County Court Claim Form received (UKPC / DCB Legal)

Umkomaas

Gettingrippedoff said:

Just had an email from DCB Legal saying their client has instructed them to discontinue Court proceedings and close the file. They have also sent an attachment of Claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

Thanks to all of you who have assisted me along the way. Seriously could not have done it without you.

Keep up the great work.

Another one bites the dust!

Well done. God, this is happening with such regularity, such a try-on. But there must be so many scared sh*tless that they're going to be 'dragged' to court, and pay up to avoid.

Utterly scandalous!

Le_Kirk

Gettingrippedoff said:

Just had an email from DCB Legal saying their client has instructed them to discontinue Court proceedings and close the file. They have also sent an attachment of Claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

Thanks to all of you who have assisted me along the way. Seriously could not have done it without you.

Keep up the great work.

Another one bites the dust!

Excellent that is good news to cheer us all and make it worthwhile keeping on keeping on!

Lread1

Hello, I am have tried to read and understand the newbies post etc but to be honest, I am so overwhelmed at the minute with it all, I would like to explain my situation and really appreciate some urgent help.

I have today 11/11/22 received a claim letter.
claimant: UK parking control 
address for documents and payments is: DCB Legal.

This claim relates to 2 parking charges, in November 2019 in my previous address.

Where I lived was a block of flats on a private road,we are allocated 1 parking space per flat. 

On these 2 occasions I got a ticket for parking on the verge on the road (May I add it didn’t cause any issues for drivers in the location I was parked and other cars  were parked there too, who did not get a ticket) Reason for me being parked on the verge were,1st time: someone was in my space and the visitors spaces were full and the next place to park is a 2/3 minute drive from my flat and then a 5 minute walk or so back. I also at this time had a 9 month old baby so it was far for me to go. So I parked on the verge, until my partner was back so I could move the car. In 20 mins of being there I got a ticket. 2nd time: my partner was in the space because as mention if there is no visitor spaces left then the only other option is to go to a few streets back of the road in which my partner van got broken into twice and all his tools for work were stolen. So a loss of thousands for us, so we agreed that he parked in the space. To also add to this, this street where it is the only option left to park, I had the window of my car smashed in and another time a firework was put out on my car. So you can understand why we would not park there. So without any other choice, I parked on the verge and got another ticket.

so all the standard practice from these parking companies, I’ve had endless threading letters, from about 8 or more different companies. I have at least 25 letters, they found me at my new place and now we have a claim form.

To also add, someone we knew who lived in the same street but different flat, got taken to court  and she won her case. However, she was parked outside a bay, where mine was on a verge next to the sign (stupid I know but I had no other choices)
I have tried to understand her thread too and believe something in our rental contracts about no mention of where we can and can’t park.
uK PCN ( think that’s what they were previously called) were voted out by the residents back in 2015-16, but then UK parking control limited came in a couple of years later. 

We as residents didn’t authorise this and I know my landlord wouldn’t either. So how does this stand when we technically are the residents on that land in question that they are patrolling? 

The original charge was £60, it’s now £504.92, which is £404.92 claim, £50 court fee and £50  legal fee.

They have photos of my car on the verge next to the sign. That’s clear but based on my points above, do I have any case to fight this or not? 
can anyone advise what I should do now please?

I am nervous about the whole situation, none of it is a fair case and I just have no idea what to do next.

thank you 

Coupon-mad

Welcome!

Please copy all that into a new Discussion and we'll help. If you don't know how, hit the FORUM HELP tab at the top of the forum.

KeithP

Lread1 said:

I have today 11/11/22 received a claim letter.

Hello and welcome.

It would be best if you were to start a new thread. All the information currently in this thread is about a different parking event and it will only lead to confusion when the circumstances are different.

Suggest you start a new thread and copy your above post into it.
When you do that, please tell us the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form.


Edited to add...
Ah... I now see you have started a new thread. Please ignore my above waffle.

Lread1

KeithP said:

Lread1 said:

I have today 11/11/22 received a claim letter.

Hello and welcome.

