You are now dealing with a live court claim. The document you've received is a Simple Procedure Notice of Claim (Form 6A) issued by the Scottish Sheriff Court, raised by Vehicle Control Services Ltd (VCS), and filed on their behalf by Pollock Fairbridge Schiavone Solicitors.
This is not speculative debt collection anymore. The court process has started and you are now named as the Respondent in active litigation. If you do not respond, the Claimant can request a Decree (Scottish equivalent of a County Court Judgment) by default. You must act immediately.
The claim amount is £160, which includes the original £100 parking charge and a £60 “debt recovery” fee. Their written case is that you (the keeper) parked the car without paying, entered into a contract by reading the signs, failed to comply with that contract, and now owe them a contractual sum. That’s their story.
Here’s what’s wrong with it.
Firstly, you were not the driver. The Claimant appears to assume you were, but has provided no evidence to support that allegation. They cannot prove otherwise. Under Scots law, unlike in England and Wales, there is no statutory keeper liability. Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 does not apply in Scotland. That means unless they can prove you were the driver — not guess, not imply, not presume — they are suing the wrong person. This is a fatal flaw in their claim.
Secondly, the pre-action letter they sent you in June did not comply with Rule 2.1(3) of the Simple Procedure Rules. It was not a properly constituted Letter of Intimation. It did not explain the legal basis of the alleged claim, did not cite any relevant law, did not give you a proper opportunity to consider your position, and was clearly designed to coerce payment under pressure. It contained misleading suggestions about your credit file being affected and referenced debt collection, not litigation. That is now demonstrably false and arguably dishonest.
The next step is straightforward: you must submit Form 4A (Response Form) to the court within 21 days of the date on the front page of Form 6A. The easiest way is to do it online via the Scottish Courts’ Simple Procedure portal. You can also post it or deliver it by hand to the court named in the documents.
In Form 4A, you should tick the box that says you dispute the claim. Then in the box titled “Why do you disagree with the claim?”, you write a short, firm defence that makes your position clear. You don’t need to write an essay — you will have the opportunity to expand if the Sheriff orders a case management discussion or written submissions.
Suggested wording:
I deny any liability for the sum claimed. I was not the driver.
The Claimant’s case appears to rest on the unproven allegation that the Respondent was driving. No evidence has been provided to identify the driver, and in Scots law, there is no presumption that the keeper and driver are the same. The Claimant has produced no evidence as to the identity of the driver. There is no legal basis for pursuing the registered keeper in this jurisdiction.
The pre-litigation letter sent by the Claimant’s solicitor was misleading and did not comply with Rule 2.1(3) of the Simple Procedure Rules. This claim is without merit and should not have been raised.
That will do for now. The Sheriff will consider your written response and may either dismiss the claim outright or order a case management discussion, which is an informal court appointment to clarify the issues. You’ll be guided through what to do at that stage.
Costs risk: If you were not successful (unlikely), you will not automatically be liable for £160. The court is very likely to strike out the added £60 “debt recovery” fee, as it is not a genuine loss, not supported by evidence, and not contractually justified. Because the total claim value is under £200, no expenses or solicitor fees can be awarded under the Simple Procedure (Limits on Award of Expenses) Order 2016 unless you act unreasonably, which you have not.
The absolute worst‑case outcome would be payment of the £100 charge itself if the Sheriff accepted VCS’s legal argument and evidence. If the £60 fee is rejected (as it almost certainly will be), your exposure is limited to the £100 alone.
If you win, they recover nothing. If they discontinue once they realise you understand Scots law and the absence of keeper liability, you can seek an award of expenses for unreasonable conduct, especially if the Sheriff agrees the claim had no proper legal foundation and the solicitor’s pre‑litigation threats were misleading.
If you want to go further once this is dealt with, you could also submit a formal complaint to the Law Society of Scotland about Pollock Fairbridge Schiavone's misleading conduct — particularly their threat of litigation against a keeper with no legal liability.
For now, focus on filing Form 4A within the 21-day deadline. If you can give me the exact date from the top of the Form 6A, I will confirm the last day to file your response and can help prepare your full defence document if required.
