DCBLegal

FrequentOverstayer

Coupon-mad said:

I'd remove this entire wording to make a more concise point as to when you told DCBLegal your new address:

 "that I am seeking a SAR request alongside any signage following their Letter of Claim so that I could begin any defense should this be required and also made sure that I informed them that they are contacting my previous address and notified them"

...plus remove 13 and 14 as you don't need to explain (in your case) about when you changed your data with the DVLA.  The point is the Claimant had the right address and failed to erase the old one in 2021. Due to that data failure, the claim was improperly served.

I would add a quote from the applicable Code of Practice, where it says AOS members MUST check details before suing.  They are in breach of their code and all they had to do was look at your last correspondence which was an address rectification and SAR, so (by definition and by duty) it went to their Data Protection Officer!

I would make the part where you ask the court to order your £275 back, more robust and remind the court that it must be 'wholly unreasonable conduct' to ignore an address data rectification instruction they acknowledged in 2021 and to issue a roboclaim to the old address.

This conduct was not only in breach of the claimant's obligations under their Trade Body Code of Practice but DCBLegal themselves are in breach of the Solicitors Regulation Authority 'STaRs' (professional standards) and both stand in breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the data protection principles have been flagrantly breached).  This is an offence subject to a possible fine and the facts will be reported to the Information Commissioners Office as well as the SRA.

I will get on this right away and post another draft tomorrow. After reading your final point I know feel like I have a rock solid defence and should finally see the back of this 

Coupon-mad

You have a rock solid set aside reason. Attach your proof that you told the Claimant/DCBLegal in 2021 about your correct address.  That's vital as evidence for this stage.

That's different than a defence to the PCN, which comes afterwards as a separate hearing.  Here's an example of the two stages from a person who has had their CCJ set aside and is now moving forward with their defence to the original claim:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6321245/ccj-set-aside-win-now-onto-small-claims/p1

1505grandad

Check "Judgment"  -  at least one contains an erroneous middle "e" (if only for consistency)

Also check how the claimant's name is quoted on the claim form  -  I believe is not as stated in your submissions.

FrequentOverstayer

Hi Team,

Last Draft wrote up today, Thanks for all the help thus far

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

1.         I am xxx of xxxx, and I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based on my own knowledge.

2.         This is my supporting statement to my application dated xxx May 2022 requesting to:

 

a. Set aside the default judgment dated xxx May 2022 as it was not properly served at my current address.

b. Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

c. Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set-aside fee.

Default Judgment

3.         I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence.

4.         I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on xxx May 2022. I am aware that the Claimant is Highview Parking via DCB Legal Ltd and that the assumed claim is in respect of an unpaid Parking Charge Notice.

 

5.          The county court claim form was served to a previous address, and I thus was not aware of the Default Judgment until xxxx May 2022 following a notification on Credit Karma after a routine credit check

6.         The address on the claim is xxxxx (My Parents Address) I moved to a new address xxxx on 26th March 2021 in support of this please see my mortgage offer, council tax bill and utility bill (Annex A). I also attach a mail redirect / forwarding notification from Royal Mail as my parents also departed xxxx in xxxx September 2021, the forwarding notification expired on 29th March 2022 (Annex

 

7.         I notified DCB Legal Ltd that I am seeking a SAR request alongside any signage following their Letter of Claim so that I could begin any defense should this be required and also made sure that I informed them that they are contacting my previous address and notified them of my new address on the xxxx October 2021, they responded on xxx November 2021 with the SAR which highlighted my new address. (Annex C)

 

8.         I never had any notification or contact from Highview Parking or DCB Legal Ltd since the xxxx November 2021

9.       In addition to the above, it should be highlighted that the integrity and law-abiding intention of the Defendant should be taken into consideration on the basis that;

Sequence of Recent Events

10.       On xxxx May 2022 I checked my credit rating and found a CCJ dated xxxx May 2022 had been lodged onto my credit file.

11.       On xxx May 2022 I contacted the County Court Business Centre to obtain relevant information relating to this default judgment. I was informed by Kat, the Case ID relates to a parking charge in xxx on xxxx November 2019 by DCB Legal Ltd acting on behalf of Highview Parking against vehicle registration xxxxx

 

12.       On xxx May 2022 I tried to phone the Claimant, Highview Parking and DCB Legal Ltd, to advise I will be applying to ask the court to set aside this default judgment as they sent the notification of court proceedings to a previous address. I resorted to email instead (Annex D)

 

13.       On xxxx May 2022 I submitted my case to set-aside this judgment and fairly present my case.

14.       I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a County Court claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s correct contact details at the time of the claim.