It would be best if you were to start a new thread. All the information currently in this thread is about a different parking event and it will only lead to confusion when the circumstances are different.

Suggest you start a new thread and copy your above post into it.
When you do that, please tell us the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form.

Created a new one named : Claim form received for UK PCL parking fine. What do I do please?

hopefully I did it right. Thanks 

Gettingrippedoff

Gettingrippedoff said:

Just had an email from DCB Legal saying their client has instructed them to discontinue Court proceedings and close the file. They have also sent an attachment of Claimant’s N279 Notice of Discontinuance.

Thanks to all of you who have assisted me along the way. Seriously could not have done it without you.

Keep up the great work.

Another one bites the dust!

Hello,

Following on from this Notice of discontinuance which I received on 29th July 2022 from DCB Legal, I did nothing further as I thought the matter was closed (Was there anything else I needed to do?)

Today I have received a letter from from the Courts titled "General Form of Judgement or Order"

It has the same claim number, defendant , claimant details.

This is what it says on the letter;

BEFORE Deputy District Judge xxxxxxx sitting at xxxx County Court on 23 February 2023
UPON hearing Solicitor Agent for the Claimant and reading a letter from the Defendant
IT IS ORDERED that
1. Judgement for the Claimant in the sum of £100.00.
2. Defendant do pay the Claimant's costs of £112.00.
3. Leave to appeal against the finding that Claimant can recover an additional £60 if recovery agents are instructed is refused.

The letter then shows Address for payment (Which is DCB Legal Ltd) and how to pay details.

I am in utter disbelief as I thought this matter was closed? Is this even legal, sending a letter of discontinuance via email to me and then attending courts themselves, Did they even send the Discontinuance to the courts.

Does this mean I now have a CCJ and if not paid will affect my credit rating?

Please can someone urgently assist me this, i'm due to go away for 6 weeks in about 3 weeks time and this is the last thing needs.

Coupon-mad

What 'letter' from the Defendant do you think the Judge means?

Did you get a notice of this hearing and replied or sent the Court any 'letter' since July?

You didn't have to do anything BTW.  A discontinuance is final and Part 38 says:

Discontinuance and subsequent proceedings
38.7 A claimant who discontinues a claim needs the permission of the court to make another claim against the same defendant if –
(a) he discontinued the claim after the defendant filed a defence; and
(b) the other claim arises out of facts which are the same or substantially the same as those relating to the discontinued claim.

Was the Discontinuance email DEFINITELY headed with the exact same claim number as this Judgment?

This is appalling but you must take steps to reverse this within days (before you go away).

Might be worth sending DCBLegal their own discontinuance email back at them and asking how their supervising solicitor will unpick this mess at no cost to you.

But I'm not legally trained and I've never seen this before, so before doing anything, see what @Johnersh or @bargepole suggest you send and to whom.

Gettingrippedoff

@Coupon-mad Please see below.

What 'letter' from the Defendant do you think the Judge means?
I have no idea what letter they are referring to. The only thing I have sent to DCB Legal is my (Defendant) Witness statement.

Did you get a notice of this hearing and replied or sent the Court any 'letter' since July?
The only notice of this hearing I received was from 30th June (Notice of Allocation to the small claims track (Hearing)). I have not sent the court anything since I sent them the Witness statement on the 27th July.

Was the Discontinuance email DEFINITELY headed with the exact same claim number as this Judgment?
Yes Claim number is exactly the same. Discontinuance also contained the same DC Legal reference as previous comms they had sent.

This is appalling but you must take steps to reverse this within days (before you go away).
Might be worth sending DCBLegal their own discontinuance email back at them and asking what they are playing at and how their supervising solicitor will unpick this mess at no cost to you because you are about to report them to the SRA.
This is something I will do shortly so they can see it for Monday, Thankfully I still have 3 weeks before I go away, so hopefully this mess is sorted before then.

Might be worth sending DCBLegal their own discontinuance email back at them and asking what they are playing at and how their supervising solicitor will unpick this mess at no cost to you because you are about to report them to the SRA.
What/Who is the SRA?

KeithP

SRA = Solicitors Regulation Authority