ECP DCB Legal court claim 2025

aicatalia

On 21st March, I received a PCN from Euro Car Parks for parking in Chelmsford Meadows car park.

The entry time was recorded as 24th February 2024 at 23:16:41, and the exit time was 25th February 2024 at 03:40:23. However, I live 27 miles from Chelmsford and was at home asleep during this time. It appears that my car has been cloned and used for parking there. Interestingly, I sold the car on 26th February, two days after the alleged offence. Another fine from Barking Council for a similar issue was dismissed after they confirmed the car was cloned. I suspect my number plate was copied from an online advertisement. 

I challenged the PCN on their website, providing a screenshot from my neighbour's CCTV camera showing my car in my driveway, although the number plate isn't clear. I received an automated email acknowledging my challenge, stating they would respond within 28 days. A few weeks ago, I received a fine reminder but did not act, as I was still waiting for their response. I have since received multiple letters from Debt Recovery Plus, now handling the fine collection. I avoided calling debt recovery plus as I heard from multiple forums to not contact them. Today I got another letter so I just decided to call them since it says you have 28 days to pay or appeal. I told them its a cloned car and that I have multiple evidence including pictures of the actual cloned car from the barking council. They were of no help and said they can do nothing. I told them that Euro Car parks has not even replied to my appeal but they said that they did on the 28th of March. I believe it went to my junk mail and got deleted as I didn't know my outlook was set up where my junk mails get automatically deleted after a certain time. They said I need a solicitor or help from citizen bureau. 

I've tried contacting Euro Car Parks but the website just says that the debt is in Debt recovery plus hands. Every phone number I call states they cannot discuss parking charges over the phone. I know from online forum that Euro Car Parks are notoriously difficult to deal with.

I'm at a loss for what to do next to prevent this issue from escalating. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Gr1pr

Firstly, ECP are not allowed to sell the alleged debt on, they are prevented from doing so by their DVLA KADOE contract, but they can employ 3rd party debt collectors or lawyers to try to obtain payment 

Secondly, debt collectors are powerless, so ignore the debt collectors letters, nothing to worry about, so don't , and definitely stop phoning people, phone calls achieve nothing, you don't need a solicitor either, debt collectors do what their client tells them to do, so they cannot assist you without anything at all

Thirdly, study the newbies sticky thread in announcements, by coupon mad, especially post 4 , ignoring debt collectors 

Next, study plan A in that thread, because at the moment you need to obtain a landowner cancellation, by complaining to the landowner or managing agent if its a retail park site 

So plan A 

Then come back to this thread if you ever receive a Letter of Claim, or a court claim in the future , keeping your proof etc, especially any police CAD reference number 

Lastly, go to the BPA AOS members list on the BPA website, look at ECP and on the right is a complaints link, use it and complain about the whole saga to ECP, with the PCN reference number, the VRM details etc, plus add your proof of cloning or no longer owning the vehicle etc, same as the council one 

Come back here once they have replied 

Grizebeck

No debt was sold.

fisherjim

And stop calling this speculative invoice a "fine", it isn't, you are dealing with greedy Muppets that couldn't care less their business model includes making spurious claims, telling lies, and ignoring you in the hope you will get jittery and pay up, both companies are in on the same scam.

You have informed them now ignore them if they try a punt in court spank them.

aicatalia

Gr1pr said:

Firstly, ECP are not allowed to sell the alleged debt on, they are prevented from doing so by their DVLA KADOE contract, but they can employ 3rd party debt collectors or lawyers to try to obtain payment 

Secondly, debt collectors are powerless, so ignore the debt collectors letters, nothing to worry about, so don't , and definitely stop phoning people, phone calls achieve nothing, you don't need a solicitor either, debt collectors do what their client tells them to do, so they cannot assist you without anything at all

Thirdly, study the newbies sticky thread in announcements, by coupon mad, especially post 4 , ignoring debt collectors 

Next, study plan A in that thread, because at the moment you need to obtain a landowner cancellation, by complaining to the landowner or managing agent if its a retail park site 

So plan A 

Then come back to this thread if you ever receive a Letter of Claim, or a court claim in the future , keeping your proof etc, especially any police CAD reference number 

Lastly, go to the BPA AOS members list on the BPA website, look at ECP and on the right is a complaints link, use it and complain about the whole saga to ECP, with the PCN reference number, the VRM details etc, plus add your proof of cloning or no longer owning the vehicle etc, same as the council one 

Come back here once they have replied 

Thanks again for your advice last year. I just wanted to post an update.

