Author Topic: Default judgement despite filing a defence on the MCOL website  (Read 40 times)

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I was taking my daughter for a driving lesson and we entered Colchester United FC car park where she practiced some manouevres before we left, we didn't park at all. Smart Parking Limited sent us an invoice claiming we parked there as they had photos of us entering and leaving the car park. I've ignored all correspondence from them as I wasn't the driver but the registered keeper of the vehicle.
DCB Legal then started sending correspondence and I eventually received a County Court Claim Form.
Having followed the advice on this forum I submitted an Acknowledge Service (AoS) online via MCOL selecting to defend all the claim. I then submitted a defence on the MCOL website on 09/02/2026
I then received a default judgement dated 19/02/2026 for £293.74 delivered to me on 24/02/2026. I immediately rang MCOL who claim no defence is filed. However, on the portal it showed under 'Response History' for the claim that the 'Latest Document' was 'Defence'. Separately, on the MCOL dashboard there is an entry 'Response Forms' with a 'Delete' option, indicating a response/defence had been generated and stored on the portal. It's just the advisor can't see it.
I emailed caseprogression.cnbc@justice.gov.uk ccing claimresponses.cnbc@justice.gov.uk the day after I received the default judgement highlighting the issue but as yet (10/03/2026) haven't received a response.
What can I do, their website clearly had an issue when I submitted my defence?

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Re: Default judgement despite filing a defence on the MCOL website
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Essentially, keep urgently contacting the court and try to resolve their **** up. Once that's sorted we can look at the actual case.

Out of interest, when was the parking incident? Smart's more recent notices do sometimes comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act, which means that not being the driver isn't necessarily a defence, although other defences are likely available.