4 basically) demanding £140 for a parking fine at the hospital i was working at back in 2019, from CEL. I have no evidence of what for, they havent offered me any either, only that I was parked in breach of..blah blah.
The name on the demand is a previous name and the car is no longer owned. 
Obviously if you ring these 'people' that means you are admitting liability and so they are trying to trap you into admitting fault. However, if you have no idea what for, you can't enter into that route.
Can anyone help please?

LDast

Beezabub7619, why are you posting an unrelated question on a thread that is nearly a year old? Please start your own thread if you have a question after first having read the Newbies/FAQ thread.