DCBL "Unpaid parking charge" letter for a vehicle I've never owned?

Coupon-mad

chewlace said:

Umkomaas said:

Have you read this thread before you pay them?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Because you'll definitely be kicking yourself if you read it after you pay them!

This makes for interesting reading. If I understand correctly, this is the pattern that UKPC / DCB Legal are almost always following (by default) before then dropping the case anyway?

I suppose I just have to weigh up whether or not I want this hassle.

Please weigh it up carefully - AND THEN NO PAYING!

You can be sure in the knowledge that if you use our Template Defence (when you get a claim) and follow our advice for WS and evidence stage you are almost certain to see the claim discontinued - and it will feel great!  If there's a hearing it would likely be by phone or video (remote hearing, about an hour) and you'd win.

Bottom line: it will cost you nothing.

Think of county court as the ultimate fair appeal/dispute resolution.  No risk, no CCJ even if the odd person here loses.

Read this please (the wider picture of what we do in our our own time).  Please: no folding and funding the scam:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79424917#Comment_79424917

Then reply to the UKPC email and tell them you look forward to receiving the SAR reply shortly and won't be paying because you were neither driver nor keeper, just a hapless victim resident at the time who was trying to do the right thing with various unfair PCNs concocted by UKPC.

Grizebeck

Coupon-mad said:

chewlace said:

Umkomaas said:

Have you read this thread before you pay them?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Because you'll definitely be kicking yourself if you read it after you pay them!

This makes for interesting reading. If I understand correctly, this is the pattern that UKPC / DCB Legal are almost always following (by default) before then dropping the case anyway?

I suppose I just have to weigh up whether or not I want this hassle.

Please weigh it up carefully - AND THEN NO PAYING!

You can be sure in the knowledge that if you use our Template Defence (when you get a claim) and follow our advice for WS and evidence stage you are almost certain to see the claim discontinued - and it will feel great!  If there's a hearing it would likely be by phone or video (remote hearing, about an hour) and you'd win.

Bottom line: it will cost you nothing.

Think of county court as the ultimate fair appeal/dispute resolution.  No risk, no CCJ even if the odd person here loses.

Read this please (the wider picture of what we do in our our own time).  Please: no folding and funding the scam:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79424917#Comment_79424917

Then reply to the UKPC email and tell them you look forward to receiving the SAR reply shortly and won't be paying because you were neither driver nor keeper, just a hapless victim resident at the time who was trying to do the right thing with various unfair PCNs concocted by UKPC.

They seem to have admitted they were the driver so i cant see that washing now and i dont see it impressing a court if its included in a defence.

chewlace

So I've been digging back through old emails as far as I can (as this was a LONG time ago), and I can now recall fully what happened...

• In September 2017, I parked my partner's car in MY parking space, displaying my permit
• The permit blew off her dashboard when I shut the door, and it landed in the footwell
• UKPC issued the PCN on the basis that a car was parked in the space, without a valid permit shown

In order to save my partner the hassle of the PCN, I proactively submitted an appeal. I was completely honest in the appeal; I explained what had happened, included pictures of my permit in the footwell (dated / timestamped) and provided evidence that the parking space belongs to me. I submitted this appeal via UKPC's online form, and received their automatic acknowledgement email shortly afterwards.

Several months passed, during which time I heard no response from UKPC. I assumed they'd honoured my appeal and cancelled the PCN.

In November 2017 I received a debt recovery letter from DRP (Debt Recovery Plus), saying that they'd be chasing me for the outstanding amount owed in relation to the PCN. I proceed to contact the estate management company responsible for the contract with UKPC at the time, in order to get the situation resolved. Again, I explained what had happened, included pictures of my permit in the footwell (dated / timestamped) and provided evidence that the parking space belongs to me. They responded assuring me that they would look into the situation and get back to me.

I received no further letters from DRP (Debt Recovery Plus), and continued to occasionally chase the estate management company via email for an update. I wasn't willing to believe that the PCN had been properly cancelled until I had it in writing.

