DCBL county court

Saskiascarlettxx

Hi, I need some advice, in 2019 I was working for a company based in a big office block, everyone who worked there that drove used to park in the car park next door ran by Exell parking, a manager used to come round from my work and collect £5 from us all for the month, I did this for a year, but I have no receipt of this, it was cash.

 I never had problems, never tickets, then all of a sudden I had 7 random parking charges come through, all dates different not one after the other, saying I owed them £60 on each, but I then found out others in the building received these aswell, was told to ignore them, and that my employer would sort it out.

I then went on maternity leave and got all the threatening letters, every week a new debt collecting company, my appeal after 11.5 months was declined,  and now I have been taken to the county court for £1.5K 

I wrote my own defence explaining the situation and how this was a genuine misunderstanding and not my fault, but my employers, and they have continued to peruse the claim. 

My old employer are denying all knowledge, they want nothing to do with it, the staff have all changed since I was there, that’s the operations, HR, the lot, so of course they don’t know me on a personal or business level and couldn’t care less. 

What chance do I stand in court? I paid my employer for the parking, have no receipt, and my old employer won’t help me, I can’t pay £1.5k, I’ve just had a baby. 

Trainerman

Well as a start point, and as a point of logic, if you worked there for over a year, and you 'only' have seven random tickets that would show/prove that there had to be a system in place, otherwise you would have over 300 PCNs. That backs your arguement.

Also, are you in touch with any ex colleagues who can verify this defence point?

Coupon-mad

When's your hearing?

Hope you said NO to Mediation?  Do not settle.

Can your ex-colleagues (who will also be sued) all provide signed and dated under a statement of truth) Witness Statements (WS) for use in each other's hearing bundles?

You should make a real effort to gather evidence. 

Have you now read the NEWBIES thread to realise what stage you are at?

WS and evidence stage is key, don't miss your deadline that's likely buried on page 2 of the court 'notice of allocation'.  

You realise you are a witness and need to do a WS?

Have you had their bundle?

An example of what a full WS and evidence bundle looks like is in last year's thread by @jrhys

Saskiascarlettxx

Coupon-mad said:

When's your hearing?

Hope you said NO to Mediation?  Do not settle.

Can your ex-colleagues (who will also be sued) all provide signed and dated under a statement of truth) Witness Statements (WS) for use in each other's hearing bundles?

You should make a real effort to gather evidence. 

Have you now read the NEWBIES thread to realise what stage you are at?

WS and evidence stage is key, don't miss your deadline that's likely buried on page 2 of the court 'notice if allocation'.  

You realise you are a witness and need to do a WS?

Have you had their bundle?

An example of what a full WS and evidence bundle looks like is in last year's thread by @jrhys

Thanks for your reply, I’m 21 and very clueless and don’t really have anyone to guide me on this, what would you recommend I do next? I haven’t agreed to mediation, I could try and contact some ex employees? 

Trainerman

Saskiaearnshaw said:

Coupon-mad said:

When's your hearing?

Hope you said NO to Mediation?  Do not settle.

Can your ex-colleagues (who will also be sued) all provide signed and dated under a statement of truth) Witness Statements (WS) for use in each other's hearing bundles?

You should make a real effort to gather evidence. 

Have you now read the NEWBIES thread to realise what stage you are at?

WS and evidence stage is key, don't miss your deadline that's likely buried on page 2 of the court 'notice if allocation'.  

You realise you are a witness and need to do a WS?

Have you had their bundle?

An example of what a full WS and evidence bundle looks like is in last year's thread by @jrhys

Thanks for your reply, I’m 21 and very clueless and don’t really have anyone to guide me on this, what would you recommend I do next? I haven’t agreed to mediation, I could try and contact some ex employees? 

That was the point from @Coupon-mad and myself. If you make contact with others in the same position, you can each write statements that support each other. These would go a long way to proving the point that there was a system, run by your employers to which you all adhered. This would be a very important part of defending against this scam

That is precisely what this is. Do you want to be scammed out of your money ?

Coupon-mad

Can you answer my questions please?  We'll help.

Saskiascarlettxx

Coupon-mad said:

Can you answer my questions please?  We'll help.

Okay so I haven’t received my questionnaire yet, so haven’t been given the choice of mediation, I have a copy of there’s and they obviously want mediation. 

All the other peoples were dropped and I’m not in contact anymore so can’t do WS. 

I haven’t had a bundle yet. 

All I have had is a letter saying they want to still proceed with the claim.

Coupon-mad

Ok good.  Early stage then, albeit it is a shame you wrote your own defence before coming here because we cover it all and provide a template defence.  You can't change it.  But you can improve on it at WS stage.

Read the NEWBIES thread second post and especially the stuff under the RED HEADING about knowing what happens next.

Please show us (verbatim) every word you put in the defence box, minus any identifying data like your name, address or car reg.

Saskiascarlettxx

Coupon-mad said:

Ok good.  Early stage then, albeit it is a shame you wrote your own defence before coming here because we cover it all and provide a template defence.  You can't change it.  But you can improve on it at WS stage.

