NCP and autopay

fyonn

so having had a quick look at those two threads, I take it now is the time to fill out my N244 form? I'll make a start on it now, I assume under question 10, I'll state both that I never received the court notification (I have no idea why as they had my correct address) and that I felt that the fine was unfair in the first place, is that right?

I'll post the draft here for some feedback if that's okay?

Gr1pr

As above, phone the CNBC in Northampton tomorrow morning at 8:30 Sharp, beat the queue !

Get the issue date from the top right of the N1SDT claim form, the name & address that it was sent to and the POC details, plus the name of the claimant and also the legal company name ( to confirm that it was NCP via Moorside Legal. )

That claim form went somewhere, a few days after the issue date, so is your starting point, facts first

fyonn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81946817#Comment_81946817

I beleive I got all that information this morning which I put in a post earlier in the thread, but which I wil repeat here:

Claim No: XXXXXXXX

Claimant: NATIONAL CAR PARKS LIMITED

Claimant solicitor: MOORSIDE LEGAL SERVICES LTD (7561)

Telephone: 0330 828 5850

Reference: 40076898

Judgment amount: 281.80

Particulars of claim:

1. THE DEFENDANT(D) IS INDEBTED TO THE CLAIMANT(C) FOR A PARKING CHARGE ISSUED TO VEHICLE XX00XXX.

2. THE CHARGE WAS ISSUED ON 26/04/2025 ON LAND MANAGED BY C.

3. THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED IN BREACH OF THE TERMS ON C'S SIGNS (THE CONTRACT), THUS INCURRING THE CHARGE.

4. THE DRIVER AGREED TO PAY WITHIN 28DAYS BUT DID NOT. D IS LIABLE AS THE DRIVER OR KEEPER. DESPITE REQUESTS, THE CHARGE REMAINS UNPAID AND HAS ESCALATED.

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS

1. £170.00 BEING THE TOTAL OFTHE PCN.

2. COSTS AND COURT FEES. THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS INTEREST UNDER SECTION 69OF THE COUNTY COURTS ACT 1984 AT THE RATE OF 8% A YEAR FROM 23/05/2025 TO 09/12/2025 ON £170.00 AND ALSO INTEREST AT THE SAME RATE UP TO THE DATE OF JUDGMENT OR EARLIER PAYMENT AT A DAILY RATE OF £0.02.

The CNBC also confirmed that they sent notification to the correct address (i.e. my current address), but I never received it, nor has my partner. We both went through the filing cabinet last night looking for any sign of it to no avail. Not sure what happened to it.

fyonn

okay, in terms of the witness statement section, rthis is my starter for 10, happy to get any feedback anyone may have.

I, NAME, residing at ADDRESS, will say as follows:1.I am the Defendant in this matter, and I make this witness statement in support of my application to set aside the County Court Judgment (CCJ) entered against me on 10 Dec 2025, in default due my lack of knowledge of the claim at the time.

2. I only became aware of the Default County Court Judgment after my bank refused to extend a loan I had intended to use to fund some home improvements. While they did not specify a reason, my thirty year history with the bank and good credit rating made me concerned that there was a problem.

3. I then discovered that my household had received letters from the claimant’s solicitor about this fine but which had been filed away without my knowledge. However, even looking through all the family files, I have failed to find any notification from the court system of this claim coming to court and thus was unaware that I had to act quickly at the time.

4. My attempts to get further information from the CNBC were blocked as I did not even know the court reference number to be able to discuss the case, and I had to get a credit report run to find any indication of it, at which point I was able to find the reference number and get the particulars of the claim from the CNBC.

5. Whilst I did not know at the time that the claim had been filed and thus was unable to react within the required 30 days, once I got the information I immediately filled out this paperwork to ask the court to set aside the judgment.

6. I believe that I have a strong defence to this claim and should it not be dismissed, I wish to have the opportunity to defend it properly as per CPR 13.3.

THE CLAIM

7. The claimant obtained a default judgment against me for parking at the NCP Circle Square multistorey car park in Manchester on the 26 April 2025 but not paying to use that facility.

