UKPC | DCBL | County Court Claim | Nottingham

Cokiedoughmama

Hello... I'm looking for advice regarding the matter in the discussion title.

I was issued a parking fine 22/07/2018 at the Castle Marina McDonalds Car Park. I was unaware that the car park belonged to someone else. I thought Mcdonalds' had its own parking for customers. 

I visited Notts with two disabled passengers and a handicapped passenger. I'm a PA and Care assistant. After getting ready to travel back, we visited the Marina to grab food and hot drinks. It was dark, I didn't see any signs. To be honest, I didn't look for any due to the fact I genuinely thought it belonged to Mcdonald's. 

I parked and took my passengers into the Mcdonald's to eat. I seated my passengers at a table and then stood in the queue to order, the staff seeing I had my hands full, helped by bringing over the food. In between that I had to cut up my one passenger's food, and take her to the toilet which takes a while the staff then asked if I did need to stay a little longer so they can pop my reg behind the counter. I thought it a little strange but didn't see any fault in it as they'd been so helpful. 

My passengers have mobility issues, especially my handicapped passenger. So it took a very long time to walk her back to the car and place that person in the car etc. I then went back to grab extra drinks to travel back home to West Midlands. 

Then, months later, I received a letter from UKPC saying I had parked for longer than I should have. 

I phoned Mcdonald's and explained. They contacted UKPC and the charges were dropped. I didn't receive anything for a while and then I received a letter from a DCBL. 

I re-contacted Mcdonald's and they said they would sort it out again. This was by telephone. 

Now I have received a court letter. I have once again phoned Mcdonald's and this time I have decided to keep it via email, not just a phone call. 

I then had to log into Gov/Gateway to say I had received the form which I have done. Then it stated I have to file a defence.

But in between this, I have had email conversations with McDonald's and they have told me it should have been sorted in 2018 and have apologised as the managers I spoke to before have all left. So they are paying the car fine including the court charges etc as a gesture of goodwill. They told me on the 9th Nov, that they have also instructed DCBL to cease legal action.

But I logged into MCOL today and it's still there. No updates. I have messaged McDonald's and I've been on the phone with Nott's court for over an hour but no one is answering. It's just music and a man's voice telling me someone will be with me shortly. I gave up as I don't have much time on my hands as I work 7 days a week. I'm actually supposed to be at work now. 

I've never had one of these before and I can't travel up to Nott's court as I am assigned to my handicapped person as her PA and carer. This person can't go or do anything without me.

So I'm in a little bit of a rut. I don't know if I can still file a defence or if I have to.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Cokiedoughmama

Hello Keith. Thank you for the warm welcome.

Issue date: 31 Oct 2022

Your acknowledgement of service was submitted on 09/11/2022 at 17:30:07

Your acknowledgement of service was received on 10/11/2022 at 08:06:04

KeithP

Cokiedoughmama said:

Issue date: 31 Oct 2022
Your acknowledgement of service was received on 10/11/2022 at 08:06:04

With a Claim Issue Date of 31st October, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 5th December 2022 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.


I suggest at the moment you continue to progress this by....

1) keep on at the Claimant and/or their solicitor to get the Claim discontinued, and
2) prepare a Defence as outlined above, and
3) if the issue remains unresolved then file a Defence as above.

If the Claim is still live on 5th December and a Defence isn't filed by then, the way is open for the Claimant to seek and get a Default Judgment against you.
If that happens, then it is another burdensome process to undo that.

So in summary, keep on trying to get the thing cancelled but file a Defence if needed before the above deadline. 

Cokiedoughmama

Thank you so much for the information. It's appreciated due to no one answering at the courts and I didn't know what to do.

Have taken note of the above and will also keep on trying to get it cancelled.

If the claimant does cancel, how do I tell on the MCOL website... Will it show up in the response history?


Thanks again

patient_dream

Cokiedoughmama said:

I phoned Mcdonald's and explained. They contacted UKPC and the charges were dropped. I didn't receive anything for a while and then I received a letter from a DCBL. 

But in between this, I have had email conversations with McDonald's and they have told me it should have been sorted in 2018 and have apologised as the managers I spoke to before have all left. So they are paying the car fine including the court charges etc as a gesture of goodwill. They told me on the 9th Nov, that they have also instructed DCBL to cease legal action.

WOW what a story. Very unusual for McDonalds to be helpful to customers ?

You say the charges were dropped by UKPC, do you have that in writing  ?  If DCBL then got involved it sounds like that whilst UKPC cancelled the charge, they then passed it DCBL

UKPC have been digging up old cases for a long time and passing them to DCBL.   The vast number of these old cases are utter rubbish hence DCBL discontinue so many, the majority being UKPC

Do what KeithP says as you do not want a default leading to a CCJ.  This is 100% winable

If DCBL don't or can't work out that this is yet another crap case from UKPC and discontinue, then they will deserve the spanking a court will give them. 

Then you can claim your costs which could include costs for unreasonable behaviour as well.

Le_Kirk

You won't have to travel to Nottingham as, if it gets that far, part way through the process, after submitting a defence, you will receive a DQ - N80 form asking where you would like the case to be heard and, at that point, you can choose your local court.

Coupon-mad

Can you do us a favour and either screenshot or copy & paste the DCBLegal 'Particulars if Claim' on the left of the claim form?

Just cover your numberplate only but leave all dates & detail showing.  Don't show us the whole bottom of the claim and certainly not the MCOL password on the right!

I am working on a hunch that DCBLegal are mucking up claim forms by failing to state the date of parking. Right or wrong in your case?

Cokiedoughmama

Particulars of Claim screenshot...

Grizebeck

DCB legal seem to have a habit of mucking up the POC

Umkomaas

@Cokiedoughmama - if you go to the UKPC website, as if you were going to pay the PCN (obviously don't), you should be able to see the current status of the parking charge. Let us know what it is showing please.