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#Post#: 129655--------------------------------------------------
Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: AmbroseChapel
Date: September 5, 2026, 9:35 am
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London – 5 parking charges from Civil Enforcement Ltd after
apparently failed car park registration – now received a CCJ so
far on ONE of the charges
Relevant documents here:
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rfaxMJ_c0LdLC4WXrtOhQRHfAZpJ-ee5
Hi all,
I’m in London and could really use some advice on a parking/CCJ
situation involving Civil Enforcement Ltd (CEL)
BACKGROUND
Between December 2025 and April 2026, I was
issued via mail 5 separate parking chargesfrom Civil Enforcement
Ltd relating to a car park used by members/visitors of my local
gym.
The car park provides free parking for gym members/visitors. The
gym does not own or manage the car park — I understand it is
owned/managed by Creative Car Park and managed by CEL (I think)
There is clear signage throughout the car park regarding the
parking terms - except for the registration system I explain
below.
THE GYM PARKING REGISTRATION
When visiting the gym, you are required to enter your vehicle
registration number (VRN) into a touchscreen/tablet at the gym
reception. I assume this information is then connected to or
passed to Creative Car Park's parking system.
You don't receive a physical ticket or other confirmation of
registration.
Instead, there is a notice on the gym reception wall above the
touchscreen telling users to take a photograph of the
registration screen as proof that they registered their vehicle.
The notice on the reception walls says:
—————
PLEASE HAVE YOUR CAMERA READY
• When you have input your registration, you will be asked to
confirm.
• This will bring up the confirmation screen with your car
registration.
• Please take a picture of this screen.
• If you then receive a ticket, you will have a time stamped
photo proving you have input the registration.
• You should then forward this to Civil enforcement.
• Without a photo you have no undisputable evidence of inputting
your registration.
——————————
I used this touchscreen registration system on my visits during
the relevant period.
However, I did not take a photograph every single time - I am
not sure this can be argued as being a “requirement” for proving
one has followed the procedure.
I did take some photographs showing registrations on certain
days, but not every visit, but eventually I delete photos from
my phone after a few days.
After the touchscreen, I use the gym app to scan my membership
bar code to open the turn gates and enter - so possibly there
might still be a record of my gym visits.
DISPUTE
Why I believe the charges are incorrect.
I had an active gym membership throughout the period covered by
these charges and only used the car park for going to the gym.
But no where in the car park site does it say “this car park is
only for the gym members use or also for gym members etc”. The
gym staff told me there is a parking lot outside we can sue for
free and said I need to input the VRN
each time at reception.
The car park is at the very end of a busy high street and there
isn't really anything else there that would have given me a
reason to park there. In other words, I wasn't using the car
park for any other purpose except for my gym visits.
When I eventually spoke to gym staff about the parking charges
they told me that there had been problems with the vehicle
registration system anpparently, and that other gym users had
also received parking charges despite registering their
vehicles.
They said they believed the problem had since been resolved,
although I don't know exactly when
.They also told me that if I had contacted them within
approximately a week or two of receiving a parking charge, they
could have contacted Creative Car Park and asked for it to be
cancelled.
Unfortunately, by the time I became aware of the charges, it was
already too late.
TOO TO DISPUTE WITH CEL
How I found out about the charges
This is where I made things considerably worse for myself.
I didn't discover the original parking charge notices until late
May/early June 2026, because they had been sitting amongst my
post. Aside from being away for a month in December for the rest
of the year I just missed opening some of my mail.
So for each parking charge letter I missed the 28 days deadline
to appeal to Civil Enforcement.
Separately I also at the time of discovery of the charges taken
the position that I am going to dispute these all the way in a
tribunal
should matters reach that point.
I tried contacting Creative Car Park. After several attempts to
find the correct contact number and actually get through to
someone, I was told that the matter was out of their hands and
that I needed to contact Civil Enforcement Ltd.
I then tried contacting CEL, but their telephone system
essentially only gave me the option of paying the charge.
I eventually found what appeared to be a legal/contact email
address for CEL online and emailed them explaining the
situation, as the letters I had received seemed to give me no
practical way of explaining what had happened other than paying.
To no one's surprise - never received a response to my email.
CURRENT SITUATION
I have been away from my home address from mid-June until 3
September 2026.
On returning and going through my post, I have now found:
A County Court Judgment (CCJ) / court paperwork FOR ONE CHARGE
with a deadline of 14 days to respond, which is Tuesday 8
September
- Various CEL reminder letters with Warnings about further
action.
I'm honestly quite overwhelmed and don't know what I should do
next, particularly regarding the court claim and the other four
parking charges.