8. Once I received a letter from the NCP about this, I contacted them immediately to highlight that NCP run an “autopark” scheme where a car’s registration number is recorded in the NCP app, and their onsite cameras record the entrance and exit times and then apply the relevant cost of the parking to the payment card on file. My car was correctly registered on the app and I had a valid payment card recorded. I stated that it was not that I had failed to pay for the parking, but that NCP had failed to take the appropriate fee from my account.

9. I also stated that I had used this payment method every day for several years when I worked in the centre of Manchester and used the NCP Palace car park, also in Manchester and it had worked very successfully.

10. On this basis I felt that while I was happy to pay the parking fee, a fine was an unjust imposition when it came about through the failure of their own technology.

11. NCP responded to state that they had shut down their autopark system some time earlier, a change which I was completely unaware of. NCP claimed that they had emailed all their customers at the time to inform them of this change, but they could not tell me the date or time that this email had been sent to me, nor did they have any confirmation that they had in actual fact sent it. My email account contains every email I’ve ever received in the last 20 years so I could clearly see that during the time NCP claimed have sent the email and a month before and after, I had received only a single email from NCP which was entirely unrelated to the shutting down of the autopay system

12. I stated to NCP that as a long time customer of theirs, I had acted with no intention to withhold payment and had thoroughly expected to be charged by them for the use of the service. In fact, my actions on that day, i.e. entering the car park and later leaving without interacting with their payment machine was exactly the way that NCP had asked to me act only a few years earlier, and which had been to their benefit in terms of cost savings with maintaining equipment at their sites. I felt strongly that to be then fined for acting in a way that they had asked me to was deeply unjust. NCP responded by rejecting my appeal. I have since discovered that many other NCP customers were also not informed of these changes and similarly hit with parking fines.

13. I had hoped that NCP would nevertheless drop the matter, but I was prepared to fight the issue if it came to court. I was therefore disappointed to discover that a default judgment was made without my ability to input.

14. On the basis of the fact that I was unaware of the claim being put to court at the time, and that I have a good case with which to defend against this claim, I would ask that the County Court Judgment be set aside either completely, or to allow me to defend it in person.

I appreciate it's not as long as some of the other statements I've seen here, do I need to reference a bunch of other cases?

Many thanks

Coupon-mad

You'll need a statement of truth at the end and to sign & date it. You could also ask for your costs, on the basis that NCP removed autopay without warning users, then (you believe) lied to you about that.

You should contact this poster and could each provide each other with a WS confirming that you didn't get any alert or email about Autopay being disabled:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6662311/multiple-ncp-pcns

You also need to add Chan and Akande to your WS and in your draft Order ask for the entire claim to be struck out and your costs awarded in full on the indemnity basis.

fyonn

okay, quite pleased that my statement has broadly passed muster :) I've added in a statement of truth.

I've also sent caluscabal a message to see if we can support each other. not quite the same thing, but it shares the common factor of NCP not informing it's customers of payment related changes and then fining them.

you mentioned adding reference to chan and akande.. I think they both relate to the PoC being poorly formed.. is the PoC I got poorly formed and missing stuff out? I don't know what these are supposed to look like..

I like the idea of getting costs back though, if you think it's likely?

The end of my statement now looks like this:

14. On the basis of the fact that I was unaware of the claim being put to court at the time, and that I have a good case with which to defend against this claim, I would ask that the County Court Judgment either be set aside completely and my costs awarded completely on the indemnity basis, or that I have the opportunity to defend the claim in person.

15 I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

that okay?

Looking at some of the other parts of the N244 form that need to be filled in.

The whole box in the top right.. the claim number I now know.. I don’t know the name of the court… what should I put? I was going to leave fee account no and warrant no out completely. Claimant will be NCP and defendant will be me, but the reference number? Isn’t that the claim number?

Question 4 I assume is no?

Question 5 I assume I’m asking for a hearing?

Question 8 what level of judge do I need?

Question 9, who should be served with this application, is that NCP? I mean they’ve gone bust I think but it’s still them I guess.. I’ll find their head office address to go with it

Oh, page 4 has a statement of truth already for me to tick and sign, so I guess I don’t need the statement of truth in my witness statement, or do I still?

