Gladstones Letter Before Claim: Should I pay?

wccb123

Hi all, first timer here, quick bit of advice needed.

I have been sent a Letter Before Claim from Gladstones (on behalf of their client Horizon Parking.)

The amount is £125 (£70 charge + £45 costs).

Its from parking in Lewes Tescos just over a year ago (10.7.25). I did get a letter from Horizon (dated 18.08.25), which I ignored. Looking at my bank statements I can see I shopped at Tescos that day. Its highly likely I went over the 3 hour limit, as I left the car there and went into town to do other shopping. Whilst I don't think I was aware of the 3 hour limit, it seems I don't really have a defence. Whilst it irks me to pay money to these people, I was in breach of their rules, so is it best I just pay the £125?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Gr1pr

We never advise anyone to pay, especially not at the LBC stage

Everyone has a defence, even if they are naive or a newbie

Gladstones have a habit of losing due to late submissions of Witness Statements

Complain about it to Tesco head office in Dundee ( Scotland. ) as a genuine customer, especially if a loyalty card was used

Car1980

Certainly don't pay.

First step - show us the first letter you had from Horizon. Often they don't comply with the legislation and are effectively void, including old Horizon ones.

1505grandad

"The amount is £125 (£70 charge + £45 costs)."

Just checking - which figure is incorrect?

wccb123

So step 1, email Tesco's head office (I presume there's a template to use somewhere on the forum?), I imagine I'd have used my clubcard, though I'm not not sure how I'd check as the app has never worked for me!

What's step 2? As I've left it a bit late and time is getting tight, should I also respond to Gladstones, and what should I say?

I'm not sure where the extra £10 they're charging is from, as they clearly say it's an £45 admin charge, and the original charge was £70

Gr1pr

There are NO complaint templates, but there are examples in the SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINTS group thread that you can crib from

Your step 2 would be to respond to the LoC

Then wait for Tesco to reply, probably fobbing you off, followed by a Money Claim N1SDT pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL in the near future ( later this year. )

Coupon-mad

There is no complaint template. Think about it: how weak & ineffectual would that silly idea be?!

Obviously don't say who was driving in any contact.

You need to report your NTK posts for image removal by the Forum Team, as both sides show personal data.

Here's a redacted version:

"I did get a letter from Horizon (dated 18.08.25), which I ignored."

That was a bit daft! It's non-POFA in wording and date served and would have been a complete pushover to see off on appeal… in 2025.

Gladstones always add £10 on top of Horizon cases due to the way their system interfaces with Horizon's database which adds a tenner along the way.

I mean it's all unrecoverable but this is seen all the time in Tesco cases, look:

Yet more Gladstones claims - (Horizon didn't use POFA in 2024). ALL cases: PCN enhanced by £10:





https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6622009/notice-of-proposed-allocation-to-the-small-claims-track





https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81533390#Comment_81533390

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81759597#Comment_81759597

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81642574#Comment_81642574

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6602415/pcn-from-2023-gladstones-now-at-money-claim-stage

Complete cinch to defend but my goodness, you should have seen this non-POFA case off easily last Summer!

wccb123

Thanks for your responses.

Can I clarify a few things please?

I can't seem to find the Newbies FAQ thread anymore, well it's there but just has 2 comments on it and none of the useful info, did something happen to it or am I looking in the wrong place?!

Is it best to email Tesco head office?

From my understanding the original claim from Horizon wouldn't stand up as they didn't send it within 14 days of the event. Should I bring that up with Gladstones, or was that only valid at the appeal stage and that opportunity has passed? As I can't find relevant info on the newbies thread, what do I write to them?

Castle

There's a VRM still showing on the redacted image and it's a reminder notification, so not the original NTK.

Nellymoser

NEWBIES is still in same place, Announcements top of page 1. It has 2 pages of posts!

An easy way to find the NEWBIES/Template defence Announcement threads is click on the white oblong box that says Parking tickets, fines & parking

There's one near the top and bottom of every page.

Gr1pr

As above, click on page 1, you only need the first 5 posts , not the rest, definitely not page 2 of that information only thread