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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: 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