HM Courts and Tribunal Service letter - is this a letter before claim?

UKParafire

Morning,

I have been following the newbie thread to avoid paying a fine from Euro Car Parks due to most likely a technical error.  Last week I received a letter from HM Courts and Tribunal Service, Is this a letter before claim? If not, I haven't received one. How should I deal with this?

Thanks in advance.

UKParafire

Here is the (redacted) letter for reference.

(Image removed by Forum Team)

ChirpyChicken

No its a claim form
Deal with is as per the newbies, forget not having received a letter before claim

Gr1pr

No it's not a Letter of Claim,  it's a live N1SDT court claim from MCOL on behalf of ECP and DCB Legal,  so post the issue date from the top right of the claim form below 

Your personal information is showing on your unredacted pictures, so I have reported them for deletion by the admins due to breaching mse data rules in the yellow banners at the top of the forum  ( your name and address and VRM details are unredacted   )

UKParafire

Thanks @Gr1pr I noticed I posted the wrong picture and tried to delete, but couldn't see how to.

The issue date is 08 July 2025.

UKParafire

ChirpyChicken said:

No its a claim form
Deal with is as per the newbies, forget not having received a letter before claim

Thanks, unfortunately I can't see how to deal with this on the newbies thread, can you please signpost me to it?

Gr1pr

The newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum by coupon mad ( 4th thread down  )  has advice on dealing with it in the second post within it

Login to MCOL via your government gateway account and complete the AOS online on MCOL ASAP,  then logout again 

Start drafting your defence by studying and using the template defence in the template defence by coupon mad in announcements at the top of the forum 

If you cannot see the announcements,  you are not viewing the forum   ( a common newbie problem   )

Lastly,  you cannot edit your posts until your status changes from newbie to forumite 

UKParafire

Thanks @Gr1pr - is it worth making a counter claim for stress and loss of earnings? And is it worth admitting to liability of part of the claim (either the actual cost of parking, or the cost of the reduced £50 fine)

My biggest issue is that I probably would have paid the £50, since the payment for parking clearly never went through, but the first communication  I had from them was one saying that I had to pay the full £100.  I would have been much better off doing that and working 2 hours overtime to cover it, rather than the many hours I have put into filling out forms, waiting in telephone queues, etc etc. In fact, I would even have been better off paying the £100 fine and working 4 hours overtime to cover it.

Gr1pr

Just follow the process as described in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

You wont get anything in a naive counter claim for stress or loss of earnings, you would be wasting £35 or more 

Its not a fine and admit nothing at this early stage,  just stick to the process and no crying over spilt milk,  the what ifs are irrelevant at this stage 

Coupon-mad

UKParafire said:

ChirpyChicken said:

No its a claim form
Deal with is as per the newbies, forget not having received a letter before claim

Thanks, unfortunately I can't see how to deal with this on the newbies thread, can you please signpost me to it?

Post 2 of it.

Cunningly now headed up in red 'Post 2'.

UKParafire

Thanks for the help so far.

I would really appreciate it if someone could proof read my defence please and provide some feedback to ensure I am not dropping myself in it!

Any feedback is gratefully received, thanks:

3. The Defendant made a genuine attempt to pay for parking via the advertised online system and has witnesses who can attest to this. However, due to a likely technical issue, (such as a failed internet connection or a fault with the provider’s system) the payment was not processed, as confirmed by the absence of a corresponding bank transaction. The Defendant was unaware of this failure until receiving a demand for £100, which falsely stated that a prior, discounted charge had been ignored. This was the first correspondence received, and it arrived just two days before the Defendant deployed overseas on a two week military training exercise, limiting any opportunity to respond. The Defendant made multiple attempts to challenge the charge online before deploying, but was obstructed by a faulty feedback loop on the Claimant’s website and no telephone appeals were permitted. Upon returning to the UK, the Defendant found that the matter had already escalated to debt collection. The Defendant maintains that they acted in good faith, attempted to resolve the matter at the earliest opportunity, and were denied a fair chance to appeal or pay a reduced charge due to systemic failures and the timing of military duties.