Dcbl letter before claim stage

Cp100

Just received an email from DCB-

 

In order to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, our client may be prepared to settle this case. I can confirm our Client would be agreeable to £285.00 in full and final settlement of this Claim.  The current outstanding balance is £564.60.

Fruitcake

Cp100 said:

Le_Kirk said:

If you click on somebody's tagged name it takes you to their profile, you then click on discussions and it takes you (in @wobs2k's case) to one such and it is here 5 May at 3:46PM <<<LIINK were you find the drop box link.

Thank you, but I’ve already managed to locate this and this is where I have taken most of my information from for mine. I’m not sure why it’s been said I’m not using it and mine is completely different. I’m obviously not going to copy it word for word but the parts I can use I have put into my WS. 

Wobs2k's WS contained an index of exhibits and was 32 paragraphs long. You haven't mentioned not knowing anything about the alleged event on an unremarkable day X years ago, or that multiple drivers had access to the vehicle so on the balance of probabilities it wasn't you, or anything about the NTK being non-PoFA compliant (if that was the case) or anything about the PPC not having landowner authority, or that the signs were incapable of forming a contract with the driver.

Did you get your own photos from a site visit or from google streetview historic images?

Has the claimant provided you with images of the signs (actual signs on site, not stock images held on a computer)?

Have you received the claimant's WS yet?

Cp100

Update- 

for the first claim made two months before the second one dcb legal have said they are awaiting an allocation date (the court had said to me they did not provide a file) but they must of done so now. 

3 pcns in this claim they are offering £430 settlement.

the second claim the hearing is allocated to July 29th consisting of 2 pcns of which they are offering a £285 settlement. 

Out of the 5 pcns they are on different dates and one of them a different year and car altogether. 

Giving that I’m not really able to provide a decent offence to prove that I shouldn’t of received these charges a solicitor has advised me to settle.

I am thinking of offering them a settlement of £100 per pcn and say that I’m not paying the extra they are adding on top. Because I feel if I just go to court for both claims what chances do I really have, I’ll probably be made to pay £100 per pcn anyway and I’ll also lose 2 days wages from work. 

I was hoping the cause of action estoppel was going to stop one of these claims being allocated a hearing but that doesn’t look to be the case, and I guess it’s upto the judge if they let the two separate hearings go ahead.

Or I wait abit and see if the other claim gets a hearing allocated, although that will probably prevent me from settling the claim with the hearing in July as I will run out of time, any advice from here? 

Coupon-mad

Giving that I’m not really able to provide a decent offence to prove that I shouldn’t of received these charges a solicitor has advised me to settle.

On what possible basis do they think there is no defence? We've heard people say this before then, when they win, we've told them to go back to the solicitor and tell them they were wrong.

You realise we do parking cases every single day?

And solicitors don't deal with parking cases at all?  Did he/she look at the signs?

Can you remind us of the circumstances that caused the PCNs please.  You obviously have a defence or we would not have helped you to this stage.

Cp100

Because I can’t remember from that many years ago, they were all issued in the same place around the same time apart from one was around a year after. It looks like it was from when I could of been visiting the gym and parked somewhere that maybe I shouldn’t have.

I think the only thing I can defend against is the fact they have added the £60 charge plus they have sat on them for years etc. And if the judge rules in their favour as a minimum I’d of thought I’d have to pay the £100 per pcn plus court costs etc which was why I was thinking of trying to settle so I didn’t need to take that risk, as I think my chances of winning are slim to say the least. I was hoping cause of action estoppel would atleast get one of the claims dropped but that’s not looking likely. 

Coupon-mad said:

Giving that I’m not really able to provide a decent offence to prove that I shouldn’t of received these charges a solicitor has advised me to settle.

On what possible basis do they think there is no defence? We've heard people say this before then, when they win, we've told them to go back to the solicitor and tell them they were wrong.

You realise we do parking cases every single day?

And solicitors don't deal with parking cases at all?  Did he/she look at the signs?

Can you remind us of the circumstances that caused the PCNs please.  You obviously have a defence or we would not have helped you to this stage.

Cp100

I managed to get the settlement down from £715 for the 5 pcns to £600.

