Small claim struck out for unpaid trial fee, but new trial notice received

akba

Hi all,

I’m dealing with a small claim from DCB Legal on behalf of Euro Car Parks Ltd and would appreciate advice on what I should do next.

Timeline:

• Claimant filed DQ: 11/09/2025
• I filed DQ: 30/09/2025
• Claim transferred to Barnet: 04/11/2025
  Mediation took place
• After mediation, I received no court communication until 30/04/2026

On 30/04/2026, I received an order/email saying the claimant had failed to pay the £27 trial fee or file a proper Help with Fees application by 07/04/2026, and that the claimant’s claim was struck out with effect from 07/04/2026. It also said the hearing listed for 05/05/2026 was vacated.

Today, I received another court email attaching a Notice of Trial, saying the case is now listed for 10:00am on 28/05/2026 at Wandsworth County Court.

The new notice also says:

“If your claim has been struck out, it will no longer exist. The hearing will be vacated, unless a counterclaim survives the claim being struck out.”

There is no counterclaim as far as I know.

What should I do now? Should I treat the new hearing notice as an admin error, or do I need to attend unless the court confirms it is vacated?

ChirpyChicken

Contact the court asap

akba

I contacted the court number, but it turned out to be a helpline. The person I spoke to confirmed that the case had been struck out, but advised me to call again 24 hours before the hearing, as that is the only time they can contact the court directly.

What concerns me is that, although I have received the trial notice, I have not received any formal letter confirming that the case has been struck out. Just an email with the order attached.

Coupon-mad

Email DCB Legal now and ask for a copy of their Notice of Discontinuance otherwise you'll attend the upcoming hearing this week and will claim all your costs.

Attach the hearing Order and DON'T MENTION that you knew it was struck out. Just fish for the NoD then show us!

That way you get closure on it straight away.

akba

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82012251#Comment_82012251

I sent an email to DCB Legal yesterday, as advised.

I also called the court helpline this morning. They tried to get through to the court itself but were unable to do so.

The last person I spoke to told me that the hearing is still listed, but the hearing fee has not been paid by the Claimant.

I will call the helpline again, but do you think I should attend tomorrow if the helpline still cannot get through to the court?

Coupon-mad

Yes and take your costs totted up on a sheet of paper plus your wage slip or proof of loss of leave & travel costs.

If the usher says your case is no longer listed, insist on seeing a judge for 5 minutes about wasted attendance costs caused by this Claimant.

ChirpyChicken

I will check the listing's for Wandsworth about 4pm for you

akba

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013466#Comment_82013466

Thank you, I really appreciate that. I messaged you.

ChirpyChicken

thanks, got it, will check in a bit

ChirpyChicken

have replied, there's about 10 parking cases listed for tomorrow!

akba

I attended the hearing this morning. The Judge seemed quite surprised by the state of the case and ended up vacating the hearing.

Unfortunately, she did not make any order for my costs. She said that, because the situation appeared to have been caused by the court’s own administrative error, she could not fairly order the Claimant to pay costs.

As @ChrispyChicken mentioned , there were a few other parking cases listed as well. As far as I could tell, there were no representatives present for the claimants, either in my case or in the others.

It was a strange situation. I had not received a Notice of Allocation for this claim at all, and that was the first thing the Judge asked me about. The first court letter I received after mediation was the strike-out order. I also had not received any witness statement from DCB Legal, which the Judge also asked about.

Everything I had planned to raise myself, such as the lack of Notice of Allocation and the lack of a witness statement, the Judge raised directly. The hearing took less than five minutes.

Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Thanks for all the help. I only wish the court had imposed some costs on DCB.