 

15.       On that basis, I believe the Claimant has not adhered to CPR 6.9 (3) where they had failed to show due diligence in using an address that the Defendant no longer resides. The Claimant did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of my current residence despite having the correct address on file. This has led to the claim being incorrectly served to an old address and an irregular judgment.

 

16.       Under CPR 13.2 The court must set aside a judgment entered under part 12 if judgment was wrongly entered.  Given that CPR 6.9 (3) was not met, CPR 13.2 applies and the CCJ should be set aside.

 

17.       The Defendant was 'there to be found' and even provided the updated address following a SAR Request (Annex C), removing any need for an Experian trace or similar very inexpensive and immediate credit reference agency address check.

 

18.       The AOS code of practice states under 24.1c Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavors to ensure that the contact details for the person you are writing to are correct. This has been broken as they acknowledged my address change via the SAR request but still issued a robotic claim (Annex C)

 

19.       The Defendant has no details of this claim, therefore, if the Claimant believes there is a cause of action, then the correct procedure would be to file a claim afresh and to the right address, after furnishing the Defendant with the information required under the pre-action protocol for debt claims, issued this time to the correct address for service for this Defendant, which is the xxxxx

20.       According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

21.       Furthermore, Prime Minister May publicly pledged to investigate ‘abuse’ of the CCJ System and so called ‘Credit Clamping’ as reported in the Daily Mail article dated 12 September 2016.

 

22.       The Right Honourable Sir Oliver Heald on 23 December 2016 "announced a crackdown on unresolved debts which can damage people’s credit ratings without them knowing. The action comes after concerns were raised that companies were issuing claims to consumers using incorrect addresses." The Minister added "It cannot be right that people who are unaware of debts can see their lives and finances ruined by county court judgments. That in the digital age, we must ensure companies pursuing unpaid debts make every reasonable effort to contact individuals, rather than simply relying on a letter to an old address.” Furtherance to points raised in 1.3 above.

 

23.       In the alternative, CPR 13.3 applies and there are very good reasons to set aside this exaggerated claim, which includes a disproportionate and indeed, false 'debt recovery' sum.  In fact, no debt recovery occurred nor cost the Claimant any money whatsoever, in addition to £100 parking charge.  The Government has described the false fixed 'fee' of £70 as 'designed to extort money from motorists' in the new statutory Code of Practice this February and has banned it.  The Defendant has good prospects of defending a claim, if served with one, but has seen no evidence, basis nor particulars of claim and the Claimant should be required to file afresh, if they believe they have a cause of action. 

24.       Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I believe that the Default Judgment against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside and I ask the court to order the reimbursement of the fee of £275 from the Claimant as it is an abuse of process and unreasonable conduct for an AOS member to ignore an address data rectification instruction which they acknowledged in 2021 to then issue a robotic claim to an old address.

 

25.       May I remind the court that the above is breaching the Solicitors Regulation Authority and of course the Data Protection Act 2018. This is an offence subject to a possible fine and the facts should in any case be reported to the Information Commissioners Office as well as the SRA.

 

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Coupon-mad

Change:

My Parents Address

to

A previous family address

Le_Kirk

In your paragraph #6 you have a smiley face but that is as a result of using "B)" and hopefully won't show when you submit it to the court.  The way to prevent it being shown in the forum is to use B ) with a space in between as shown here

FrequentOverstayer

Sent and £275 paid, now the wait for hearing.
Is it worth start preparing for the original defence yet or to wait for the outcome?

Le_Kirk

Always worth having a defence "in your back pocket" if the judge asks what your prospects of successfully defending the underlying case are.

FrequentOverstayer

Case for my defence is that I was ill after a night job and fell asleep, woke up in a panic and exited just over the 3 hour threshold. 

I’ve contacted mcdonalds and have proof via bank line that I was a customer but McDonald’s would not remove the parking charge despite numerous emails to them and their head office. I literally never got a response 

I note that once Highview handed over to debt recovery, they added the debt recover charge on and I have all the letters that state different charges depending on the debt recovery agent that was contacting me. There was never a uniformed price. It kept changing which to my knowledge is common place in the industry 

what grounds do I have for defence on the above? 

Coupon-mad

A strong defence is always lack of prominent terms and signs - unlit signs in the dark, on arrival?

Can you get evidence pics in darkness, in readiness?

And other defence points might be 'no keeper liability' if Highview don't know from any early appeal who was driving.  Plus that the claim was exaggerated by the fake fee that never changed hands and that the Govt have now called 'extortion'.