I tried £400 at first and then £500 which covers the £100 for each pcn but they said they couldn’t do it as they need to recover some of their costs. I have 7 days to decide. 

Coupon-mad

That's pointless because any canny Judge won't allow the added £60 or £70 fake costs per PCN anyway so YOU WOULD PAY LESS even if you lose!

Re 'cause of action estoppel' you missed the point.  It IS likely to succeed to stop the second claim that doesn't have a hearing date yet.

You need to stop phoning/contacting them and stop believing a solicitor who doesn't deal with parking claims and hasn't even seen the signage!  

We hope you didn't pay for that 'advice'?

Of course you have a defence.

It will be about unclear signs. Stop assuming you parked somewhere you shouldn't.

Have you emailed the PPC's data protection officer for a SAR?  As per the example in the NEWBIES thread? If not, do that now, immediately.

Most Defendants here are dealing with 5 or 6 year old parking events they recall nothing about, just like you.

We still see around 98-99% wins and have done consistently for seven years..

Cp100

Coupon-mad said:

That's pointless because any canny Judge won't allow the added £60 or £70 fake costs per PCN anyway so YOU WOULD PAY LESS even if you lose!

Re 'cause of action estoppel' you missed the point.  It IS likely to succeed to stop the second claim that doesn't have a hearing date yet.

You need to stop phoning/contacting them and stop believing a solicitor who doesn't deal with parking claims and hasn't even seen the signage!  

We hope you didn't pay for that 'advice'?

Of course you have a defence.

It will be about unclear signs. Stop assuming you parked somewhere you shouldn't.

Have you emailed the PPC's data protection officer for a SAR?  As per the example in the NEWBIES thread? If not, do that now, immediately.

Most Defendants here are dealing with 5 or 6 year old parking events they recall nothing about, just like you.

We still see around 98-99% wins and have done consistently for seven years..

my point is i will end up paying more even without the added costs as the two days lost in wages for each claim will equal to another £500 loss, which is why if there’s a high chance I’ll have to pay them anyway then I’d rather not go through court. I would also have to pay court costs on top of the £500 for the 5 pcns also, it could quite easily add up to double the settlement figure if the judge says I have to pay each of the 5 pcns at £100 each.

I did email for a sar and received one but I couldn’t open the attachments, maybe it’s because it’s via mobile but I’ve just requested they send me all the pictures and evidence for each pcn. 

I didn’t pay for the advice no, it was a 15 minute free phone call. 

I am running out of time to file my WS for this claim now I am unsure what else to include after being told it’s not going to be good enough. 

Coupon-mad

 i will end up paying more even without the added costs as the two days lost in wages for each claim will equal to another £500 loss

What 2 days?

Is the first hearing in person or by phone/CVP/Teams?

You are not having to attend two hearings, just an hour for one hearing. You may well win due to UKPC's terrible signs.

If you win, you get to ask for your loss of leave/earnings at the end of the hearing.

As I said, the second one is likely killed off by a robust email about 'cause of action estoppel' when the first one is resolved.

Either you will have lost the first one, and can then make an offer re the second OR you will have won the first one, and can tell them to get lost and to discontinue the hopeless (duplicate facts & equally crappy signs) second claim.

The 'legal advice' you got was clueless generic knee-jerk presumption. Over the phone, how the heck can they have looked at the signage and formed the opinion that the Claimant has a case to win?!

Have you emailed the SAR as I said to do first?  Now, this afternoon? Or have you already got a SAR and know what their evidence photos look like?


"I am running out of time to file my WS for this claim now I am unsure what else to include after being told it’s not going to be good enough."

Who said? Forget the bad legal advice.

What's your deadline?

Latest good example WS was yesterday by @aphex007

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79265411/#Comment_79265411

Easy to copy and adapt.  Goodness me, this is a claim from UKPC and NO-ONE here would offer to settle because we know what their signs are like!

Cp100

I asked for their pictures and evidence here is some of them. They are all from the same car park. Various times from 11am to 8.20pm.

on the phone yesterday the guy from dcb said I had 7 days to settle and in the email today the other guy is saying by end of today.
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