Dcb legal letter of claim

Charliemurph90

Hi all, just after some advice, and I'm sorry that this subject has been hammered already. I have read the newbies thread and I do understand most of it (to a degree), however, I am still a bit stuck on what to do. 

I recieved a letter of claim on Saturday 3rd July from dcb legal, letter dated 30th June. I understand that this basically means they'll be taking me to court if I don't cough up £155. I overstayed in a car park run by Highview on 21/07/18.

I remember it well, it's a free car park in my old local town (I've since moved) think you get 90mins or 2 hours, can't quite remember.
I'd gone for lunch with friends and just lost track of time, I was maybe 15 mins late, can't remember exactly as this letter doesn't tell me times and I've binned all the old ones. I ignored all the initial letters like you do, and I've thought nothing of it since. 

Now I know that Highview were taken over by Group Nexus parking, and I've looked into which email address to send the SAR to, but haven't requested one yet.
My issue is this, 
1. If this does go to court I have no defence, I was late back, no excuse
2. I am aware this also happened in October 2015, same car park, as I have had letters from dcb limited about it, so I'm worried that if I cough up the £155 for this 2018 PCN, they will think I'm an easy target and chase me for the 2015 one aswell!

I'm really struggling, part of me just wants to pay it and get it over with, but the other part doesn't want to give these crooks my money! 

Also, having read other threads on this and seeing someone's defence for when they went to court, I know I'd really struggle with putting something like that together, I don't even own a laptop, and I'm not particularly clever enough, and also as I've said, what defence do I even have? 

Any help and advice would be really appreciated. Thank you. 

Redx

HIGHVIEW wre easily seen off with 1 or 2 emails back then , but not since group nexus took over their claims

highview were easily beaten on POFA, no keeper liability, no landowner authority and poor signage for a start, plus any BPA CoP errors , like grace periods before and after in this particular case

coupon mad put together her defence template, so you would use that , defending as keeper, no liability as a keeper, highview have no idea who was driving , unless some fool tells them , lol 

there are plenty of Highview court cases on here, so a copy and paste of somebody eleses already approved defence would suffice, how hard can it be ? the work is done for you

do email a SAR to the DPO at GN , attaching copies of 2 recent redacted utility bills as proof of I D , but not your passport or driving licence !!

Charliemurph90

Wish if have known that back then, I could've just emailed them and got it over and done with! But I just ignored them as per the advice on these types of forums.

Thank you, I'll have a look to see if I can find coupon mads defence and have a look through it.

So I could get away with it in court just by saying I wasn't driving and I don't know who was? Seems too easy?!

OK, I'll get on with an SAR to GN then, and see what they come back with.

Thanks for your help

Redx

it was easy when you received the pcn several years ago, due to POFA and no keeper liability

these forums havent said ignore since march 2013 , so long before your pcn arrived in 2018

I came here in 2013 for advice and read the newbies thread back then and assisted family and friends , so it is wrong to say that anyone here encouraged the ignore route, they didnt

you should not lie in court, its perjury and a criminal offence punishable by much more than a slap on the wrist, not worth it !!

if asked in court, tell the truth

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore a PCN hasn't been given on this forum since the law changed in 2012, so any forum where you saw the word ignore is not this type of forum.

The template defence is just underneath the NEWBIES, one of the first five sticky threads on the main forum page.

It's not as easy as saying, I wasn't driving and don't know who was. First of all, that has to be true. PPCs monitor this forum and there is enough information in your first post that the driver's identity could possibly be determined. What would you say to a judge if she/he saw a copy of your post, and a defence signed under a statement of truth that you weren't driving?
Secondly, the NTK has to be non PoFA compliant and incapable of holding a keeper liable.
Thirdly, you need to convince the judge that on the balance of probabilities the keeper wasn't driving and it could have been at least one other person.

It is never too late to get a landowner cancellation.

There are plenty of other defence points, and you only need to amend two of them to suit your case.

Charliemurph90

No I never said this forum specifically, just did Google search and looked on all sorts of forums.

That's what I worry about though, the truth is I was driving, and I was late, so really what defence do I have?

Having looked through other people's threads they all seem to have a defence, either the ANP camera was wrong and they had 2 separate visits, or the ticket machine was broken etc, they all seem to have something they could use in court, and I don't. 

I've also just done a quick street view of the car park on Google maps, and there's a clear sign right as you enter.

I'm going to email GN for the SAR anyway, at the least it'll buy me abit of time to figure it all out I guess. 

Redx

I did give you all the valid defence points earlier, clearly they went over your head ??

they are the same points that would have been in your popla appeal 3 years ago , if you hadnt ignored the original pcn

Le_Kirk

Charliemurph90 said:

Having looked through other people's threads they all seem to have a defence, either the ANP camera was wrong and they had 2 separate visits, or the ticket machine was broken etc, they all seem to have something they could use in court, and I don't. 

I've also just done a quick street view of the car park on Google maps, and there's a clear sign right as you enter.

Have you looked at GSV on Google Maps using the Time Machine, the little drop-down arrow that shows view from previous years?

Charliemurph90

Redx said:

I did give you all the valid defence points earlier, clearly they went over your head ??

they are the same points that would have been in your popla appeal 3 years ago , if you hadnt ignored the original pcn

I'll be honest, the jargon does absolutely go over my head, I have read the newbies thread, but I struggle to remember what POPLA, PoFA and all other stuff means, like I say I'm not particularly clever with this type of stuff. Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult or anything, I genuinely don't understand all of it

Redx

its nor surprising , none of us did when we started, so the fifth post in that newbies thread has brief explanations of all of them, please read it , plus I am positive that you know how to use google search too

Le_Kirk

Charliemurph90 said:

Redx said:

I did give you all the valid defence points earlier, clearly they went over your head ??

they are the same points that would have been in your popla appeal 3 years ago , if you hadnt ignored the original pcn

I'll be honest, the jargon does absolutely go over my head, I have read the newbies thread, but I struggle to remember what POPLA, PoFA and all other stuff means, like I say I'm not particularly clever with this type of stuff. Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult or anything, I genuinely don't understand all of it

Go to 5th post of NEWBIE sticky and print the acronyms and keep it beside you whilst reading the rest of the sticky or while reading answers to your questions.