Many thanks

Coupon-mad

Don't know what those questions are but it is pretty straightforward, in that you want a hearing and it's District Judge level.

The CCJ must be set aside if the Claim form wasn't served to or received by you, so change this:

14. On the basis of the fact that I was unaware of the claim being put to court at the time, and that I have a good case with which to defend against this claim, I would ask that the County Court Judgment either be set aside completely and my costs awarded completely on the indemnity basis, or that I have the opportunity to defend the claim in person.

to this:

14. On the basis of the fact that I was unaware of the claim because it was never served to my address, the County Court Judgment must be set aside (CPR 13.2). Given that I have a good case to defend against it, in the alternative there is also some other good reason for the CCJ to be set aside (CPR 13.3).

14.1. If the Claim is not struck out due to the persuasive (appeal level) private parking cases of Chan and Akande (exhibit no. INITIALS/number) that I be afforded the fair opportunity to defend the claim. In any event, given that NCP removed autopay without warning users, then - I believe - lied to me about 'emailing all users' (which did not happen and the Claimant us put to strict proof), then they filed an incoherent claim - with no stated allegation, term, or breach specified in the Particulars - I will seek my costs on the indemnity basis.

You also need Chan & Akande (search the forum) because the answer to this is YES:

you mentioned adding reference to chan and akande.. I think they both relate to the PoC being poorly formed.. is the PoC I got poorly formed and missing stuff out?

And you need to tell the judge this:

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.

Finally, the SoT isn't a paragraph number.

Le_Kirk

Use this link for Chan and Akande only: -

Chan_Akande

fyonn

Thank you all so much for your input, it really is appreciated. I feel like we're getting somewhere and I think my statement is nearly ready to go.

the statement I have currently looks like this:

I, AAA BBB, residing at 1 CCC road, DD1 1EE, will say as follows:

1.I am the Defendant in this matter, and I make this witness statement in support of my application to set aside the County Court Judgment (CCJ) entered against me on 10 Dec 2025, in default due my lack of knowledge of the claim at the time.

2. I only became aware of the Default County Court Judgment after my bank refused to extend a loan I had intended to use to fund some home improvements. While they did not specify a reason, my thirty-year history with the bank and good credit rating made me concerned that there was a problem.

3. I then discovered that my household had received letters from the claimant’s solicitor about this fine but which had been filed away without my knowledge. However, even looking through all the family files, I have failed to find any notification from the court system of this claim coming to court and thus was unaware that I had to act quickly at the time.

4. My attempts to get further information from the CNBC were blocked as I did not even know the court reference number to be able to discuss the case, and I had to get a credit report run to find any indication of it, at which point I was able to find the reference number and get the particulars of the claim from the CNBC.

5. Whilst I did not know at the time that the claim had been filed and thus was unable to react within the required 30 days, once I got the information I immediately filled out this paperwork to ask the court to set aside the judgment.

6. I believe that I have a strong defence to this claim and should it not be dismissed, I wish to have the opportunity to defend it properly as per CPR 13.3.

THE CLAIM

7. The claimant obtained a default judgment against me for parking at the NCP Circle Square multistorey car park in Manchester on the 26 April 2025 but not paying to use that facility.

8. Previously I worked in Manchester city centre and parked at an NCP car park every day. NCP introduced a new feature called autopay where you registered your car numberplate and a payment card on NCP’s phone app, and then the automatic cameras would pick up your numberplate on entry and exit and charge your card appropriately. I used this payment method to pay for NCP parking for several years before I moved on from that job to another role that did not require that I make use of a public parking facility.

9. Sometime later, I had reason to make use of an NCP car park and before I used it, I confirmed that my car numberplate and payment card information in the NCP app was still up to date and valid and thus I was confident that NCP’s use of technology would charge me appropriately and automatically for the service I had received. It never occurred to me that NCP would decide to remove a useful and functional payment which had worked so well for me for years.

10. Then a few months later, I received a letter from NCP wanting me to pay a fine for using their facilities without payment. I quickly contacted them to highlight that my car details and payment information were correctly registered in their app and thus if there had been no payment, then it was because NCP had failed to take the payment from my account. They said that I had to make a formal appeal which I did.

