DCB Legal offers settlement before court date after reading defence

KCBDU

Dear All
With advice from this forum I submitted my defence on MCOL. DCB Legal (First Parking Ltd) telephoned me saying that they have read my defence and now wish to settle before the court date (which has not been given yet) to avoid further legal costs. DCB Legal claim £968 from me as a university student parking on university property. Should I: (1) offer a settlement amount to end this matter; 
(2) wait to see whether the court dismisses claim;
(3) if a hearing date is set, go to court and present my defence/case?
You expertise would be so appreciated.

KeithP

No idea what you should do.

We have absolutely no knowledge of what this is all about, or how strong your Defence is.

With so little info it is difficult to offer any advice/guidance.

What can be said, with a claim of nearly £1000 they aren't going to give up easily.

Where did you find the 'advice from this forum' to file your Defence via MCOL?

Coupon-mad

(3) if a hearing date is set, go to court and present your defence/case (of course, having submitted a decent witness statement and evidence and knowing how to argue that they can't add £70 to each PCN, or any of them.

BrownTrout

This is now standard practice for dcb legal

beamerguy

KCBDU said:

Dear All
With advice from this forum I submitted my defence on MCOL. DCB Legal (First Parking Ltd) telephoned me saying that they have read my defence and now wish to settle before the court date (which has not been given yet) to avoid further legal costs. DCB Legal claim £968 from me as a university student parking on university property. Should I: (1) offer a settlement amount to end this matter; 
(2) wait to see whether the court dismisses claim;
(3) if a hearing date is set, go to court and present my defence/case?
You expertise would be so appreciated.

We need to know al lot more

1: How and why you collected tickets
2: How many tickets and much per ticket <<< DCBL ADD FAKE UNLAWFUL AMOUNTS
3: What is your defence that after they read it prompted them to offer a deal

KCBDU

Thank you for your responses. 
I provide further:
I received 6 PCN's (£35 each - then increasing to £70) for non payment for parking on university property (I had/have a parking permit) but parked in an area that wasn't demarcated as parking since the parking lot was at capacity. I am a full time PhD student and do teaching for the university too.
I have a health condition which makes walking sometimes difficult and thus cited this in my defence. At the time of the parking infringements, I could not find parking close to the building and did not qualify for a disability bay. The university tried to intervene on my behalf to have the PCN rescinded but First Parking/DCB would not oblige.
After receiving court documents from the Business County Court I used the info from the 'Newbies' thread and adapted the 2020 defence. As a student I really can't afford to pay for any fines.
Thank you in advance.

Redx

Each PCN was £70 , forget the discount because none were paid promptly

Six PCN,s for £70 each equals £420 , simple junior school maths !!

Add say less than £150 in Court and legal fees and you get say £570 , any other additions are unlawful debt collection add-ons

Get a copy of copies of the landowner letters asking for cancellations , witness statements !!

Email a SAR to the DPO at the PPC and attach a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law to obtain all your data

Whether you can afford to pay PCN,s or a court judgment doesn't help you at all , it's a financial dispute over parking contracts and the ability to pay is not a factor , the threat of a CCJ due to non payment is very much a factor

To be blunt , if you do not want the extra expenses that can happen by driving , do not drive , cars are money pits , more laws around driving than almost anything else !!

I am sure that some recent students cannot afford their covid fines for parties on campus or in digs , but they foolishly went ahead and your Parking issues aren't as bad as what they did and your charges are much less

If your disability is a recognised one under the EA2010 , like mine , get a blue badge asap , because rules were changed last year I think it speaks , so easier for some people to qualify

The university should have given you an exemption and had your VRM added to a whitelist

Umkomaas

Get a copy of copies of the landowner letters asking for cancellations , witness statements !!

As well as getting them from the University, ask in your SAR that F1rst Parking copy you any correspondence they have been in exchange with the University about you.  That should flush out their rejection of their contract principal's instructions. 

D_P_Dance

Have you read this wrt protected characteristics?   Have you read the newbies?  Have you  complained to your MP?

beamerguy

And now you can see that DCBL are scamming you for an extra £400 (approx)
Judges do not allow such add-ons and DCBL have form in the courts.

It's up to you but if this was me, I would respond to DCBL asking them what part of their claim they intend to discount ?  Is it the unlawful add-on above £70 for each ticket or a discount on each £70 ticket.    

We always love to read replies from these legals which are normally nonsensical and perfect to show a judge

nosferatu1001

Copy your defence here. Don't give us a precis, we need the actual defence. 

Have you read every other part of the newbies thread, so you know you've got a lot more to do before you step into court?

how much are they offering to settle? Obviously you do not do this over the phone. Paper. Email, anything else is utterly worthless