Private Parking Fine (DCB Legal - Court)

Can9992

Hi, I have read and taken in the information from the Newbies FAQ and will be implementing them, but I wanted to share my situation as I believe it is unique.

To begin with, I was given two Parking Charge Notices in 2019 by First Parking for parking in my university campus without a permit. 

Initially I appealed one of my fines directly with First Parking naming myself as the driver, and it was rejected. Then I began to ignore all the letters, including the many letters by the debt collectors.

On January the 8th of this year, I received two letters from DCB Legal requesting £160. One addressed to myself and one to my mother (The registered keeper). I replied to the letter explaining that I was not aware of the appeal rejection and I made a formal offer to pay the original amount. They rejected and refused to discuss the case adressed to my mother, also mentioning an administrative error, fixing the fine amount to £120.

This is where it gets interesting.

On the 9th of February I received a claim letter by the county court addressed to my mother. On the particulars of claim it mentions that “The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not” - this is false, I did not agree to pay at any point. Also, they are aware that i was the driver, so why were we issued two different letters for each fine ? One fine for myself and the other for my mother.

I communicated to DCB Legal that I was the driver in both instances, so why havent they combined the cases into one against me, or if keeping the registered keeper liable, why not claim both fines from my mother? I read somewhere that accumulated fines should be filed as one claim.

I would appreciate any advice on this matter.

I have attached the county court claim and one of the two letters from DCB Legal - I’ve only attached one of these as they are identical. 

KeithP

Can9992 said:

On the 9th of February I received a claim letter by the county court addressed to my mother.

No. That's not right.
Today your mother received a County Court Claim Form which was Issued on 9th February.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th February, you have until Monday 1st March to file an Acknowledgment of Service. If possible, do not file an AoS before 13th February, but otherwise, there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 15th March 2021 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Of course every where I have written 'you' or 'your' I mean the named Defendant - your mother.

Coupon-mad

On the particulars of claim it mentions that “The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not” - this is false, I did not agree to pay at any point.

Please let's not flipping well go there again.   I got fed up with this last month and here we go again.

Can9992

My mother is already preparing a defence, I was just wondering if mentioning these points would help, thanks for the advice.

I am yet to receive a county court claim under my name, do you recommend to just pay it? Or proceed to court? 

nosferatu1001

At what point have you found anyone saying "pay"?
Given you didnt appeal BOTH invoices (where do you see the word fine anywhere?) that is why the RK has received a claim form, presumably for the one you did not name the driver. You did not tell us that, however

beamerguy

DCBL have added a fake amount ... £120 ... no parking ticket is £120
Seems £18.25 is interest which judges normally don't allow especially as interest rates right now is 0%.  Applying interest on an unproven debt can only be considered as profiteering 

Yasmin Mia thinks the fake is true as she signed a statement of truth.  But with no explanation, the claim is unreliable.  Have a read of this case (different company but all the same)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7cl746rkejelfx/Excel v Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

There is a dedicated thread for DCBL, best to read it and use the thread in future
DCBL letters ... forum group thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6237177/dcbl-letters-forum-group-thread#latest

Can9992

nosferatu1001 said:

At what point have you found anyone saying "pay"?
Given you didnt appeal BOTH invoices (where do you see the word fine anywhere?) that is why the RK has received a claim form, presumably for the one you did not name the driver. You did not tell us that, however

My fault, I have just accessed my old emails and I did infact appeal both invoices naming myself as the driver, so surely it is a mistake to claim from both myself and mother as seperate fines right ? 

beamerguy said:

DCBL have added a fake amount ... £120 ... no parking ticket is £120
Seems £18.25 is interest which judges normally don't allow especially as interest rates right now is 0%.  Applying interest on an unproven debt can only be considered as profiteering 

Yasmin Mia thinks the fake is true as she signed a statement of truth.  But with no explanation, the claim is unreliable.  Have a read of this case (different company but all the same)

There is a dedicated thread for DCBL, best to read it and use the thread in future
DCBL letters ... forum group thread

Thanks for this, I will have a look.

Umkomaas

On the particulars of claim it mentions that “The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not” - this is false, I did not agree to pay at any point.

Did you read what the signs on site said, because that's the 'agreement' you entered into by parking there?

Redx

Only the keeper can name the driver under POFA , so although you named yourself as driver they are pursuing the keeper. By the act of parking anywhere you are deemed to have entered into a parking contract as detailed on the signs, even if you ignored the signs or didn't see them, the latter would be decided in court on the legibility and prominence of the signs. It's not a paper contract agreement like for a mobile phone where you physically agree and sign

Her defence should state that she was not the driver so she passed the PCN to the driver and the driver appealed in their own name so the claim should be struck out because there is no keeper liability , 

Bear in mind if the claimant failed to comply with POFA then she has no liability anyway as keeper

The coupon mad template should still be used , with suitable wording for paragraphs 2 and 3

She should still email a SAR for all data to the Parking company , to flush out all the paperwork , especially the second or further ones not currently being claimed for, for the future

If there are 2 claims ,one in each name , then each Defendant must defend , possibly on different grounds

nosferatu1001

OP - you must be precise. We only know what you tell us
When you appealed something that was not yours to appeal, but your mothers, did you 
a) do it in HER NAME?
b) Give your name as driver, AND your serviceable address?
c) Did you get a PCN issueds in your name?
Do this for both INVOICES separately. Do not miss out any answers. Be precise. 

nosferatu1001

Redx - I disagree that "only" the keeper can name the driver
They can only claim from teh keeper when they do not know t he name and address of the driver
To my knowledge there is no stipulation that it is the keeper that informs them of the drivers details. In fact that would make no sense where a Driver appeals a NtD.