When I log into the tribunal service with the claim details it
gives me these two options - apart from the options to accept
liability and pay:
Acknowledgment of ServiceIf you need 28 days (rather than 14)
from the date of service to prepare your defence, or wish to
contest the court's jurisdiction, complete the Acknowledgment of
Service (AOS).
OR
Response Forms
If you dispute the whole claim or wish to make a claim (a
counterclaim) against the claimant, complete the defence form.
ADVICE
I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has dealt
with Civil Enforcement Ltd / Creative Car Park and a
vehicle-registration system like this.
My main questions are:
1. What should I do immediately about the court claim now which
options should I choose and what to expect in terms of evidence
to dispute at this stage ?
I don’t have photos. It’s my word against theirs.
I can only prove gym membership
2. Is the fact that I was away and didn't see the correspondence
from CEL until returning PLUS opening my mail late potentially
relevant from tribunal POV?
3. Does the gym's registration system — where users enter their
VRN into a touchscreen but receive no confirmation other than
being told to photograph the screen — have any significance to
the defence?
4. Does it matter that the gym staff themselves told me there
had been problems with the registration system and that other
members had received similar parking charges?
5. I have proof of an active gym membership covering the
relevant period. How useful might that evidence be?
I realise I should probably have dealt with this much sooner,
but I'm where I am now and would really appreciate advice on
what I should do next, particularly regarding the tribunal .
I never had a court notice issued to me ever and just very
overwhelmed
Thank you
#Post#: 129656--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: jfollows
Date: September 5, 2026, 9:48 am
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Read and act on
HTML http://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
Show us what you’re talking about.
If you have a N1SDT county court claim then you have 14+5 days
from its date to respond, which can be an Acknowledgment of
Service, in which case you then have an additional 14 days to
file a defence.
All your stuff about being away and not opening your mail is
your problem. The deadlines on a county court claim should be
clear. CEL won’t care.
Don’t expect us to give you more specific advice in response to
your summary, we need to see the actual documents with personal
details obscured as advised above.
Get the gym to cancel the notices and tell them that you'll
cancel your membership if they don't.
#Post#: 129669--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: AmbroseChapel
Date: September 5, 2026, 2:09 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for the reply and engaging.
--- Quote ---
> All your stuff about being away and not opening your mail is
your problem. The deadlines on a county court claim should be
clear. CEL won’t care.
--- End Quote ---
Agreed certainly. I aim not to miss the country court deadline -
which is Tuesday 8th September.
I have missed the deadlines for responding/disputing via CEL -
does this have an impact or the court won't care?
Here is Google drive folder containing scans of the letters - as
no option here to upload. I hope this is acceptable.
Link:
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rfaxMJ_c0LdLC4WXrtOhQRHfAZpJ-ee5
1)
Five PDF packs for incident dates:
9 Dec 2025
3 March 2026
23 March 2026
2 April 2026
3 April 2026
For all these I have received the first notice, then follow up
reminder notices, which are included in each PDF pack for each
Incident date.
2) The back page of one first parking charge notice explain
dispute process
3) A Letter Before Action for 9 Dec 2025. I have two other
similar letters for other two dates. Not received yet for
others.
4) Pages from a "Press Release" CEL has included as the last
pages of the Letter Before Action - to show how cases are gone
in their favour.
5) The actual CCJ for one incident. I assume I will receive four
more.
PLUS a folder containing photos I had taken of
a) signage at the car park
b) the notice at the gym reception advising to take photographs
#Post#: 129682--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: InterCity125
Date: September 6, 2026, 2:36 am
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If this is defended then the Claimant will likely pull out.
The first thing that jumped off the page when I read the opening
post was the fact that the gym were asking clients to take a
photo of their registration entry - that's a clear and obvious
admission that the system is prone to some sort of failure - why
would they ask you to do that otherwise??
Let's see the Claimant answer questions on that if they decide
to go to a hearing!
Could you show us the back of one of the PCNs as we need to
check the wording?
#Post#: 129686--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: AmbroseChapel
Date: September 6, 2026, 4:16 am
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My defence positions is pretty much this:
a) I used the car park for the gym - revisiting google maps I
notice that the car park does have a branded board of the gym
name
b) I had an active membership to the gym during the period CEL
claims the incidents occurred*
c) I did use the touch screen each time to log my vehicle
d) The gym says one must take photos of the touchscreen as
backup proof of using car park for gym purposes if any dispute
arise
e) no I did NOT take photos every time I visited the gym (just a
few times at the start). No I do not keep photos on my phone.
f) Gym staff members verbally admitted to me "we suggest for
photos to be taken because there have been issues in the past"
(something to the effect)
g) Gym staff told me that if I had shown them the PCN within one
week of receiving it (or maybe they said 2 weeks) they could
have intervened by calling the parking service and ask them to
be cancelled.