Read the NEWBIES thread second post and especially the stuff under the RED HEADING about knowing what happens next.

Please show us (verbatim) every word you put in the defence box, minus any identifying data like your name, address or car reg.

Honestly it’s awful, I panicked and had verbal diarrhoea and have never even looked at a defence before, I had been away and didn’t see the letter until the day before I had to write a defence. Here it is. 

My Employment with Sitel UK LTD started in March 2018. I worked at Earlsdon Park, Coventry and after passing my driving test in April 2018 I was added to a waiting list for a car parking space in Earlsdon Park Mscp, where I received the parking charges from. I was told that Sitel UK LTD have a limited number of spaces in the car park and when someone leaves, a new person can begin parking in the vacant space. In May 2018 I gave my registration plate details to my manager and I was given a space in the car park by Sitel UK LTD for £5 a month and it was collected from me every month by a senior operations manager. 

I worked Monday to Friday every week, 0900 - 1700. I had no issues parking there from May 2018 until July 2019. In July 2019 me and other members of the building received parking charges in the post. I made Sitel aware of this and I was told it would be dealt with. I appealed the charges like I was told by Sitel. I was then signed off work with Perinatal depression for some time and when I returned to work nothing else was said so I assumed the issue was dealt with. I moved house in August 2019 and just before the arrival of my baby I started receiving threatening letters from the company that has me writing this today, demanding payment for multiple unpaid parking charges. 7 letters would come through my door every month. I was receiving emails about my appeal saying they had not yet made a decision as to whether they were going ahead with the charges or not. 

Every month they would email me claiming that they are “still continuing to evaluate your correspondence”. This continued for a year. I honestly didn’t think they would ever give me an answer, a year is a long time to wait for a response in regards to what is now over £1500 worth of apparent debt.

On the 29th of January 2022, I received a Claim form stating that I owe £1530. It turns out they had given me an answer after all that waiting and they chose to reject my appeal, despite me making them aware of the situation with Sitel. I would like to know if anyone actually looked into this or if they just opened my response after a year, rejected my claim of innocence so they could threaten me with going to court in the hopes I would pay what they claim I owe.

I don’t understand why the charges are all dated randomly. I was working 5 days a week, but these charges aren’t 5 consecutive days, they are spread over 2 months. I was parking everyday, and paying monthly. Surely if I had missed a months payment, I’d have been charged for the whole month? The fact multiple people paying the same way as me also got charges concerns me too, could this have been a system issue? Other people who were given charges haven’t heard anything since, and have not been taken to court like me. Why are they claiming over £1500 from me but not the other people who were in my exact position?

Surely if my appeal to the parking charges was actually read and acknowledged, someone would have contacted the management of Earlsdon Park Mscp and they would have explained the agreement they have with Sitel UK Ltd? Staff from Sitel UK LTD would not be parking in Earlsdon Park Mscp if they had not been allocated a space and paid £5 to their Operations managers. Otherwise, they would have received parking charges every day they worked. So this leads me again to believe that my appeal was rejected at the aim of getting money out of me unfairly.

In summary, I deny all allegations brought against me by Vehicle Control Services Limited.

Coupon-mad

That's MUCH better than I was fearing!  You can do this.  I'm a mum of four and my youngest is 21 like you - and I know it's daunting, but you can do this.

And if you still have these emails:

I was receiving emails about my appeal saying they had not yet made a decision as to whether they were going ahead with the charges or not. 

Every month they would email me claiming that they are “still continuing to evaluate your correspondence”.

 

...then you do have evidence that you told them you were authorised, so the email trail can be used as an Exhibit at WS stage.

First comes the DQ N180 where you get to choose your local court and exclude holiday or other important 'busy' dates. Refuse Mediation.  You owe nothing.  

How to fill in the DQ is in the NEWBIES thread under the IMPORTANT red heading.

However, first, I suggest you contact the Forum Team to urgently change your username if that's your real name?! 

Get it changed if that's your name!  PPCs read this forum as we are so damn good at what we do.

patient_dream

Saskiaearnshaw said:

Coupon-mad said:

Can you answer my questions please?  We'll help.

Okay so I haven’t received my questionnaire yet, so haven’t been given the choice of mediation, I have a copy of there’s and they obviously want mediation. 

They want mediation on such a large amount ?  
DCBL know they are scamming you and that a judge will spank them.  They know that mediation will involve someone who does not have a clue about the great parking scam .... and that's why you do not agree to mediation. Might as well be talking to ET

Tell us more about the manager who collected the £5 each month. 
was he actually part of the firm or was he a warden for Excel.

Either way, what happened to the money we wonder. Can you remember his name ?

You say the tickets were £60 .... was that the ticket price or a discounted price if paid within 7 days 

YOU DO NOT OWE ... £1.5k ..DCBL ARE SCAMMING YOU
So we have a clear picture, kindly show us the breakdown of their claim.