Euro Car Parks North Place Cheltenham

john_curtis

I have been fighting this for my grandaughter who was a student in 2022.

She entered her full registration,paid the correct fee and departed within her correct time period.

A few days later she had a letter saying no valid pay and displaypermit was purchased.

She checked the ticket which luckily was still in her car and noticed the full registration has not been printed.

I sent them a copy of the ticket,a copy of her bank statement showing the correct payment and they sent us a photo of her car entering and leaving within her time slot.

I pointed out that she had input the correct reg number so their machine must be faulty.

We appealed through their system but it was dismissed.

I then told them that having provided evidence of full payment no further action should be taken by them but letters have continued to be sent for the past 3 years by a variety of debt-collecting firms to which I keep giving the same response.

The last two letters gave 14 days to pay or legal action would be taken and now we have received a solicitors letter requesting payment of £170 or for us to complete a reply form and financial statement, neither of which were enclosed.

Any advice/ help would be appreciated

Gr1pr

Respond with the template LoC response template as seen in the second post in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum,  by email,  from the email address of the person named on the letters 

Do not complete any paperwork or financial forms,  just email the info@ email address for DCB LEGAL 

Then study the newbies sticky thread in announcements,  plus the first 2 posts in the defence template thread in announcements too,  plus a dozen recent ECP DCB Legal court claim threads 

Its a well known fact that their payment machines are faulty 

Prepare for the inevitable N1SDT court claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL to arrive in the post,  so plan ahead 

Coupon-mad

john_curtis said:

I have been fighting this for my grandaughter who was a student in 2022.

She entered her full registration,paid the correct fee and departed within her correct time period.

A few days later she had a letter saying no valid pay and displaypermit was purchased.

She checked the ticket which luckily was still in her car and noticed the full registration has not been printed.

I sent them a copy of the ticket,a copy of her bank statement showing the correct payment and they sent us a photo of her car entering and leaving within her time slot.

I pointed out that she had input the correct reg number so their machine must be faulty.

We appealed through their system but it was dismissed.

I then told them that having provided evidence of full payment no further action should be taken by them but letters have continued to be sent for the past 3 years by a variety of debt-collecting firms to which I keep giving the same response.

The last two letters gave 14 days to pay or legal action would be taken and now we have received a solicitors letter requesting payment of £170 or for us to complete a reply form and financial statement, neither of which were enclosed.

Any advice/ help would be appreciated

Thirded.

Horizon DO NOT own car parks.

Just reply to Gladstones as shown in the NEWBIES thread or use the shorter LBC reply suggested by MSE Towers in their Guide (linked at the top of the page).

This is why it happened ... the machine failed:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdeln2ly1z0o.amp

Lots of news articles this year about Euro Car Parks P&D machines accepting any digits then moving on to the payment screen. Or not recording the VRM that the person knows they typed in.

MPs also weighed in, naming and shaming certain operators for faulty machines:

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8f99a416-40a5-4c75-b9b6-d3234774a25c

Watch that debate in full. You'll see!

This is easy and you will never pay any money. Defending a small claim is free. No risk. We have a Template Defence the Defendant can use. No worries with this at all if you get a Claim Form this Autumn. No CCJ is risked. It is easy to see off a parking claim.

And just a reminder even though this is stressful, a Gladstones LBC is a 'nothing urgent' stage: so while your case is quiet, before the end of next week please please (one or both of you and all drivers in the family!) do the government's Public Consultation.

We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline.

See this thread: -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/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 on that thread. I have 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 15 million times per annum. Motorists need your voice added please.

One of the questions asks about the planned Appeals Charter which covers keying errors (and machine malfunction) so you MUST please reply with your family's experience and insist that nobody should be sued for any situations in the Appeals Charter. That new Charter should be a 'PCN cancellation promise' as a matter of fair public policy.

Therefore PPCs cannot be allowed to offer £20 to settle (as their Joint Code currently says) because:

- that is unjustified extortion and is expecting people to fund the PPC's ordinary business costs. Sending automated PCNs out in the post - AI generated- then sometimes having to cancel them is not extraordinary costs. It's not a matter of the PPC staff being 'diverted from their usual work'. This IS their usual work that staff are paid to do, same as handling appeals and disputes this MUST NOT be charged to consumers. Unacceptable. 

And

- not cancelling a PCN means it just jumps back up to £100, then more, if people see it as a rip off (and refuse to be bullied to cover the trader's operating costs). That is what drives unjustified cases to court over keying errors, blue badges, fluttering tickets, app failures and  all the other Appeals Charter promises. Bottom line: Does the MHCLG want Appeals Charter cases to carry on to court? Surely not.