Got letter from HM court after 5 years

beenish

Got 8 parking tickets at same place back in 2021. I am a childminder and I used to pick up children from school. At that time they recently changed the parking system so parents could not park over there. I came to know about it when I started receiving tickets. . I contacted parking appeal firm. I did not receive 1 ticket out of 8 so it went straight to debt recovery. For rest of the 7 tickets they made an appeal and won. I contacted smart parking telling i did not receive it but it was too late n that was forwarded to debt recovery. I contacted appeal firm and they said they would appeal on my behalf. Now after 5 years I got the letter from debt recovery last month to pay £170. I ignored that as was pre occupied and going on holidays. Then I got letter from Hm courts while on holidays. I read that letter yesterday. It was written that I should respond in 14 days. But 14 days have passed already. I posted the acknowledgement form today choosing I would defend. Fine is now £320. I emailed the parking appeal firm but email is undeliverable. There is no email anf no whatsapp. Probably they updated the system . They are asking for ticket number on thier website . I have ticket number but no letter. I would have to start an appeal from scratch but as I don't have the letter its not going further. Should I go for some other firm?

Gr1pr

You definitely do not appeal, you dont contact Smart Parking either

I presume that on the left it says SMART PARKING and underneath DCB LEGAL ?

Post the Issue date from the top right of the claim form below

Post a redacted picture of the POC from the lower left of the claim form below after hiding the VRM details first

beenish

(Image removed by Forum Team)

(Image removed by Forum Team)

attached the forms includes letter from HM court

1505grandad

Your password is showing in the highlighted box titled "Important Note"

Gr1pr

Login to your government gateway account ( or open an account. ), then use MCOL with the claim reference and password to complete the AOS stage online, as explained in the 1st post in the defence template thread in announcements, and post 2 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements. Do this anyway, ASAP, regardless of if you posted it to the black hole CNBC

The AOS completion date is 19 days after the issue date, so 4pm on Monday 8th June

Then use the defence template by @Meltof posted on 12th April 2026 as your defence, no changes

canuk_UK

You can submit your defence by 4pm on Monday 8th June or an AOS and extend that date to 4pm Monday 22nd June to submit your defence.

Plenty of time to read the Newbies thread and get up to speed on how to deal with these not so Smart Parking scammers. Nobody says them a penny if you follow the advice.

Coupon-mad

There is a current tsunami of Smart Parking claims. So much so, that I now have copy & paste advice ready:

just click on the username @Meltof

You could have copied their version of a Smart Parking final defence posted on April 12th. Obviously, as they didn't use the POFA until 2025, theres no 'keeper liability' possible with Smart's claims for old PCNs.


These claims are all the same (none go to hearings) and the sheer numbers of Smart Parking claim threads - about half a dozen new ones EVERY DAY here - have driven us regulars a bit mad in April/May with this batch!

Literally read any Smart thread…

Follow the 8 steps in the Template Defence thread which also covers Mediation.

It'll be discontinued just before the hearing fee falls due in the Autumn/Winter.

Read @Umkomaas'thread of over 850 examples. And counting! 

Le_Kirk

With an issue date of 20/05/26 and providing you complete(d) the AoS before or on 08/06/26 your defence deadline date is 4.00 p.m. on 22/06/26

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6671240/got-letter-from-hm-court-after-5-years

Done it yet? Deadline is tomorrow.

Easy copy & paste defence to save you £hundreds. Takes 15 minutes max!