Claim form received for PCN, please help. 19 September 2022 at 12:33PM in Parking tickets, fines & parking 13 replies 191 views

Forestfan06

Good afternoon, 

I hope its ok to post this as I'm new here, back in 2018 when I was an employee at McDonalds I was asked to do a shift another store to help out, so I went down and parked my car in the car park, and subsequently received a PCN from UK Parking Control LTD. I took this to the store in which I helped out at and was assured by the store manager that she would get it cancelled for me. 

Over the last four years I have received multiple letters from the parking company and debt collectors DCB Legal about the PCN, each time they have sent me a letter I have messaged the store manager who has assured me I can ignore the letters as she is going to get it cancelled for me. She hasn't actually done this and now I've been sent a claim letter from the County Court about the parking charge saying I owe £305. I understand it's now too late to get the charge cancelled as I rang up DCB and explained my situation. 

Could someone please advise me on what my best option is now as I have never had this happen to me before and non of it is my fault. I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with. I have been in contact with the current store manager who has recently taken over and she said she'd speak to the franchisee about it but I don't trust them to give me any help and I know time is of the essence. 

I would appreciate any advice please.

Umkomaas

Date of Issue shown on the court claim please?

Have you Acknowledged Service (AOS) yet, if so, on what date?

I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with.

Very useful for later in the process. All you need to do is detailed in two Announcements, pinned at the top of the forum thread index, one page back from this one - NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, and 'Template Defence Announcement. 

I thought I'd also draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have missed. Hopefully it will encourage you to keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases in the hope that your case will follow the same pattern of all those detailed in the thread. 

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

Forestfan06

Umkomaas said:

Date of Issue shown on the court claim please?

Have you Acknowledged Service (AOS) yet, if so, on what date?

I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with.

Very useful for later in the process. All you need to do is detailed in two Announcements, pinned at the top of the forum thread index, one page back from this one - NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, and 'Template Defence Announcement. 

I thought I'd also draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have missed. Hopefully it will encourage you to keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases in the hope that your case will follow the same pattern of all those detailed in the thread. 

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

Hi thanks for replying! Date of issue is 12/09/22, I submitted an AOS yesterday (18/09/22).

I will use the template to create a defence, also thanks so much for pointing me towards that thread that’s given me a lot reassurance that this should be ok. 

Thanks so much for your help.

Umkomaas

Thanks for providing the dates I asked for. Forum regular @KeithP will be along shortly to give you some key dates you will now need to work to in preparing and submitting your Defence, along with some other pieces of information to get you well on the way in these early stages. 

Be aware that it's not going to be a quick process so you need to hunker down, do the research and go through all the court phases and processes required of you to push UKPC and DCB Legal towards the discontinuation cliff edge. 

KeithP

Forestfan06 said:

Umkomaas said:

Date of Issue shown on the court claim please?

Have you Acknowledged Service (AOS) yet, if so, on what date?

I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with.

Very useful for later in the process. All you need to do is detailed in two Announcements, pinned at the top of the forum thread index, one page back from this one - NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, and 'Template Defence Announcement. 

I thought I'd also draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have missed. Hopefully it will encourage you to keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases in the hope that your case will follow the same pattern of all those detailed in the thread. 

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

Date of issue is 12/09/22, I submitted an AOS yesterday (18/09/22).

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 17th October 2022 to file your Defence.

That's four 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.

Forestfan06

KeithP said:

Forestfan06 said:

Umkomaas said:

Date of Issue shown on the court claim please?

Have you Acknowledged Service (AOS) yet, if so, on what date?

I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with.

Very useful for later in the process. All you need to do is detailed in two Announcements, pinned at the top of the forum thread index, one page back from this one - NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, and 'Template Defence Announcement. 

I thought I'd also draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have missed. Hopefully it will encourage you to keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases in the hope that your case will follow the same pattern of all those detailed in the thread. 

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

Date of issue is 12/09/22, I submitted an AOS yesterday (18/09/22).

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 17th October 2022 to file your Defence.

That's four 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.

Thanks very much for the advise. I have written a draft defence and was wondering if this was ok, or whether I need to change/add anything? Thanks in advance. 

The facts as known to the Defendant:

3. The defendant was an employee of Ripley McDonald’s and was asked to cover a shift at another one of the franchisees stores in Langley Mill. The car park at Langley Mill McDonald’s is controlled by UK Parking Control Limited and due to the defendant not being on the whitelist, they received a parking charge for exceeding the allowed time in the car park.

When the defendant first received correspondence about the charge in 2018, they passed it to the store manager of McDonalds and was told by the manager that it would be cancelled. The defendant was a shift manager at the time and knew it was a simple process of ringing up UK Parking Control Limited and removing a charge as they had done this for someone at the store they worked at in Ripley and therefore had confidence the matter would be settled.

