Advice needed regarding County Court Claim Form DCB Legal & UKPC

i2obies

Good afternoon, firstly I’d like to say what a great forum full of useful information. I have been browsing for a good for hours over the past few days and have found lots of useful posts. I have read the newbie threads also very useful thanks. 

Basically I’m looking for a bit of advice I have received a county court claim dated 12th October 2022 against my old vehicle regarding an unpaid PCN that was issued in July 2020.  I initially ignored the PCN and then forgot about it as the vehicle was registered to my previous address due to having no fixed address at the time after going through a divorce I did not receive any follow up letters.

Basically at the time of issue I was staying in a travelodge with my 3 children for 3 nights this was the only way I could see them as I was living with a friend 230 miles away from them and didn’t have my own place. The hotel was situated within a retail park with its own car park set off from the rest of the retail park which stated no ticket required from 18:00-09:00 basically I forgot to go down in the morning and purchase a ticket as I was occupied with getting my children ready for the day, so by 09:55 I had a parking ticket stuck to my window. Now faced with the county court claim letter I’m not exactly sure what to argue in my defence as it was just a genuine mistake at the time. I’ve since been receiving letters at my current address from DCB threatening with bailiffs and court judgements the usual bullying tactics which I’ve ignored. Now I have the county court claim letter of £248.52.

 I find this crazy as the initial ticket was £70 or £40 if paid within 14 days at the time I was furloughed from work so money was tight and any spare money I had was spent travelling to see my children every few weeks for the 4 months I was off work. 

The parking fine was issued by UK Parking Control. I have requested and received the SAR information which included several photos of my vehicle with the PCN attached time stamped at 09:55am and the signage in the car park. 

I this worth trying to defend? Or should I just pay the £248 as it’s making me quite stressed now facing court action! Im not great with words so find it difficult even writing this post let alone a legal document to the courts!

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. 

i2obies

Forgot to mention the PCN was issued at st James retail park Dover. I have searched but can’t find any contact details for the land owners, just a contact us page on the website which I have completed. 

i2obies

 The car park had clear signs although very small print…

Trainerman

Now that your SAR has given you a copy of the original PCN, what is the reason given for the charge, on that? The sign you show says that parking is restricted to 5 hours during the day, but you got a PCN after less than one hour .

Also, was there a mechanism at Travelodge to assist with parking/put on a whitelist or similar. There often is, and if this was not brought to your attention the subsequent failure to register would not be under your control. Might still be worth seeing if Travelodge can cancel anyway.

i2obies

The reason for PCN issue was Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket. The first hour of parking is free but you must display a ticket for that hour apparently. There is no parking assistance from Travelodge it all comes under the retail parks arrangements. It does seem pretty unfair as I was staying there for 3 days in and out of the car park several times having to keep remembering to get a ticket. I will try and find some contact details for the management at Dover Travelodge see what they have to say. 

Trainerman

From the sign that you have shown, I would suggest that the main points make no mention of pay and display, nor even of getting a ticket. It might be in the blurred parts, but that is not prominent so I would envisage a defence based on poor signage

i2obies

Trainerman said:

From the sign that you have shown, I would suggest that the main points make no mention of pay and display, nor even of getting a ticket. It might be in the blurred parts, but that is not prominent so I would envisage a defence based on poor signage

Yes that’s what the sign looks like but there was also ticket machines which stated first hour free, £1.35ph max 5 hours stay. But this is not included in the SAR just from my research online photos. 

i2obies

I have found this on the Dover Travelodge website … but I can’t recall seeing this at the time over 2 years ago  

Parking will be chargeable between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday to Saturday only.

Parking is free on Sundays.

Please note: The first 30 minutes of parking is free during chargeable hours, however guests must enter their car registration into the machine and clearly display their ticket.

Payment must be made at the payment machine near the hotel entrance only, this machine is clearly signed for the hotel and only this machine will allow payment of the hotel rate.

Payment after the first 30 minutes will be charged at £1.30 per hour up to a maximum of six hours for hotel guests.

Guests must enter their registration number and obtain a ticket from the payment machine.

Umkomaas

With a court claim issue date of 12 October, you can get on with acknowledging service (AOS).  You must do this within 19 days from the issue date (no advantage to delaying it, get on with it soonest), then you will get the full 33 days from date of issue of the court claim to construct a defence. Regular @KeithP will be along shortly to set you off on your journey to dealing with the claim. 

While this is rather premature to where you are currently, you need to be aware of the likelihood of a discontinuation of the claim, some months down the line, provided you continue to work to the court procedures and deadlines. Be confident that you can handle this and progress towards a very satisfactory conclusion. Please read this following thread:

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

Coupon-mad

i2obies said:

I have found this on the Dover Travelodge website … but I can’t recall seeing this at the time over 2 years ago  

Parking will be chargeable between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday to Saturday only.

Parking is free on Sundays.

Please note: The first 30 minutes of parking is free during chargeable hours, however guests must enter their car registration into the machine and clearly display their ticket.

Payment must be made at the payment machine near the hotel entrance only, this machine is clearly signed for the hotel and only this machine will allow payment of the hotel rate.

Payment after the first 30 minutes will be charged at £1.30 per hour up to a maximum of six hours for hotel guests.

Guests must enter their registration number and obtain a ticket from the payment machine.

I don't think that's relevant to your two year old PCN, because it says hotel guests can stay for six hours.  The sign at the time had different terms (max 5 hours) and unreadable small print and you believed the first hour was free - not the first 30 mins of chargeable time.

Your defence (basically the above) will be easy to write into the Template Defence and before the hearing UKPC will get DCBLegal to discontinue.

Did the claim form arrive to your correct address, or do you need to put that right too?

i2obies

@Coupon-mad the claim form arrived at my current / correct address. Yes very true in what you are saying there is two sets of parking terms so it’s rather confusing!

below taken from the retail park website.. Which I don’t remember seeing two years ago.

Parking charges apply between the hours of 09.00 to 18.00 Monday to Saturday. Parking is free on Sunday.

The first hour of parking is free, however a ticket is still required to be displayed.

Parking charges are £1.30 per hour with a maximum stay of five hours, six hours for Travelodge guests. 

Do you still think I have a good defence?

Thanks.