NCP and autopay

fyonn

Hello everyone,

I wanted to get people's opinion on my parking ticket. I used to park in Manchester all the time and I used an NCP carpark near the office. They brought in autopay and I used it every day for ages. Then I changed job so didn't have to park in town anymore. Fast forward to earlier this year and I went into Manchester and was due to park in an NCP again. I quickly checked the app and cofirmed that my car was still registered in the app, which it was and then went and parked for several hours. I didn't pay at the car park because I was registered and thus I knew it would charge me automatically.

Then some time later I get a parking fine in the post for not paying for my parking. I perhaps foolishly raised an appeal with them to say that it's their fault for not charging me and the appeal was rejected because autopay was disabled at this car park. that confused me as how was I supposed to know, so I went on the online chat and asked how I am supposed to know if autopay has been disabled for a particular car park? they told me that autopay was disabled for all car parks in 2023. I asked how I was supposed to know that and they tell me that they emailled all their customers in Nov 2023 when it happened. I use gmail for my email so I've not deleted an email in a decade and the only email I have from NCP in that month was something telling me about the exciting events I could attend if only I could park there.. I've checked the months to either side too I can't see anything from them that month or any month telling me that they'd got rid of autopay. I don't even know why they got rid of it.. they still clearly have the cameras, my numberplate and my card details.

So I feel a bit hard done by here. They are techincally correct, I parked there and didn't pay, but I thought I was paying. There was no intent not to pay, I acted in the way that they wanted and taught me to act with the assumption that they would do what they told me they wold do and charge me.

The NCP letter claims that their appeal is final unless i want to appeal to POPLA. should I do that? do I have a case?

Many thanks

David

Nellymoser

Others have experienced this issue. Search NCP app discontinued, read their threads. 

Car1980

I quickly checked the app and cofirmed that my car was still registered in the app

The onus is on them to remove the app or update it to state it's no longer in use. An email is no good. They post out PCNs instead of emailing, undermining their own point.

Coupon-mad

fyonn said:

Hello everyone,

I wanted to get people's opinion on my parking ticket. I used to park in Manchester all the time and I used an NCP carpark near the office. They brought in autopay and I used it every day for ages. Then I changed job so didn't have to park in town anymore. Fast forward to earlier this year and I went into Manchester and was due to park in an NCP again. I quickly checked the app and cofirmed that my car was still registered in the app, which it was and then went and parked for several hours. I didn't pay at the car park because I was registered and thus I knew it would charge me automatically.

Then some time later I get a parking fine in the post for not paying for my parking. I perhaps foolishly raised an appeal with them to say that it's their fault for not charging me and the appeal was rejected because autopay was disabled at this car park. that confused me as how was I supposed to know, so I went on the online chat and asked how I am supposed to know if autopay has been disabled for a particular car park? they told me that autopay was disabled for all car parks in 2023. I asked how I was supposed to know that and they tell me that they emailled all their customers in Nov 2023 when it happened. I use gmail for my email so I've not deleted an email in a decade and the only email I have from NCP in that month was something telling me about the exciting events I could attend if only I could park there.. I've checked the months to either side too I can't see anything from them that month or any month telling me that they'd got rid of autopay. I don't even know why they got rid of it.. they still clearly have the cameras, my numberplate and my card details.

So I feel a bit hard done by here. They are techincally correct, I parked there and didn't pay, but I thought I was paying. There was no intent not to pay, I acted in the way that they wanted and taught me to act with the assumption that they would do what they told me they wold do and charge me.

The NCP letter claims that their appeal is final unless i want to appeal to POPLA. should I do that? do I have a case?

Many thanks

Ignore them. No paying. You'll never pay this.

You could have won at POPLA if you'd come here before appealing because they can't hold a registered keeper liable. Sadly you binned that 100% winning POPLA point by saying who was driving and that means you can't use that.

Honestly you don't pay. Nobody would. No risk. You clearly have a case in court and it's really no big deal if it goes there.

You could try a complaint (see their complaints policy) then after they knock that back and you've exhausted it, escalate a complaint to the BPA and to the Train Operator that NCP are contracted by. That might see it cancelled.

Doesn't matter if not. We love a court defence here and know exactly what we are doing. No CCJ is risked by following our advice (just don't move house and fail to tell them).

