Send the following complaint to he SRA at report@sra.org.uk and CC yourself:
Subject: Complaint about Moorside Legal Services Ltd – Obstructive email practices and sham DPO contact
Dear Sir or Madam,
I wish to raise a formal complaint about the conduct of Moorside Legal Services Limited in relation to their handling of pre-action correspondence and email contact.
Moorside Legal act for private parking operators and issue Letters of Claim to consumers. Their Privacy Notice states that anyone wishing to exercise data subject rights or contact their Data Protection Officer should email help@moorsidelegal.co.uk, using the subject line “Data Subject Rights – [Your Name]”. help@moorsidelegal.co.uk is the only published email address for contact.
I sent a reasoned response to a Letter of Claim to help@moorsidelegal.co.uk. I then sent a further email to the same address using the exact subject line format “Data Subject Rights – [my name]”, exactly as instructed in their Privacy Notice.
In each case, instead of engaging with the substance, Moorside Legal replied with a boilerplate email stating that the mailbox is “not monitored” and directing me to use their online portal. These replies were not automated server bounces. They were standard template emails that clearly had to be sent by a member of staff after accessing my original messages.
Technical checks on the moorsidelegal.co.uk domain show that:
- Emails addressed to help@moorsidelegal.co.uk and litigation@moorsidelegal.co.uk are accepted by their Barracuda-hosted mail server with a normal 250 OK SMTP response.
- The domain appears to be configured as a catch-all, meaning their server accepts mail for any address at that domain.
- No bounce messages were generated.
In practice, this means that:
- Moorside Legal publish help@moorsidelegal.co.uk as their contact and DPO address.
- Emails to that address are received into their system and read by staff.
- Staff then send a “mailbox not monitored, use the portal” template instead of dealing with the content.
Either help@moorsidelegal.co.uk is monitored, in which case the statement that it is “not monitored” is untrue and used to deter consumers from using email, or it is not properly monitored, in which case their Privacy Notice is materially misleading because it advertises a non-functional route for contact and data rights.
This behaviour has real consequences in the context of debt claims. Consumers who attempt to respond in writing to a Letter of Claim in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, or who try to exercise their data protection rights, are diverted into a payment-oriented portal and told that the only published email address is “not monitored”. In my view this:
- Frustrates proper pre-action engagement under the Civil Procedure Rules.
- Undermines confidence that a regulated firm will deal honestly with written correspondence.
- Uses a sham contact route in a way that risks unfair pressure on consumers to pay rather than dispute.
I believe this conduct is inconsistent with the SRA Principles and Codes of Conduct, in particular the duties to:
- Act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession.
- Act with honesty and integrity.
- Behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services.
I ask the SRA to investigate whether Moorside Legal’s intentional use of a “mailbox not monitored, use the portal” template on emails sent to their only published contact/DPO address is compatible with their professional obligations, particularly when used in the context of consumer debt claims.
I can provide:
- A copy of the relevant extract from Moorside Legal’s Privacy Notice.
- The Letter of Claim I received.
- My emails to help@moorsidelegal.co.uk, including one with the exact “Data Subject Rights – [Name]” subject line.
- Moorside Legal’s “mailbox not monitored, use the portal” reply.
Yours faithfully,
[Name]
[Address]
[Moorside reference]
And send the following complaint to the CMA at general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk and CC yourself:
Subject: Complaint about Moorside Legal Services Ltd – Unfair commercial practice in handling consumer contact
Dear Sir or Madam,
I wish to report a business practice by Moorside Legal Services Limited which I believe amounts to an unfair commercial practice under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Moorside Legal act for private parking companies and send Letters of Claim to individual motorists. Their Privacy Notice and website information state that consumers and data subjects should contact them, and their Data Protection Officer, at help@moorsidelegal.co.uk, using the subject “Data Subject Rights – [Your Name]”. help@moorsidelegal.co.uk is the only published email address.
I sent a detailed written response to a Letter of Claim to that address, disputing the claim. I also sent a further email with the exact subject line format “Data Subject Rights – [my name]” as specified in their Privacy Notice.
In each case, the only reply I received was a boilerplate message stating that the mailbox is “not monitored” and instructing me to use an online portal instead. This response was not an automatic bounce. It was a template email clearly sent by a member of staff after reading my message.
Technical checks indicate that their Barracuda-hosted mail server accepts emails to help@moorsidelegal.co.uk and litigation@moorsidelegal.co.uk with a standard 250 OK SMTP response and no bounce. The domain appears to be configured as a catch-all, so messages to these addresses are being delivered into their system.
The practical effect is that:
- Moorside Legal advertise an email address as the route to contact them and their DPO.
- Consumers who use that address are told, after the fact, that it is “not monitored” and are pushed into using a portal that is clearly designed around payment and “account management”, not dispute resolution.
- Consumers attempting to respond in writing to a Letter of Claim, or to exercise data protection rights, meet a dead end and are funnelled towards a payment-focused channel.
In my view this behaviour:
- Is likely to mislead the average consumer as to the availability and effectiveness of email contact with the trader.
- Creates an artificial barrier to raising disputes and exercising statutory rights.
- s capable of causing the average consumer to make a transactional decision they would not otherwise have made, including using the portal in the mistaken belief it is the only valid channel, or giving up on contesting the claim.
I believe this falls within the unfair commercial practices regime under Part 4, Chapter 1 of the DMCC 2024 as a failure to act with the required standard of professional diligence and as a misleading practice relating to consumer rights and redress.
I ask the CMA to consider:
- Requiring Moorside Legal to provide functional, monitored contact details which match their privacy notices and letters.
- Preventing Moorside Legal from using a “mailbox not monitored, use the portal” script in response to legitimate written dispute correspondence.
- Considering enforcement measures or penalties if a pattern of unfair practice is established.
I can provide:
- Screenshots or extracts from Moorside Legal’s Privacy Notice showing help@moorsidelegal.co.uk as the contact and DPO email.
- A copy of their Letter of Claim.
- My emails to help@moorsidelegal.co.uk, including one with the exact “Data Subject Rights – [Name]” subject.
- Moorside Legal’s “mailbox not monitored, use the portal” reply.
Yours faithfully,
[Name]
[Address]
[Moorside reference]