Eventually in late January 2018, the estate management company came back to me with the following...

"Please accept our apologies for the delay in resolving your Penalty Charge Notice situation. Both Martin and Ceri have been diligently looking into the matter.
As a gesture of good will, due to the delay in updating you, we have come to an agreement with UKPC to have your penalty charge cancelled in its entirety."

I thanked them for their help and then left the situation alone, confident that the PCN had been cancelled.

In early February 2018, I then received another letter from DRP (Debt Recovery Plus). I contacted the estate management company again on the back of their confirmation that the PCN had been cancelled. They responded immediately with the following...

"I am really sorry to hear this. The parking charge has been cancelled so you should not be receiving these letters. I will speak with UKPC today."

Shortly after this, they responded to me again confirming the following...

"I have contacted UKPC in regards to this. I can confirm that the charge has been cancelled and they will be making contact with the Debt Recovery company to stop contacting you."

I heard nothing further about the matter from here forward: nothing from UKPC, nothing from DRP (Debt Recovery Plus). It's only in the last month that I've now started receiving letters from DCBL.

Coupon-mad

Bingo!  Perfect.

To think you nearly gave in and paid!

Now send that email trail to UKPC and tell them to stop trying to fob you off to a DRA who should not even have been passed your data at all.  Tell them to apologise and take the data back from the DCB aggressive gits and confirm they have finally updated the case as closed (except you still want the SAR reply, for completeness for your file).  THEN they must immediately erase your data.

Any refusal to do any of the above will result in a complaint to the ICO without further notice and they must log this as a formal 'data handling complaint'.

EDIT:
And - as per below advice from @Fruitcake - add that a formal complaint will also be sent to the BPA and your MP.

Fruitcake

That's (nearly) all good news. It appears that you did appeal as driver (even if it was not true, which would have been really a silly thing to do), but you have an email trail with confirmation from the landowner's agent that the PCN was cancelled.

DCB Ltd have simply taken over from where DRP left off, but you already know what to do with their bog-paper. (Don't try flushing it though lest you cause a blockage).

Send the email from the MA to UKPC, your MP, and the BPA, complaining that you are receiving debt threats despite the issue having previously been resolved.

chewlace

And within minutes of me emailing UKPC with copies of the respective email threads, they've responded saying that they've "cancelled the PCN". Hallelujah!

Thank you to you all for your help!

Coupon-mad

Wonderful!

Tell them you await the SAR anyway because you want no more nasty surprises and you want their DPO to confirm that they have erased your old address from all databases and will now erase ALL your data once all files are closed - but only after responding to the SAR, which is mandatory to provide first, and will be acceptable by email.

Coupon-mad

But...don't leave us yet!  Stick around.

We need you - as a genuine PPC victim of aggression, sharp practice and an 'extortion' attempt to add £70 - to respond robustly to the Public Consultation on the level of parking charges and banning of the false added DRA 'fee' that too many honest motorists currently fall victim to.

I may have already banged on about this in your thread but change is afoot. It's taken about 5 years to get to this stage:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6333036/breaking-news-government-has-announced-the-statutory-code-of-practice-and-enforcement-framework/p1

And then the industry threw victims' money at it and blocked and delayed it - explained here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79310609/#Comment_79310609

Please now Bookmark BOTH threads and set up email alerts on your posting profile, so that you get an email alert when we post there, as we will, once the Public Consultation opens later this year.

We need people like you and your driving family & friends to respond in high numbers! You have a personal story to tell about the culture of getting a DRA to intimidate people (and ultimately, rush to court regardless of facts) and the inflated amount, and what the likes of UKPC and UKCPM do to people for parking at their own homes.

Umkomaas

Super news. Victory snatched from the jaws of an expensive defeat. Great stuff. 

Grizebeck

chewlace said:

And within minutes of me emailing UKPC with copies of the respective email threads, they've responded saying that they've "cancelled the PCN". Hallelujah!

Thank you to you all for your help!

Thats great news