Reclaiming the £313 setting aside fee from Claimant - Euro Car Parks

closingnets

Hello. Parking ticket issued in August 2021 which I want to fight in court. Have lost Poplar appeal etc., so up to Euro Car Parks to take it further. They sent some demands then went quiet. 

14 January 2025 I moved. 
14 January 2025 changed address on licence. 
18 February 2025 changed address on V5C.
16 April 2025 - they apparently issued CCJ to old address
9 May 2025 - CCJ was registered against me
4 Nov 2025 - I receive letter of 29/10 from DCBL for unpaid CCJ and this is the first I learn about it.

I contacted court, filled in paperwork and paid £313 to have it set aside. This is in progress, they said it could be up to 10 weeks. They said I can reclaim this £313 from Euro Car Parks when I file my defence when they issue the correct CCJ papers to the correct address.  I do not want to wait for that in case they never do file them again, or take months to (as it's now been over 4 years since the ticket) and I'd like my £313 back. The CCJ is £330 but I paid the £313 in principle because they are criminals. 

So I am sending Euro Car Parks an invoice from me giving them 30 days to pay and then I will start my own small claim against them if they don't pay. Before I send them my invoice, I came on here to see if anyone had had a similar situation, or if anyone has any advice of any wording, etc. that I should use. I believe the judgement will be set aside as I have 100% proof of dates and address changes, even the court has my old address, and the DVLA can prove when it was changed. DCBL bothered with due diligence as they wrote to me at the current address which they got from the DVLA. Euro Car Parks didn't bother.

Thank you all.

Gr1pr

Only ECP can access the dvla database ONCE per case 

Neither DCBL nor DCB LEGAL subsequently accessed the DVLA database in your case, Neither can or did ECP either,  because they are only allowed one bite of the cherry in the first 6 months following the incident date 

My advice  ? ,  be sure of the facts before starting your quest

Car1980

They said I can reclaim this £313 from Euro Car Parks when I file my defence when they issue the correct CCJ papers to the correct address

You have paid a fee to have a hearing with a judge who will decide whether to set your CCJ aside or not. It's at this that you ask for the £313 costs. A hearing date should drop on your doormat soon. It's unlikely to take 10 weeks.

Coupon-mad

So I am sending Euro Car Parks an invoice from me giving them 30 days to pay and then I will start my own small claim against them if they don't pay.

No you aren't. Stop!

That is incorrect and you aren't even dealing with ECP. This is a DCB Legal claim (do not send them an invoice either, that just shows them you don't understand your position).

You MUST be patient: you have to ask the judge to award your costs at your hearing, and you need to file & serve a proper skeleton argument, citing:

VCS v Carr

Mazur v Speechlys

(search the forum for those used in CCJ cases).

DCBL bothered with due diligence as they wrote to me at the current address which they got from the DVLA. Euro Car Parks didn't bother.

Not true.

Nothing to do with DVLA address checks. There has been no due diligence by DCB Group which is what caused the CCJ.

DCB Legal improperly used an old unchecked address. Neither of them (car parking operator nor their dogs) are allowed to ask the DVLA twice, that's a strict KADOE rule.

But what DCB Legal had to do was a 'soft trace' with a Credit Ref Agency to find you when you were silent to their LBC. Your argument is: they had 'reason to believe' you had not been served the LBC & may have moved, so they had to trace you (ref: Code of Practice and the CPRs).

See VCS v Carr.

Read up and learn the correct way to get the judge to award your costs at your hearing. You get one shot: do it right & you get the whole claim dismissed snd your costs (also for hearing attendance - travel and loss of leave) awarded in one go.

Have you already filed a WS with evidence of address changed with DVLA and a copy of your credit record showing your new address was on your file BEFORE the claim was filed?

If no, you must add that as well as a separate skeleton argument, attaching VCS v Carr and Mazur v Speechlys* and requiring the court to dismiss the claim, set aside the improper CCJ and award your costs because the claim has expired and the case was never allocated to track, so there are costs in the case for the innocent winning party (you).

*search the forum. Saves us Groundhog Days!

James_Poisson

Yes they are all a bunch of scamming muppets, but it's your responsibility to ensure they have your correct details, you obviously confirmed they had your correct address at the time you appealed.

You knew you had a live invoice logged against you which they can pursue for six years, we always advise here to make sure they have your up to date address if you subsequently move.

In all honesty they can just assume you were ignoring any court papers issued, and go for an easy default judgement.

You won't get anywhere "sending Euro Car Parks an invoice" it's been tried before. it won't work, they will just say they have not entered in to any contract to pay you anything.

Concentrate on the court case as above.

closingnets

Thank you all. I feel rather silly (and ill advised and misinformed!) and I'm so glad i posted on here before sending my sad little invoice! Thank you all, I will do more research. This is not how the lady at CNBC explained it to me on the phone, she said I would need to wait for ECP to reissue their CCJ against me and I could counterclaim for my £313 at that point. That's why I didn't want to wait for it, based on what she told me.  

I didn't expect ECP to pay on my invoice or even acknowledge it, but I thought I would have to go down the money claim online route which you have to show that you've asked for the money, given time to pay and then filed. Clearly that's complete garbage!!  THANK YOU!  

I did get a follow up letter from DCBL, and called them, and explained again. They said the judgement had not yet been set aside and so they would continue their process.  When I called them after the first letter to ask which court had issued the CCJ (as that's not even on the letter and I needed to apply to the court for the setting aside), they couldn't even tell me which court had issued it, they could only tell me the claimant was ECP. So I managed to find out the court via another completely independent website.

Thanks again, I'll be patient and wait for the hearing date. That is not about the actual parking fine though is it, it's only about the reason for setting aside the CCJ.  I will read up on the cases you reference. Thank you.

Gr1pr

There are usually 2 hearings,  especially if it was a default CCJ issued by the CNBC in Northampton,  so probably not a court at all, just the CNBC 

The first is a hearing to decide about the set aside,  so the £313 one you paid for, you ask for the fee back at the end of the hearing,  if you are successful,  at which point the CCJ is set aside, meaning there isnt one

The second would not be about the set aside,  but about the original Money Claim   ( so not about any CCJ,  just the original claim issued by DCB Legal on behalf of their client ECP )  that case was about a Private Parking Charge Notice,  because there never was any fine,  just an unpaid invoice from ECP

Magistrates issue fines,  but never in these cases, so never was a fine, never use that word at all, just charge,  invoice or PCN

DCBL are possibly involved if they are chasing the CCJ payment,  otherwise it will involve DCB Legal 

Coupon-mad

If you do it right it's one hearing!

This is completely wrong and the CNBC shouldn't have said any of this:

she said I would need to wait for ECP to reissue their CCJ against me and I could counterclaim for my £313 at that point.