DCB legal - Letter of claim

helpadviseneeded

Morning all, 

 Coupon-mad said:

Don't forget that a 30 minute Dispute Resolution Hearing is discussed on other threads and you will learn this IS NOT likely to be your final hearing. It is glorified Mediation = pressure on you to settle.

No more and no less, and likely a rookie Judge whose job us to reduce actual hearings.

Beware.  Read other threads by searching!

I have not received anything further so does this mean that the March 2023 date on the letter is the 30 minute dispute hearing and I will receive a date for the actual final hearing in due course?

Am I correct in believing that my WS is to be sent14 days  prior to the dispute hearing (Point 6 on letter)

Thanks 

Umkomaas

helpadviseneeded said:

Morning all, 

 Coupon-mad said:

Don't forget that a 30 minute Dispute Resolution Hearing is discussed on other threads and you will learn this IS NOT likely to be your final hearing. It is glorified Mediation = pressure on you to settle.

No more and no less, and likely a rookie Judge whose job us to reduce actual hearings.

Beware.  Read other threads by searching!

I have not received anything further so does this mean that the March 2023 date on the letter is the 30 minute dispute hearing and I will receive a date for the actual final hearing in due course?

Am I correct in believing that my WS is to be sent14 days  prior to the dispute hearing (Point 6 on letter)

Thanks 

The copy of the letter you have posted (I presume it is one, not two letters) has two separate court sessions shown - a Dispute Resolution hearing (30 minutes) and a full court hearing (2 hours), so it looks a bit confusing. In order to be clear on this you'll need to phone the court your case is allocated to and ask them for clarification. Your WS should be submitted at least 14 days prior, and I'd work on the basis of having it submitted in readiness for the earlier Dispute Resolution hearing rather than any later hearing. 

..... but, there again, DCB Legal might just discontinue!

helpadviseneeded

Thanks @Umkomaas for your prompt response. 
Yes it was one letter - point 2 states that the claim will be heard at on date /time which is set out on a notice attached to this Order, or which will be sent to you later

There is only date mentioned after point 14 and that is under the section:

Dispute Resolution Hearing 

Point 14 states: Because this order has been made without a hearing, the parties have the right to apply to have the order set aside, varied or stayed.

I was confused incase I had inadvertently selected the wrong box in previous correspondence 

There is an email for the local court so I will contact them for clarity.

helpadviseneeded

Hi all 

I contacted the court and have had no response.

In the meantime I am working on the Witness Statement and will have this ready ASAP in readiness for the dispute resolution which is in March 2023.

Can anyone please kind clarify the following:

-Is the court hearing usually after the Dispute Resolution hearing (30 minutes)?

- Does the date for the full court hearing (2 hours) usually arrive on a separate letter?

 I will ask my husband to call the court (he emailed previously) as they will likely need to speak to him. He works extremely long and unsocial hours so this is why he hasn't managed to phone them yet and I was hoping the letter would arrive and suspected the Royal Mail delays may have delayed it coming out. 

- I am getting the WS ready, can i post it on here and remove all the personal details relating to this matter for it to be reviewed please.

- How do I add photos? Do i just copy and paste them onto a word document or is there another way to do this? 

- Should I include wage slips to prove that he worked for the company at the time of the incident.

- I intend to include all emails that were exchanged with the management centre to corroborate that he had a valid permit and was allowed to be parked there.


Also an email arrived in November 2022 as follows:

Re: Our Client: Uk Parking Control Limited

Claim Number: 

　

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS

 

We write to you in relation to the above matter.

 

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 £210.00 in full and final settlement of this Claim. The current outstanding balance is £352.76.

　　　

Should you be agreeable to this offer, please confirm the same within 7 days. Payment can be made via our website www.dcblegal.co.uk, by calling our office on 0203 434 0424 or via bank transfer:　

　　 DCB Legal Ltd Client Account　　 Sort Code: 20-24-09　　Account no: 60964441　　　　　When making payment please ensure you include the following reference number, ..... to enable us to allocate it to the correct case.　　　Upon receipt of the settlement sum of £210.00 we will update the Court that the matter has been settled. If you are not agreeable, we will continue to follow the Court process as normal.　

Kind Regards,  

 Collections Associate  

DCB Legal Ltd  

Many thanks to all that have responded for their invaluable support and advise at a time where we have enough to worry and contend with. 

helpadviseneeded

Am i on the right track with my WS?