h) taking photos of the touchscreen is not a verifiable way for
a customer to keep proof
* will ask Gym management to provide log of all my visits
between December '25 - April '26
Signage at car park instructs: "All Visitors must obtain a 3
hour parking permit using the touchscreen found inside at
reception"
Photo of signage:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D01Tsb32csbR9D2hDYej5n0zK2eWuzhw
Photo of Notice attached to wall of gym reception by the
touchscreen:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/16gazRZUDx_LAHiMmxh4eLWSorECMKjWL
Back page of one of the parking charges - this only appears on
the first notice letter for each incident date:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/15jodUcm6MigB9yEyh8XiiGLinGEyL1Ey/view?usp=drive_link
Trail of letters for ONE incident date:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TEwFDaq02nguO5GE-Z1MAnEZnS1ADvQJ
e.g December 2025 incident
First PCN - penalty £100
"Reminder before further action - penalty £100
Second reminder "Action needed" - penalty increased to £140
If I may remind - I have failed to dispute all the PCNs with CEL
in the first instance and then via an independent body (ie
POPLA) as I opened all letters past each dispute deadline period
(28 days).
In any case, I am of the conviction my dispute would have failed
anyway and I would waited to let this escalated via CCJ. I have
never received a CCJ before in my life.
I have now received ONE CCJ for one of the incidents (total of
5) here:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1noR3IIYYAUDdkzvechSFz6xNhsIrCbLW
Deadline to respond (also can do online): Tuesday 8 September
(14 days + 5 days)
All pertinent documents: here:
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rfaxMJ_c0LdLC4WXrtOhQRHfAZpJ-ee5
Thank you for any feedback.
#Post#: 129688--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: InterCity125
Date: September 6, 2026, 4:26 am
---------------------------------------------------------
This is a long way from being a CCJ.
You do not have a CCJ.
This is simply a County Court Claim at this stage.
Could you please confirm that you posted the back page of a PCN
and not the back page of a reminder letter?
#Post#: 129690--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: AmbroseChapel
Date: September 6, 2026, 4:41 am
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Thank you [member=6750]InterCity125[/member]
--- Quote ---
> You do not have a CCJ
--- End Quote ---
understood. Sorry I have never received court papers in my life
so not really familiar, no excuse but learning as I go.
--- Quote ---
> Could you please confirm that you posted the back page of a
PCN and not the back page of a reminder letter?
--- End Quote ---
I confirm.
The back page of the reminder letters are blank.
#Post#: 129691--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: jfollows
Date: September 6, 2026, 5:48 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Don't overlook the fact that anything you say in your defence
you will be prepared to state under oath if required, which will
carry a lot of weight, under the presumption that this case
makes it to court. In reality, it's likely that the case will be
discontinued after repeated attempts to intimidate you into
paying fail, but your saying that you used the touchscreen
doesn't mean you have to back this up with photos, in fact the
"requirement" to take photos is very much an implicit
acknowledgment of the failure of the system.
A CCJ is a County Court Judgment, either because the case
against you is upheld by the court or because you ignore the
papers and get a default judgment made against you. In the
unlikely event that you receive a CCJ, as long as you pay the
amount required within 1 month there is no record made on your
credit file (or you can apply to have it removed). Failure to
pay within 1 month results in a record of some sort for six
years, by the way.
#Post#: 129692--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: AmbroseChapel
Date: September 6, 2026, 5:56 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thank you [member=636]jfollows[/member]
--- Quote ---
> it's likely that the case will be discontinued after repeated
attempts to intimidate you into paying fail
--- End Quote ---
But one incident has now escalated to county court level. So
isn’t it now beyond “attempts to intimidate” as it’s in the
hands of a tribunal?
Additionally if I see there is still time to dispute with CEL
for their final reminder - shall I go through this process?
I am very happy to continue ignoring their letters all together
and let the courts decide - unless this is a bad strategy?
--- Quote ---
> Don't overlook the fact that anything you say in your defence
you will be prepared to state under oath if required, which will
carry a lot of weight, under the presumption that this case
makes it to court.
>
--- End Quote ---
I might be misunderstanding this comment. What you mean?
Everything I said here is factual from my position .
Re CCJ - I aim to respond to the CC CLAIM letter and let this
develop into a court hearing.
Thank you
#Post#: 129694--------------------------------------------------
Re: Civil Enforcement Ltd + CCJ (5 parking charges)
DIR By: jfollows
Date: September 6, 2026, 6:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Do your research and search the forum.
These companies initiate claims through the courts to frighten
you into paying, but since the case will be held at your local
court (as long as you follow advice) they will normally
discontinue before having to pay the court fee. Paying someone
to attend court is going to cost more than any money they might
get from you if they win.
Do not ignore letters.
For now, you have to file a defence and in due course complete
paperwork to get the case allocated to your local court.
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