11. In response NCP stated in writing that “Autopay is currently disabled at this location and therefore Park Now should be used within the App to make a manual payment.” And that they would not cancel the parking charge. I then contacted them by phone to ask when and why autopay had been disabled and how I was supposed to know that. I also stated that there had been no signage at the car park indicating that this technology was broken or out of action.

12. After some discussion, NCP admitted that they had disabled autopay at all their locations nationwide and claimed to have emailed all their customers to this effect. I asked when they had sent me this email and reviewed my email account for the month in question and a month before and afterwards. I have not deleted an email from my email account in twenty years, so I could see that I had not received any such notice of this service being shutdown. NCP also presented me with no evidence that such an email had actually been sent.

13. I had no intention to withhold payment for the use of the service and I felt that my actions that day were guided by how NCP had taught me to act in the use of their service for several years. This service was advertised as being more convenient for the user and to then be punished for acting in a way that they had taught me felt like an unjust imposition.

14. As of the 3rd April 2025, NCP still have a webpage published at ( https://ncpparking.com/?_ve=autopay#autopay ) which states:

“With AutoPay, we will automatically charge you when we see you using the car park and you will get a receipt each time.

By being registered with AutoPay, you will not have to queue to pay for your parking as we take responsibility for properly billing you!”

NCP did not take any responsibility for properly billing me and in fact are now punishing me for not queueing to pay for my parking pass. I have since discovered that many other NCP customers were also not informed of these changes and similarly hit with parking fines.

15. I had hoped that NCP would nevertheless drop the matter, but I was prepared to fight the issue if it came to court. I was therefore disappointed to discover that a default judgment was made without my ability to input.

16. On the basis of the fact that I was unaware of the claim because it was never served to my address, the County Court Judgment must be set aside (CPR 13.2). Given that I have a good case to defend against it, in the alternative there is also some other good reason for the CCJ to be set aside (CPR 13.3).

17. If the Claim is not struck out due to the persuasive (appeal level) private parking cases of Chan and Akande (exhibit no. INITIALS/number) that I be afforded the fair opportunity to defend the claim. In any event, given that NCP removed autopay without warning users, then - I believe - lied to me about 'emailing all users' (which did not happen and the Claimant is put to strict proof), then they filed an incoherent claim - with no stated allegation, term, or breach specified in the Particulars - I will seek my costs on the indemnity basis.

okay, so where in the text above, there is a clickable link to the NCO site, that was just a URL and assuming I get to upload multiple documents, I would include a PDF of that side (which I had already recorded). I assume the intention is that I would also upload the chan and akande decisions as linked to by @Le_Kirk (thanks!)

For my own understanding, how is the PoC improperly formed..? I see that it includes the statement "4. THE DRIVER AGREED TO PAY WITHIN 28DAYS BUT DID NOT.". Is this a flat out lie, or is it implied by my usage of the facility? It also states "3. THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED IN BREACH OF THE TERMS ON C'S SIGNS (THE CONTRACT), THUS INCURRING THE CHARGE" but I'm maintaining in my statement that I was parked in accordance of their terms as posted on their website and by previous action.. Lastly, I see from CPR16.4 it states that "Part 22 requires particulars of claim to be verified by a statement of truth", and I can't see any statement of truth in the PoC, though I don't know if those things would come to me. should I be raising these things as my chan and akande defence?

Many thanks everyone.. I'm feeling a bit like some kind of TV lawyer with all this :)

Coupon-mad

entered against me on 10 Dec 2025

Was it? Is that the Judgment date?

"14. As of the 3rd April 2025,"

Do you mean 2026?

"I see that it includes the statement "4. THE DRIVER AGREED TO PAY WITHIN 28DAYS BUT DID NOT.". Is this a flat out lie, or is it implied by my usage of the facility?"

That's irrelevant and I've no idea why so many people look at that! It is implied by the driver parking in a 'managed' site. So that phrase isn't objectionable in itself.

"…should I be raising these things as my Chan and Akande defence?"

None of what you said! 🥴

It is plain that the POC don't say what the term or breach actually was, so simply copy the usual Chan & Akande wording already written and copied on threads, hundreds of times this year alone.