Should i be mentioning and including all the correspondence I have received / exchanged in regards to this matter?

Index

 

Content	Page number
Witness Statement
XX-01 Wage slip December 2017
XX-02 Wage slip January 2018
I need to add to this yet!

IN THE COUNTY COURT

 

Claim Number: ***

 

Between

UK Parking Control Limited

(Claimant) 

 

and

 

****                   

 (Defendant)

_________________

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDENT FOR HEARING ON xx/xx/xx 

 

1.     I am ****   of ****     and I am the defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2.     In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to references and pages where appropriate. My defence is repeated, and I will say as follows. 

Sequence of events and signage

3. At the time of the alleged contravention I was employed as a ****   at ***.

4. As a senior and experienced manager I worked at various stores dependent on business needs. On the day of the alleged contravention I was working in the **** store. Whilst employed at …. I drove into work. The shopping centre had allocated parking for staff members and I had a valid permit. The wardens in this area would have recognised my car as it is not a very large car park and I parked in the same place every time I was working.

5. The signage in the car park clearly states ‘Permit Parking Only’ (Exhibit ? / Page - Photos of Signage July 2014) As previously confirmed, I was a staff member with a valid permit at the time of the PCN. I was adhering to their guidelines and was entitled to leave my vehicle parked there whilst I was working at the centre.

6. The date of the PCN is December 2016. In early 2017 the signage in the car park changed as the shopping centre terminated their contract with UKPC. I have used google maps to show how the signage changed from July 2014 – April 2017. (Exhibit ? / Page - Photos of Signage April 2017)

7.The management company terminated their contract with UKPC as they were issuing parking charge notices repeatedly despite employees having valid permits. It was causing numerous issues for the shopping centres employees and the site management. Confirmation of this termination is provided as Exhibit ? where there is an email exchange between Eddisons Commercial Management Office and the shopping centre dated 16 May 2017. This was forwarded to me in response to my request to have the fine cancelled.

It is confirmed, I quote: ‘we terminated our contract with UKPC earlier this year for this reason, people who had permits were getting tickets and they would not allow us to cancel them.’

8. I have repeatedly confirmed that I was in possession of a valid staff permit, thereby was entitled to park my vehicle in a car park which was allocated for staff members. A copy of the permit was attached in all appeals and correspondence that I repeatedly exchanged with the claimant in order to resolve this matter and substantiate that I was rightly parked. During the appeals process, I reiterated that I displayed this permit every time I parked my vehicle in The **** Shopping Centre Car Park, and I had never experienced any issues until that particular day. This evidence was wholly disregarded.

9. Regarding the permit wording, it clearly states ‘Staff Parking Permit’ in large green print at the top left hand side. The UKPC logo is printed at the top of the right hand side. The site name, my car registration number and the permit number are noted on the permit also. (Exhibit ? / Page ? - Copy of Staff Parking Permit – I no longer work for this company. As I am no longer an employee and entitled to park in the staff car park, the original permit was returned to the management office when I left the company)

10. Regarding the size and quality of the permit, it is evident it resembles a parking ticket in size and is made from flimsy paper. To eliminate any uncertainty, I would like to highlight that in my written defence, I used both the wording 'ticket' and 'permit.' This was because I referred to the 'fluttering ticket’ scenario. This occurs when the driver is absent from the location at the time of the issuing of the ticket. They return to find that an event has occurred whereby the permit / ticket due to a factor out of their control has moved out of its original place.

11. It is indisputable that the permit looks tatty around the edges and has not been able to withstand general every day wear and tear. This is testament to how poor-quality the permit was. As confirmed in my defence the flimsiness of this permit indeed played its part in the events that led to me being issued a parking charge notice that day. (Exhibit ? / Page ? Copy of the Parking Charge Notice – I have retained the original) The PCN requests a payment of £100. This would be reduced if paid within 14 days from receiving the notice.