The defendant received further correspondence from UK Parking Control Limited and then debt collectors DCB Legal Limited which they passed to the store manager and were told it would be dealt with. The store manager told the defendant to ignore the letters as they could get the charge cancelled. The defendant has evidence of the messages sent between himself and the store manager showing he was told to ignore them as it would be dealt with.

The defendant never filed an appeal for the parking charge on the basis he was told to ignore the charge by the store manager.

Coupon-mad

Don't use the word 'settled' which generally means 'paid'!

Add to this sentence as shown:

" and due to the defendant not being on the whitelist (an oversight by the restaurant management on the day), "

Remove this entirely:

The defendant never filed an appeal for the parking charge on the basis he was told to ignore the charge by the store manager. 

ALL PARAGRAPHS MUST BE NUMBERED.

Add a point that:

The Defendant's only contract was entirely with the Claimant's client, McDonalds.  No alternative contract to pay in excess of the entire day's wages to the Claimant was agreed, which would be nothing short of absurd. The Defendant was at all times authorised to park as a McDonalds employee, and the apparent failure of the White List/cancellation arrangements between those two contracting companies was not within the control of the Defendant. Further, there is no legitimate interest in pursuing the Defendant and the repeated promises to cancel the charge amounts to an alternative defence of promissory estoppel. 

Forestfan06

Coupon-mad said:

Don't use the word 'settled' which generally means 'paid'!

Add to this sentence as shown:

" and due to the defendant not being on the whitelist (an oversight by the restaurant management on the day), "

Remove this entirely:

The defendant never filed an appeal for the parking charge on the basis he was told to ignore the charge by the store manager. 

ALL PARAGRAPHS MUST BE NUMBERED.

Add a point that:

The Defendant's only contract was entirely with the Claimant's client, McDonalds.  No alternative contract to pay in excess of the entire day's wages to the Claimant was agreed, which would be nothing short of absurd. The Defendant was at all times authorised to park as a McDonalds employee, and the apparent failure of the White List/cancellation arrangements between those two contracting companies was not within the control of the Defendant. Further, there is no legitimate interest in pursuing the Defendant and the repeated promises to cancel the charge amounts to an alternative defence of promissory estoppel. 

Forestfan06 said:

Good afternoon, 

I hope its ok to post this as I'm new here, back in 2018 when I was an employee at McDonalds I was asked to do a shift another store to help out, so I went down and parked my car in the car park, and subsequently received a PCN from UK Parking Control LTD. I took this to the store in which I helped out at and was assured by the store manager that she would get it cancelled for me. 

Over the last four years I have received multiple letters from the parking company and debt collectors DCB Legal about the PCN, each time they have sent me a letter I have messaged the store manager who has assured me I can ignore the letters as she is going to get it cancelled for me. She hasn't actually done this and now I've been sent a claim letter from the County Court about the parking charge saying I owe £305. I understand it's now too late to get the charge cancelled as I rang up DCB and explained my situation. 

Could someone please advise me on what my best option is now as I have never had this happen to me before and non of it is my fault. I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with. I have been in contact with the current store manager who has recently taken over and she said she'd speak to the franchisee about it but I don't trust them to give me any help and I know time is of the essence. 

I would appreciate any advice please.

KeithP said:

Forestfan06 said:

Umkomaas said:

Date of Issue shown on the court claim please?

Have you Acknowledged Service (AOS) yet, if so, on what date?

I have all the messages between myself and the store manager showing her assurance that it was being dealt with.

Very useful for later in the process. All you need to do is detailed in two Announcements, pinned at the top of the forum thread index, one page back from this one - NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, and 'Template Defence Announcement. 

I thought I'd also draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have missed. Hopefully it will encourage you to keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases in the hope that your case will follow the same pattern of all those detailed in the thread. 

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

Date of issue is 12/09/22, I submitted an AOS yesterday (18/09/22).

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 17th October 2022 to file your Defence.

That's four 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.

Good afternoon, 

I have an update on this case, I am now at the witness statement stage of my case. I have until January 20th to submit the files, can someone please advise me on how I go about this please and what to do? 

Thank you!

Coupon-mad

Read any other thread about WS stage.  They are all the same and adapt the same WS and evidence bundle.  At least one is on page one right now.

Show us your draft bundle once you've read a few threads about WS stage.

Forestfan06

Hi, I have today received a ‘without prejudice save as to costs’ email from DCB legal, any advice on whether to respond to this? I intent to reject obviously but do I have to let them know? Thanks  

Le_Kirk

If they are offering £0 then snatch their hands off but it is unlikely to be that.  It is sometimes a precursor to a discontinuance. You could reply with a counteroffer of Zero (looks good if you find yourself at a hearing) or you could ignore it.