DCB Legal CCJ - following 4 year old PCN

idfeast

Hi all,

 

I’ve recently received a county court claim form for a PCN received from New Generation Parking back in June 2018, more than 4 years ago. The legal representative chasing this claim is Yasmin Mia from DCB Legal. Her name seems to pop up a lot on these forums.

It is probable, that the PCN was given to me when one of my friends (who are residents in the building) have used their key fobs to grant me access to the car park and building. I have then proceeded to have a few too many beers, spent the night on their sofa and left my car overnight in a visitor spot without a visitor permit (I wasn’t aware I needed one).

 

Here are the details of the claim:

The reason the PCN was given initially was because: No Permit Displayed

The incident happened in a gated residential parking space where access is only available using a resident’s key fob or granted by the concierge at the gate. Victoria Wharf, Cardiff

The car was photographed at around 8pm at night and then again at 11am the next morning. These photos are still available on the New Generation Parking Management website. It is clear form the photos that the car was parked in a visitor parking spot as there is a big “V” painted on the ground.

A fine wasn’t left on the car in the morning and the first time I heard about the PCN was when my dad e-mailed me about a Final Reminder Parking Charge Notice - 7 weeks after the incident took place. Since I move around a lot, most of my mail is still being sent to my parent’s house where the car was also registered.

I haven’t got any pictures of the signage at the car park at the time, but after using Google Maps I can see that there was a small sign by the gate entrance. This is unreadable on Google Maps and I can’t take any additional photos myself as evidence, as the car parking management company for the site has since changed. It is also possible to see that there are signs posted around the car park itself, but again, these are unreadable from Google Maps.

The county court claim form arrived at some point last week, but I only opened and read it on Monday as I was away on holiday. The issue date on the form is the 9th August.

I haven’t responded to this form or any other correspondence at all yet, as I wasn’t sure if I had any type of credible defence. This also means I haven’t confirmed that I was the driver yet, despite being the registered keeper at the time.

I was nearly tempted to pay the fine last night, but the more I thought about it, the angrier it made me that they can charge such a ridiculous amount for such a minor mistake.

This is the breakdown of costs they have provided on the claim form:

1.      £160 being the total of the PCN(s) and damages

2.      Interest at a rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 from the date hereof at a daily rate of £0.02 until judgement or sooner payment.

3.      Costs and court fees

Amount Claimed £219.48

Court Fee £35

Legal representative’s costs £50

TOTAL AMOUNT: £304.48

 

What I would like to know is whether I have any credible defence in fighting this fine from the information provided above?

I’ve tried reading as much as I could through the forum, but I can’t quite find a case like mine yet and the best defence I can generate is that I either feign ignorance that it was me at all, or admit that it was me but that I was completely unaware of the need for a visitor permit and that the charges made against me are unduly excessive. 

Would any of these defences as part of points 2 and 3 of the defence template be enough to win?

 

Any advice/suggestions that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

Apologies for the long post.

Many thanks in advance

KeithP

idfeast said:

I’ve recently received a county court claim form...

The county court claim form arrived at some point last week, but I only opened and read it on Monday as I was away on holiday. The issue date on the form is the 9th August.

Hello and welcome.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th August, you have until Tuesday 30th August to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 12th September 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

patient_dream

1.      £160 being the total of the PCN(s) and damages

2.      Interest at a rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 from the date hereof at a daily rate of £0.02 until judgement or sooner payment.

DCBL ARE SCAMMING YOU ...... £60 DAMAGES ... WHAT DAMAGES

INTEREST @ 8% ?  in their dreams using a well outdated act 1984.   It's 2022 so where does anyone get 8% interest now ..... judges will kick this out together with the fake £60

And see what DCBL get up to nowadays

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

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

It's either that or face a judge with a fake claim and rubbish claim

Coupon-mad

It's exactly the same as the residential key fob defence example already linked in the NEWBIES thread.  Nothing difficult or new about this defence wording.

However that defence example is quite old (pre-statutory draft Code of Practice publication this year) and uses an old statement of truth.  So the idea is you take the wording from the key fob residential defence example and slot it into half a dozen added (numbered, please) new paragraphs into the Template Defence. 

Then obviously re-number the lot and hey presto - job done (for this stage).

But to get the extra time allowance to do this, you need to do the AOS very soon (dates as per KeithP's reply above).   AOS is a cinch and is already shown in page-by-page images, in a walkthrough pictorial link the NEWBIES thread.