12. It is important to note that the standard of the permit is within the Claimants control as it is them that provide these permits to the shopping centre and its employees. Had the permit been larger or made from a stronger material rather than flimsy paper, this claim could have been avoided. It is averred that this Claimant wilfully failed to address this issue. Arguably, if they did insist on producing permits from flimsy paper, they could have addressed this issue by adding sticky backing. This would allow it to be fixed in place and there would have been no reason for me to remove it once secured as I parked there five days a week. The fact that it was so small and not secured to the window or dashboard made it more likely to get lost or move from its intended location. Several similar court cases have been previously dismissed on the basis that it is deemed by the judge to be the responsibility of the parking company to provide sticky backed tickets (e.g. C8GF30W7 Link Parking v Mr H. 14/11/2016 Port Talbot)

13.  Furthermore, if you note the date of this parking notice charge it was 24th December 2016. It is evident that the Claimant profits from drivers' misfortune caused by their own permits' inability to withstand British winter weather. Please refer to the Beaufort wind force scale table which confirms the weather conditions on the day of the contravention. (Exhibit ? / Page? Copy of the Beaufort wind force scale table) As you can see the mean wind on 24th December 2016 was 14 mph.

https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/beaufort-wind-scale

https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/gb/stourbridge/EGBB/date/2016-12-24

Moreover, 14 mph is classed as a moderate breeze and consequently:

raises dust and lose paper; small branches moved. Small waves, fairly frequent white horses (white-crested waves at sea.)

Any breeze between 8-12 mph causes flags to wave, whereas a breeze at 13-18 mph would result in paper and leaves being scattered. The breeze on that day may have attributed to the permit fluttering from its intended location. (Exhibit ? / Page ? Wind Force Scale Table)

 

14. On 2nd January 2017 an appeal was sent to UKPC with a copy of the valid permit. A response was received as 'Thank you. Your charge is currently on hold and us under appeal investigation, should you have additional information, please send it to our postal address.' A copy is included as Exhibit ? /Page ? - UKPC appeals confirmation of receipt.

16. Given that I heard nothing further I believed that the matter was resolved as I had provided confirmation of the valid permit and asked that they contact the shopping centre management who would confirm that I was a store manager there.

17.  On the ?/?/2017, the claimant issued a debt recovery letter from DRP Limited.

I have gotten this far and would appreciate if someone can please clarify if this is correct.

Thanks 

Coupon-mad

That's a good start to the WS. In your case you should attach proof of your appeal and UKPC's template refusals but not all the silly debt demands.

Here is what a full WS bundle looks like:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79760901/#Comment_79760901

You need to include Excel v Wilkinson (search the forum for that transcript link, then save it as a PDF and give it an Exhibit number) and copy the bottom half of her WS but removing paras 45,46 and 51 like I just advised her (please read the advice on her thread) because the fake added +£70 'admin fee' extortion is not yet banned.

Le_Kirk

Why have you left the word "DEFENCE" in the WS?

helpadviseneeded

Le_Kirk said:

Why have you left the word "DEFENCE" in the WS?

Clearly this is a first draft where I have started to copy and paste various bits and adding to it whenever I get a chance over a period of weeks & months 

So in answer to your response  - it was an oversight which I have now amended

IN THE COUNTY COURT

 

Claim Number: ***

 

Between

UK Parking Control Limited

(Claimant) 

 

and

 

****                   

 (Defendant)

_________________

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT FOR HEARING ON xx/xx/xx 

helpadviseneeded

I am just updating the forum should it help someone else in this situation. 
I have received a response from the court and they confirm the following:

Please note point 2 refers to a final hearing in this matter should one be required. 

The Dispute Resolution Hearing is a directions hearing when the District Judge will give directions as to how the matter will proceed. 

If you read your order fully you will see what may happen at the Dispute Resolution Hearing. It may be the matter is concluded then and no further hearing is required.

On the court letter at point 6 it states 'each party must deliver to the other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which that party intends to rely at the hearing no later than 14 days before the Dispute resolution hearing'

Is this just the WS or should there be anything else I should be sending also?

The date of this hearing is Wednesday 22nd March 2023, so do I send it as soon as I have it written up or shall I wait for the deadline? I recall someone pointing out to wait as long as possible but to have it ready as otherwise the other side have time to challenge it.

14 days prior takes me to Wednesday 9th March 2023? So the day before Tuesday 8th March by 4pm to be safe?

Thank you. 

Le_Kirk

Do not miss the deadline; you could leave it a bit longer to see if you receive the claimant's WS and be able to refute what they claim by adding to your WS but you are then in danger of playing WS tennis!  Since the court has also stated the matter could be concluded at the dispute resolution hearing I would make sure that the judge had everything to make them rule in my favour without it having to go to another waste of time hearing.