CEL Letter before action

KeithP

@kevalicat, is there any progress to report on this yet?

kevalicat

Hi KeithP, so sorry, I have just gone back into this today after receiving a letter from dcbl. It's a notice of debt recovery for £170. I doubt they will know any back story regards the response I got on appeal.

Coupon-mad

What is that letter, it looks odd. CEL said your appeal was successful?  Was this that weird thing that was happening a while back?

kevalicat

That's right Coupon-mad, I appealed online on 17/3/20 and this was the on screen response. I had nothing since and then a dcbl letter turned up yesterday. 

Umkomaas

kevalicat said:

That's right Coupon-mad, I appealed online on 17/3/20 and this was the on screen response. I had nothing since and then a dcbl letter turned up yesterday. 

Complain to the BPA - sara.r@britishparking.co.uk

kevalicat

I will do that Umkomaas. I did it in 2020 on this and they were happy no code had been broken. I'll have another go though.

Coupon-mad

And respond to DCBLtd showing them your appeal was successful.

kevalicat

BPA have responded, same as before, they are happy they have not identified a breach of point raised in the Code of Practice.
I will post the dcbl response if I ever see one.

kevalicat

dcbl have responded that they too are happy. Apparently, 'your appeal has been successful' doesn't mean that, and I need to pay up or prepare for court action.

Coupon-mad

I'm sure they are happy as pigs in mud.

Ask them if their supervising solicitor hasn't heard of the contra proferentem rule, or do they need retraining in the Consumer Rights Act 2015?

Further, the Government has banned the false 'debt recovery costs' noting that these were never actually incurred because the 'private parking DRAs' were operating free of charge for the parking industry, until the 'fixed late fee' scam was stopped this February.

In his Ministerial Foreword, DLUHC's Neil O-Brien talks of "aggressive debt collection and unreasonable fees designed to extort money from motorists":  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-parking-code-of-practice/private-parking-code-of-practice

Under 'Escalation of costs' the statutory Code states: "The parking operator must not levy additional costs over and above the level of a parking charge or parking tariff as originally issued."

Whilst the Code of Practice is not retrospective, there cannot be a clearer steer for the courts than the fact that the DLUHC has declared the false added fixed fees to have been "designed to extort money from motorists".

Moreover, it is my position that any parking roboclaim legal firm which now issues a claim enhanced by the false 'debt recovery' costs - despite knowing that the DLUHC has banned them and declared this element to be 'extortion' - cannot possibly be acting in good faith.

As such, if you do now proceed to issue a claim enhanced by the (known to be false) £60 or £70 'fees', I will report you to the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority for breach of the STaRs: failing to act with 'honesty & integrity' or in a way which upholds public trust and confidence:

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/principles/

Be on notice that I will counterclaim for a three figure sum  for damages for distress caused by harassment and data abuse, should your clients now try a claim.