Next time, come here first. You'd have won with one email if you hadn't said who was driving. 

fyonn

okay, I'm just re-raising this old thread becasue I've been doing my best to ignore it and now I seem to have a CCJ against me, whic is rather annoying as I was trying to extend a loan and I've been refused.. do I just try and pay the bloody thing? I have no idea how much this debt recvovery firm wants now. or is there something else I can do?

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942388#Comment_81942388

But we didn't say ignore a Claim Form. My advice in the Summer included:

"You clearly have a case in court and it's really no big deal if it goes there.

We love a court defence here and know exactly what we are doing. No CCJ is risked by following our advice (just don't move house and fail to tell them)."

You cannot have got a CCJ unless you ignored (or for some reason didn't receive) a Claim Form and failed to defend.

No-one ever says to not defend a claim.

We did not say 'ignore everything'. The NEWBIES FAQS thread (post 2) and the official MSE Guide are very clear about defending any Claim.

Defences are easy but you can't just ignore a Claim Form.

What happened?

Did you move house or did you ignore a Claim Form served to you correctly?

Paying it off doesn't wipe a CCJ if it's over a month ago. I don't understand how this happened but please heed our advice and answer this question:

Important: What is the date of the CCJ?

fyonn

What happened was a combination of post being picked up and moved in the house without me really noticing it, and me not really being in a great mental place to deal with it.

The date of the CCJ (or the letter telling me about it from moorside legal) is 27th Jan 2026, so over 30 days old.

I don't knoow about a claim form, but I have a letter from "trace debt recovery" on the 17th Jul 2025 telling me that I owed money and another from the 21st august telling that they could apply for a CCJ.

the letters from trace claim I owe £170, the letter from moorside legal claims £281.80.

happy to accept I should have done something before but here I am.. do you know what options I have?

fyonn

do I still have a means of claiming it's invalid?

does NCP collapsing make any difference?

Coupon-mad

What a mess... Expensive too.

Too late to pay it off.

If a CCJ matters to you (there are a significant minority of people who wouldn't really be affected by it because they never use credit or pay monthly for phones or take out loans) you will have to apply to the court to set aside the CCJ.

See post 2 of the NEWBIES thread.

Read the bit about CCJs.

You MUST ACT PROMPTLY. The court will look at that. i.e. if you found out in March you'd be expected fill in & submit your N244 application by early April. This week.

It costs a £313 fee.

But at least the Manchester judges hate parking claims and will likely use discretion to let you defend the case. Which you would have a VERY high likelihood of winning because NCP did NOT NOT NOT email every user when they disabled Autopay.

We have had loads of cases like yours (such a shame you didn't just do this for free. All you needed to do was open a court service letter at the end of 2025 and use our template defence. Would have taken one evening and no money).

fyonn

thanks for your response, I do appreciate it. first question though, shouldn I have an official letter from a court telling me of the CCJ? I have a letter from a legal company but I do't seem to have any more than that.. I've got the N244 form loaded up now and there's a lot of fields in there that I'm really unsure of… for example, the entire top right box. I have no idea the name of the court, or the claim/warrant number. I can put ion my name and that of NCP but it's asking for a reference and I don't know what reference..

for question 3 I've put "An order that the judgment dated 27 Jan 2026 is set aside as I was unaware of the proceedings as the letters about it were misfiled. I only discovered the judgment when I struggled to get finance and looked into the situation more closely"

do I want a hearing? or a remote one? questions 4-9 I am unsure of.

question 10, is that for me to talk why I didn't know about the CCJ and the process that led to it, or include stuff about the original parking ticket and why I think it's invalid?

I'm sorry, I am trying to read the threads in the newbies section but there is a lot.

Many thanks

Coupon-mad

If you read the section I signposted you to, the process is explained.

You said you didn't open (or didn't read) letters so maybe the claim and default judgment letter was sent to you, but you'll only find out if you follow our advice fully this time.

It reads like you went straight to the N244 form instead of reading the forum advice.

Slow down! You already went wrong by (it seems) ignoring everything and not reading the second post of the NEWBIES thread properly. Don't make the same mistake again! It is all there.

You do not just fill in a form and that's not the first thing to do.

I would have thought you'd have rung the CNBC this morning - already - and be here telling us you'd checked what address the Claim went to and showing us the POC that the CNBC emailed over…

Read half a dozen other CCJ set aside threads. This isn't our first CCJ set aside rodeo. Ring up the CNBC (but only once you know exactly what to ask for).