Advice much appreciated.

emscooper

Hi everyone, I have just received this letter from dcbl, had a panic attack, read some of the existing threads and ended up confused by the answers. To ignore or not to ignore? It does say on the back of the letter, “This case is not subject to high court or bailiff action”. 

I stayed over the three hour limit in a privately owned car park-I’m a disabled driver and it takes me time to get about the place. I probably should have responded to the demands in the first instance but was advised to stick my head in the sand and let it fizzle out.

KeithP

emscooper said:

It does say on the back of the letter, “This case is not subject to high court or bailiff action”. 

That's a Debt Collector's letter.

The fourth post in the NEWBIES thread describes exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters.


However, having now read the letter, the first sentence is concerning.
It appears that a court case has already been decided against you.
Do you know anything about that court case?

Coupon-mad

Hang on, it talks about a COUNTY COURT JUDGMENT and the sum is shown as £267.

Have you gone and ignored a flipping court claim N1 FORM (Google it, look at one, you've either ignored a court claim or not received it I think)?  Or have you failed to update your address for your car when you moved (and changed only your driving licence) and the claim was sent to an old address in which case you will now have to apply to set aside the CCJ and see if ParkingEye will consent - same as all the other threads like it.

D_P_Dance

was advised to stick my head in the sand and let it fizzle out.

Ask whoever so poorly advised you to pay it.  You could hsave beaten thiss on signage, read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading

Coupon-mad

I stayed over the three hour limit in a privately owned car park-I’m a disabled driver and it takes me time to get about the place.

You'd have had grounds to counterclaim for a 3 figure sum at least!  It is illegal not to make a reasonable adjustment for disabled drivers, by adapting fixed policies like time limits to get around and undertake daily activities, such as shopping.  If able bodied people get 3 hours parking free then a disabled person needs at least an hour more and the case law on this is from DMUK who challenged Councils over it, pointing to their statutory duty:

https://www.wake-smith.co.uk/news/council-car-park-case-settled-a-victory-for-blue-badge-holders/

DMUK are now aware that there is a similar statutory duty on service providers like car park operators.  And you are aware now!

Anyway get reading the set aside of a CCJ section of the NEWBIES thread, and email ParkingEye:

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

... and attach the DCBL letter and put your VRM (and the claim number that DCBL mention) in the subject line of your email and ask what this was about as you have no idea but it needs setting aside urgently for the following reasons:

Tell them you are disabled and that ANPR breaks the law by not allowing more time for disabled persons.  As such, and given they appear to have filed a claim to a wrong address then got DCBL to trace you (after getting an unfair and unknown CCJ by default, but due to defective service of the claim form) it's obvious they could have traced you all along. 

Given this fact of defective service and the Equality Act 2010 breach, tell them that you are tempted to sue them, or apply to set the CCJ aside then defend and counterclaim under the Equality Act 2010.  However, you invite them to consent to set aside, accept that service was defective and that you are disabled and were always entitled to more time, and that they should pay the £100 court fee to set the CCJ aside themselves and assist you by providing a suitable consent order that does not require you to pay a penny.  And finally, to apologise for this harassment and cancel the PCN as well as setting aside the CCJ.

D_P_Dance

Have you read this?

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act/protected-characteristics

As CM says, consider a claim or counter claim for disability discrimination.   Find out who the landowner is and tell them they they will be included in the claim.  

MistyZ

emscooper, please please please do what Coupon-mad suggests.  

If you need help with all that here, then ask for it.  Remove head from sand.  Take a deep breath.  Go get 'em.  

You have had state of the art advice and if you're prepared to fight back and put a bit of work in things could still turn out okay.    

emscooper

Wowzers guys. Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your advice. It looks like I have some serious reading and paperwork to plough my way through. I’ll get to it. Have a good bank holiday weekend everyone.

emscooper

Coupon-mad said:

Hang on, it talks about a COUNTY COURT JUDGMENT and the sum is shown as £267.

Have you gone and ignored a flipping court claim N1 FORM (Google it, look at one, you've either ignored a court claim or not received it I think)?  Or have you failed to update your address for your car when you moved (and changed only your driving licence) and the claim was sent to an old address in which case you will now have to apply to set aside the CCJ and see if ParkingEye will consent - same as all the other threads like it.

Hi Coupon-mad, I’ve just googled the N1 form and no, I haven’t received one. There were previous letters from these parking guys and when a court case was mentioned the paper it was typed on just didn’t look legitimate. There certainly wasn’t anything that looked official like the N1form. I’ve been a proper numpty.

emscooper

Hi again,
These are the two previous letters received, they looked to me as though I could have put them together and printed them, so yes, like a tit, I ignored them. Apologies for the battered state of them-I have just retrieved them from the log burner...

Coupon-mad

You have missed a N1 claim form, probably about 3 - 6 weeks before that, and you have a CCJ.

So do EXACTLY what I said, saying the two things I said.  No contacting DCBL at all.