NPC DCB Legal court claim 2025

thusprider

Hi everyone, after my mediation call 2 months ago where they wanted £200 but I offered £20, I have now received this letter:
I have redacted sensitive parts. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Allocation to the Small

Claims Track (Hearing)

In the County Court at 

Claim Number

Date

NATIONAL PARKING CONTROL GROUP LIMITED

3 Seal

15 Claimant

Ref xxxx

1" Defendant

Ref

Deputy District Judge Ness has considered the statements of case and directions questionnaire filed and allocated the claim to the small claims track.

1. Allocate to small claims track; The Court has determined that this hearing will be conducted by telephone on xxx The estimated length of hearing is 30 minutes.
2. No party may attend the Court in person.
3. Both parties must supply to the Court by 4.00pm two working days before the hearing date, by email/letter, the contact number upon which they can be contacted. The email advising the court of contact telephone numbers must state in the title the case number and the date of hearing.
4. The parties must by 4.00pm on xxx 2026 file at Court and serve on each other the written evidence upon which they proposed to rely, which must include statements from the parties themselves if they wish to give evidence;

5. Claimant's evidence must:

• be typed, double-line spaced;
• contain numbered paragraphs;
• be paginated (including exhibits);
• be bound by a metal clip or similar (neither a paperclip nor bulldog clip being sufficient);
• provide evidence of the basis upon which the Claimant asserts it has the right to bring this claim.

1. This order has been made in the absence of the parties: any party affected by it may apply within 7 days of service of this order, for it to be varied or set aside
2. Unless the claimant does by 4.00pm on the 31 December 2025 pay to the court the trial fee of £27 or file a properly completed application (i.e one which provides all the required information in the manner requested) for help with fees, then the claim will be struck out with effect from (28 days before hearing) without further order and, unless the court orders otherwise, you will also be liable for the costs which the defendant has incurred. (The trial fee is fee 2.1 in the current Civil Fees Order).

If your claim has been struck out, it will no longer exist. The hearing will be vacated, unless a counterclaim survives the claim being struck out. If, following strike out of the claim the claimant or defendant wishes to start fresh proceedings a new claim must be filed together with the appropriate fee or application for help with fees.

Information and leaflets explaining more about how to pay a court fee or how to apply for a help with fees are available from the court office or online at:

https://www.gov.uk/court-fees-what-they-are

Further information relating to Mediation of small claims are available from the court office or online at:

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=4454

The trial fee is non- refundable. If parties settle before the trial fee is due, the trial fee will not be payable. If a consent order settling the matter is requested after the trial fee has been paid, the consent order fee will still be payable.

Please note, unless you apply for help with fees, there will be no further correspondence from the court office regarding payment of the fee or warnings as to the consequences of non- payment.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This Small Claim hearing has been listed in a group with several other cases at either 10:00am or 2.00pm. Cases are listed in this way to enable an early hearing date thus achieving a quicker resolution of claims.

The time that your case will be heard will be dependent upon how long it actually takes to deal with all the cases in the list and will be at the discretion of the Judges before whom the cases are to be heard. While every effort will be made to deal with each case listed there is a possibility that some may not be reached. These claims will be re-listed at time convenient to all parties with a guarantee that they will be heard on the next occasion.

Date xxx 2025

Notes

• If you cannot, or choose not to, attend the hearing, you must write and tell the court at least 7 days before the date of the hearing. The district judge will hear the case in your absence, but will take account of your statement of case and any other documents you have filed.
• If you do not attend the hearing and do not give notice that you will not attend, the district judge may strike out your claim, defence or counterclaim. If the claimant attends but the defendant does not, the district judge may make a decision based on the evidence of the claimant only.

Leaflets explaining more about what you should do and what happens when your case is allocated to the small claims track are available from the court office or online at https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/small-claims-track-fast-track-and-multi-track-ex305-and-ex306

thusprider

I plan to send the court via email my contact telephone details and change of address (we are moving house this week)
regarding evidence, there is not too much I have except for unclear signage. I think the rules for the car park also changed recently as it was a pay and display. Also the car park seems to have 2 sections

Coupon-mad

This is all as expected and the NEWBIES thread tells you all about WS stage & provides a long list of exhibits.

There are hundreds of WS examples on the forum every year. Read some since October onwards only.

thusprider

Thank you for the reply
Looking at others witness statements I feel I dont have much to give.
i didnt even receive notice of the initial pcn, only a debt collection letter of £140 with no details then the court letter.
i dont recall exactly what happened. 

It was a car park outside tesco in liverpool and I think i popped in for 10 minutes to grab some groceries and ultimately probably should have investigated signage better and paid. However i dont remember seeing signage at time. I did offer them £20 in mediation call and said what they are asking for is unreasonable.
have i got a leg to stand on in court?

Gr1pr

Who says that its going to court,  ?  Its not a done deal 

Its possibly going to court, but only if they pay the hearing fee by the date 31st December, your order says so 

So if they do pay it, ensure that your Witness Statement plus Exhibits bundle is ready to be submitted by the WS deadline date in January,  a date that you redacted above 

Witness Statement guidance and advice is in the newbies sticky thread in announcements,  but read a dozen from other recent cases on here to

Meanwhile,  keep checking your inbox and spam folders for their N279 discontinuation document to arrive by email,  before January 

thusprider

Thank you for the advice
I will wait to see if they pay and if so I will prepare what I can

Coupon-mad

Just copy a recent one and adapt the start. My notes of good examples recently, include:

@mtrolley123

and

@maxim024

Both had Mazur v Speechlys (which you should know that you obviously need too if you've been keeping up with threads here - it's new case law from September) and both were good WS with sub headings in DCB Legal cases.