Unfortunately, I have now received an official County Court Claim Form from Euro Car Parks via the County Court Business Centre (Northampton). The issue date was 28th April 2025.

When I tried to acknowledge service online via Money Claim Online (MCOL), the defence password provided on the form doesn't seem to work. It keeps saying "Claim number or password is incorrect." But I have checked multiple times with uppercase/lowercase or using the letter O instead of the number 0 and it still doesnt work. I will be contacting MCOL tomorrow morning once the lines open. 

In terms of evidence, I have managed to get a police incident number after reporting the cloning to my local police force, which strengthens my case.
Also, I have photographs of the cloned vehicle taken by Barking Council when they issued a PCN back in February — they match the timing around when the Chelmsford incident happened. The council cancelled that PCN after confirming it was a cloned vehicle.

I'm currently preparing a proper Defence based on the forum template, focused on the car cloning facts. I’m planning to email it to the court before the Defence deadline.

Thanks again for your previous guidance — if you have any tips about what to do next, I'd really appreciate it!

aicatalia

fisherjim said:

And stop calling this speculative invoice a "fine", it isn't, you are dealing with greedy Muppets that couldn't care less their business model includes making spurious claims, telling lies, and ignoring you in the hope you will get jittery and pay up, both companies are in on the same scam.

You have informed them now ignore them if they try a punt in court spank them.

I definitely won't be paying them. I'm trying to acknowledge the claim properly but I'm having issues. When I tried to acknowledge service online via Money Claim Online (MCOL), the defence password provided on the form doesn't seem to work. It keeps saying "Claim number or password is incorrect." But I have checked multiple times with uppercase/lowercase or using the letter O instead of the number 0 and it still doesnt work. I will be contacting MCOL tomorrow morning once the lines open. I'm also putting together a Defence focused on the cloning evidence, with the police incident number and photos of the cloned car from Barking Council.

Feeling much more confident now that I'm taking the right steps thanks to everyone here. Appreciate all the support!

aicatalia

Grizebeck said:

No debt was sold.

I understand now that the debt wasn't sold — it was just passed to Debt Recovery Plus for collection while Euro Car Parks remained the creditor.
Appreciate the clarification!

kryten3000

This will have been issued via DCB Legal and we know what happens when you defend - they discontinue.

I would also consider a counter claim because they continued to process your personal data even though you provided evidence of your vehicle being elsewhere at the time they claim it was parked.

aicatalia

kryten3000 said:

This will have been issued via DCB Legal and we know what happens when you defend - they discontinue.

I would also consider a counter claim because they continued to process your personal data even though you provided evidence of your vehicle being elsewhere at the time they claim it was parked.

Yes, the claim has come through DCB Legal acting for Euro Car Parks. I’ve seen from other cases here that they often discontinue once a proper Defence is filed, so I’m definitely planning to defend fully.

I hadn’t thought about a counterclaim — that’s a really good point. Since I provided evidence early on (including CCTV and now a police incident number) and they still pursued this, it sounds like I might have grounds for a claim under data protection laws for misuse of my personal data. I’ll look into it properly once I’ve got my Defence submitted.

Really appreciate the advice — thank you!

Gr1pr

I think you need to login to the government gateway first, then use the claim reference number and password to login to MCOL 

You should also edit the thread title to something more suitable like 

ECP DCB Legal court claim 2025

kryten3000

You need to counterclaim at the same time as the defence, not afterwards. 

Your defence becomes a "Defence and Counterclaim" and you will need to pay a fee as well, which can be done over the phone.