Private road parking advice - NPC / DCB legal

thankyouinadvance

@Coupon-mad - can I ask, should I have heard something by now? I emailed the letter on 24th March and it says on the money claim online website that I have submitted a defence.

I also wrote to my MP and she has said she will write to NPC / DCB on my behalf.

Coupon-mad

As long as the Claim had your correct address on it then you will get the next letters shown in the 'first 12 steps' (Template Defence thread) quite soon.

Your MCOL history will also update (until the case gets allocated to your local court in a few months)  so check it weekly.

thankyouinadvance

ok thank you!

thankyouinadvance

Update: I received this letter today 3rd June, dated 29th May! giving me 7 days to respond. On day 6 of 7! If I hadn't looked at it right away (nothing on the envelope says urgent or open now) I would have missed the deadline. Odd thing is, I did not receive a Notice of Proposed Allocation to Track from the court.

I searched the newbies thread and found instructions of how to fill out and reply by email, thanks to @Coupon-mad

Castle

thankyouinadvance said:

Update: I received this letter today 3rd June, dated 29th May! giving me 7 days to respond. On day 6 of 7! If I hadn't looked at it right away (nothing on the envelope says urgent or open now) I would have missed the deadline. Odd thing is, I did not receive a Notice of Proposed Allocation to Track from the court.

I searched the newbies thread and found instructions of how to fill out and reply by email, thanks to @Coupon-mad

The deadline is 7 days from the date of service, which is 5 days after the date of issue-therefore, in this instance, it would have been 10th June.

ChirpyChicken

Just email it to dq.cnbc@justice.gov.uk asap

thankyouinadvance

Am I right in thinking that the next step is to wait for a mediator call? Will they contact beforehand to schedule the call?

Coupon-mad

You'll get an email. Check your junk folder.

Also set your phone to allow unknown numbers to call. 

thankyouinadvance

UPDATE:

I had a mediator call. The guy was adamant he did not want me to record the call, which I thought was odd. He said if I didn't turn off the recording (I'm now working with a documentary film maker from ITV) he would have to report that I was not complying with the mediation. I told him that I had a researcher there who would take notes and he said that was OK.
Anyhow he went through the whole speech, with the claimant offering to reduce the payment by £10 if I paid now. He said I should make some offer to appear reasonable to the judge so I said ok - I'll pay them 50p for my car being there, (not saying who was driving). I said I want to go to court so I can explain the whole scam to the judge (I do!).

Now it gets really odd.

I heard nothing for ages, then a letter came (supposedly) from Brighton magistrates court saying two things. 

1. The case had been moved from Lewes to Brighton.
2. They have lost my defence so I need to refile it.

There was a phone number and and extension for the person who sent the letter from Brighton. I called it, but the number just gave a recorded message saying "this number is no longer in use", and giving an alternative. I called that number which went through to some central processing place, not Brighton. I waited on hold for 41 minutes. Got to a very helpful guy, who thought the parking scammers were evil and hoped I would beat them. He consented to his audio being used in the documentary. He said he could see that I had been sent a letter, but there was nothing on the case file to indicate the case had been moved, or any reason why this might have happened. Apparently either the claimant or the defendant can ask for the case to be moved. I asked if this might happen if a claimant just wanted to inconvenience a defendant. He said companies do do that some times.

His advice was to email Brighton, to ask if the case has really been moved and he gave me the address. I emailed several weeks ago but have heard nothing.

Has anyone else had an experience with this? How can I see if my defence is still filed or not?

I just checked money claim online and there is nothing listed after the case being transferred to Lewes. NO mention of Brighton. 

Recent Transactions for Defendant

Claim Status

A claim was issued against you on 25/02/2025

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 07/03/2025 at 17:23:42

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 10/03/2025 at 01:05:32

Your defence was received on 24/03/2025

Case Stay Lifted on 30/04/2025

DQ sent to you on 30/04/2025

DQ filed by claimant on 30/04/2025

General sanctions order was made on 29/05/2025

You filed a DQ on 16/06/2025

Your claim was transferred to LEWES on 25/07/2025

Coupon-mad

OK so:

1. I am so pleased you have a documentary following your case!

2. You MUST MUST MUST re-send your defence to Brighton Court. That's a court order: you MUST COMPLY or you are risking a CCJ. The courts often lose paperwork and this is normal. Send it.

3.  Yes your case has been moved but only because Brighton and Lewes are in the same court circuit (same judges). This is my area. I've attended hearings at both and the move is normal, nothing to do with the scammers.

4.  FIGHTBACK ALERT - just days to go!

Please do the government's Public Consultation. We need every poster to complete this vital survey before the deadline.

See this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-now-extended-closes-friday-26th-september/p1

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that. It doesn't matter; no knowledge is needed except re your own experiences so you can call out a scam industry and you'll protect millions of motorists and help change the law. 

I've written some guidance to help focus new posters on the issues. I've covered almost every question, providing ideas if you agree with our stance on things like DRFs, which we say must be banned.

Ordinary people like you are falling victim to this scam over 18 million times per annum. Motorists need your voice added please.

CLOSES THIS FRIDAY.

For ease and inspiration read the Which? response they've just published:

https://www.which.co.uk/policy-and-insight/article/private-parking-code-of-practice-which-response-aMnXo1g7Dr2F