DCBL Private parking (eurocarparks)

[b789]

If paying the £313 fee is not going to cause you serious financial difficulty, my advice is to make the N244 application now rather than wait any longer. The reality is that the CCJ is likely to be entered on the register in the meantime anyway, so there is little to be gained by further delay. What matters now is showing the court that you acted promptly once you discovered the judgment, and that any additional delay has been caused not by you, but by the failure of the CNBC and the claimant’s solicitor to take proper corrective action after being put on notice.

You need to make an on-notice N244 application because the judgment was wrongly entered on a claim that had already been acknowledged and defended. The core point is simple: this was never an undefended claim. You, the defendant, filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 14 July 2025 and a Defence by email on 27 July 2025 to the CNBC, with DCB Legal copied in. The CNBC sent an auto-acknowledgment, and DCB Legal later confirmed receipt and said their client intended to proceed. There was then further correspondence with DCB Legal about the live claim. Despite all of that, default judgment was entered on 24 March 2026 stating that no reply had been made. That was plainly wrong.

The application should therefore be put primarily under CPR 13.2 because the conditions for default judgment were never satisfied. CPR 13.3 is pleaded in the alternative only. The application should also ask the court to strike out the claim rather than simply revive it, because default judgment appears to have been procured on a false basis despite the claim having been actively defended and engaged with for months. The claimant should be ordered to pay the £313 application fee. Any HMCTS complaint about CNBC is separate and should not be confused with the N244 itself.

Download the N244 here and complete it as follows:

1. What is your name or, if you are a legal representative, the name of your firm?

• [Defendant’s full name]
  

2. Are you a claimant or defendant?

• Defendant
  

3. What order are you asking the court to make and why?

The Defendant applies for an order that the default judgment dated 24 March 2026 be set aside, that the claim be struck out, that enforcement be stayed pending determination of this application, that the judgment be removed from the register upon being set aside, and that the Claimant pay the Defendant’s application fee of £313. The judgment was wrongly entered because the Defendant had already filed an Acknowledgment of Service and a Defence. This was therefore a defended claim and the conditions for default judgment were not satisfied. In the alternative, the Defendant acted promptly on discovering the judgment and has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.

4. Have you attached a draft of the order you are applying for?

• Yes
  

5. How do you want to have this application dealt with?

• At a hearing
  

6. How long do you think the hearing will last?

• 30 minutes
  

7. Give details of any fixed trial date or period

• None
  

8. What level of Judge does your hearing need?

• District Judge
  

9. Who should be served with this application?

• The Claimant’s solicitor, DCB Legal Ltd
  

9a. Please give the address for service of the respondent or defendant

• DCB Legal Ltd, Direct House, Greenwood Drive, Manor Park, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1UG.
  

10. What information will you be relying on in support of your application?

• The attached witness statement and exhibits.
  

That is the full answer set from Q1 to Q10.

For box 10, tick:

• the witness statement
  
• the evidence set out in the box below
  

Do not tick statement of case unless you are actually putting substantive evidence in that lower box on the form itself, which you do not need to do if you are attaching a separate witness statement.


Use the following for your Witness Statement (WS) which will be attached as a separate PDF to the N244:

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No: [insert]

Between:

Euro Car Parks Limited
Claimant

and

[Defendant’s full name]
Defendant

WITNESS STATEMENT OF [DEFENDANT]

1. I am the Defendant in this matter. I make this witness statement in support of my application to set aside the default judgment entered on 24 March 2026, to strike out the claim, and for the Claimant to pay the application fee.

2. The facts in this statement are within my own knowledge except where stated otherwise.

3. The Claim Form was issued on 8 July 2025.

4. I filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 14 July 2025.

5. I then filed my Defence by email on 27 July 2025 to the Civil National Business Centre. DCB Legal, the Claimant’s solicitors, were copied into that email.

6. The Civil National Business Centre sent an automatic acknowledgment confirming receipt of the Defence email.

7. Later, on or about 24 September 2025, DCB Legal confirmed receipt of the Defence and stated that their client intended to proceed with the claim.

8. There was thereafter further direct correspondence between me and DCB Legal concerning this live claim.

9. No Notice of Proposed Allocation was received by me. No Directions Questionnaire was received by me. No hearing date was provided to me.

10. On 24 March 2026 default judgment was entered against me.

11. The wording of the judgment states that judgment was entered because I had not replied to the claim form.

12. That was false. By that stage I had already filed both an Acknowledgment of Service and a Defence.

13. This was therefore not an undefended claim. Both the court and the Claimant’s solicitors had already been notified that the claim was defended.

14. I later became aware of the judgment through a credit reference alert.

15. After discovering the judgment, I acted promptly.

16. On 7 April 2026 I sent urgent emails to the Civil National Business Centre and to DCB Legal making clear that default judgment had been wrongly entered on a defended claim.

17. DCB Legal responded only with a generic complaints acknowledgment stating that they would respond within 28 days.

18. No substantive corrective action was taken by DCB Legal.

19. No substantive corrective action was taken by the Civil National Business Centre.

20. The default judgment was wrongly entered because the conditions for default judgment were not satisfied. I had already replied to the claim form, first by filing an Acknowledgment of Service and then by filing a Defence.

21. The court is therefore required to set aside the judgment.

22. In the alternative, if required, I have acted promptly upon discovery of the judgment and I have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, as shown by the Defence already filed.

23. The claim had been actively defended and the Claimant’s solicitors had expressly acknowledged that fact. Despite that, default judgment was entered on the false basis that no reply had been made. The continuation of the claim would be contrary to the overriding objective given the manner in which judgment was obtained.

24. In those circumstances, I ask the court not merely to set aside the judgment but also to strike out the claim and order the Claimant to pay the £313 application fee.

25. I respectfully ask the court to grant the order sought in the attached draft order.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Signed: ______________________

Name: [Defendant’s full name]

Date: ______________________

You also need to attach the following Draft Order as a PDF file to the application:

IN THE COUNTY COURT
Claim No: [insert]

Between:

Euro Car Parks Limited
Claimant

and

[Defendant’s full name]
Defendant

DRAFT ORDER

Upon reading the Defendant’s application dated [insert date of N244], the witness statement in support and the exhibits

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. The default judgment entered on 24 March 2026 be set aside.

2. Enforcement of the judgment be stayed pending determination of this application and, upon paragraph 1 taking effect, the judgment shall cease to have effect.

3. The claim is struck out.

4. The Claimant shall pay the Defendant’s application fee of £313 within 14 days of service of this order.

5. Upon the judgment being set aside, the judgment shall be removed from the Register.

Exhibits list:

Exhibit 1: Claim Form issued 8 July 2025

Exhibit 2: Proof of Acknowledgment of Service filed 14 July 2025

Exhibit 3: Defence email sent to the Civil National Business Centre on 27 July 2025, copying DCB Legal

Exhibit 4: Civil National Business Centre automatic acknowledgment of receipt of the Defence email

Exhibit 5: DCB Legal correspondence from about 24 September 2025 acknowledging receipt of the Defence and stating that their client intended to proceed

Exhibit 6: Further correspondence between the Defendant and DCB Legal concerning the live claim after the Defence had been filed

Exhibit 7: Default judgment dated 24 March 2026 stating that no reply had been made

Exhibit 8: Emails sent on 7 April 2026 to the Civil National Business Centre and DCB Legal notifying them that judgment had been wrongly entered

Exhibit 9: DCB Legal generic complaints acknowledgment