PCN - Spring Parking - DCB Legal - County Court Business Centre from 2018

Everyman137

Hi all

First of all, huge thanks to the contributors on this forum. 
My case dates back to 2018.  Following dodgy looking, but intimidating letters requesting a payment of £165 from a DCBL (Direct Collection Baliffs Ltd) & then DCB Legal, each letter with a different letter head, we received a letter from the County Court Business Centre.  At this point I turned to the MSE Forum for advice.

After spending some time on the Newbies thread I was able to follow the advice & complete the AOS & file my defence.
Just wanted to sense check something with the experts.

The MCOL claim says that they received the AOS on the 02.12.2022
It then states that they received the Defence statement on the 20.12.2022
We then received a letter from the County Court Business Centre to acknowledge the receipt of the my defence.  All good.
It then says that they have sent a copy of the defence to the claimant & they have 28 days to contact the court.

Do I just wait for the next update from the CCBC?
Or do I need to complete a Directions Questionnaire from (N180) now?

Thanks

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

Well done on getting this far without needing forum help.

Were you following the guidance in opening post of the template defence thread when you created and filed a Defence?
If so, you may have missed the next lines in the checklist found there.

Item 7, 8, 9 and 10 on that checklist explains what to do next.

The CCBC sent you a letter saying the Claimant has twenty eight days to consider your Defence.

What you don't know is when the CCBC sent a copy of your Defence to the Claimant. 

It follows from that that it is not known when the Claimant has to respond to the CCBC. 

Further, we don't know what delays there are in the CCBC that means they don't send you a Directions Questionnaire as promptly as you might like.

Can I suggest that you keep checking your MCOL Claim History and as soon as you see that the CCBC has sent a DQ to you, you are ready to download a DQ, complete it and fire it back at the CCBC, remembering to send a copy to the Claimant of course?

Fruitcake

You now wait. What you don't know is how long it will take before the very busy CCBC gets round to sending your defence to the claimant, therefore you don't know when the 28 days will start from. 

Do read the guide to court in the NEWBIES, and the template defence in the sticky Announcements.

How are you getting on with Plan A, a complaint from the keeper to the landowner and the keeper's MP?

Everyman137

Thanks both

I will keep checking the MCOL online claim for any updates.

I did read the checklist - I wasn't 100% clear to be honest as it says there is more to do. 
Then says wait for the Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download yourself.  
So I wanted to clarify if I need to send this, or better waiting until the MCOL claim is updated online requesting that I send an N180?

1. IMPORTANT - MAKE SURE YOU GET AN EMAIL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BACK FROM THE CCBC!  After filing your Defence, there is more to do.
2. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire and the usual intimidating template letter saying they 'intend to proceed'. Nothing of interest there. Just file it.
3. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread
4. The completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to the same address and in the same way as your Defence was filed earlier.  

KeithP

Sorry, I don't see any ambiguity there - but I wrote that checklist.  

It says that after filing a Defence you will get an acknowledgement from the CCBC and the Claimant will write to you. No action needed by you as a result of either.

It goes on to state what needs doing when you receive a blank DQ from the CCBC. 

Coupon-mad

A poster spoke to the CCBC today and they are 3 weeks behind.  They would have sent the defence to the C by now, so just wait and be ready as per the first 12 steps in the Template Defence thread.

Everyman137

Ok, thanks Keith
I was 90% sure I just needed to wait for the DQ from the CCBC, but wanted to double check.
I will keep you posted.

Everyman137

Thanks C-M
Good context
I'll be ready - thanks to you guys!

Everyman137

Hi experts

Eventually the DQ came through & I followed the advise to complete & send.  It has taken a few months to get to the court hearing stage, but I now have a date (14th June).
The letter, titled 'Notice of Allocations to the Small Claims Track (Hearing)' informs me that the hearing will take place by telephone via BT Meet Me.  
I have until the 1st of June to file at court written evidence.  

3 questions;

1) Do I need to complete a witness statement & post a hard copy to the County Court?
2) Which is the best template to follow?  I followed the threads until I found a template posted by robertcox999 on the 22nd Sep 2020 which seemed to be best practice.
3) Do I need to do anything else?

If yes, to 1 & 2, I will write my statement & post on here, without names, etc.

Basically, my defence is;

• I parked in a local car park for about an hour, arriving at around 10am
• the signs say 'free parking' and 'maximum stay 3 hours'
• there is no mention on the signage that you need a 'pay & display' ticket
• I returned to the car at 11am to find a ticket on the windscreen
• The Subject Access Request I made confirmed that the ticket was issued at 10:32am
• It confirms that the reason was 'not displaying a valid pay & display ticket'
• On the day I checked with the local shops - they said to just ignore as not an official ticket
• I looked for a ticket machine - it was out of order
• I ignored the letters for a couple of years as seemed to be trying to intimidate me into paying the huge amount.

Thanks

Coupon-mad

Which is the best template to follow?  I followed the threads until I found a template posted by robertcox999 on the 22nd Sept 2020 which seemed to be best practice.

Neither.  That one is outdated now.  Use the ones by @aphex007 and @SJRRJS

Email your bundle to the local court (NOT THE CCBC, OBVIOUSLY!) and copy in the solicitors for the Claimant.

Le_Kirk

Everyman137 said:

3 questions;

1) Do I need to complete a witness statement & post a hard copy to the County Court?
2) Which is the best template to follow?  I followed the threads until I found a template posted by robertcox999 on the 22nd Sep 2020 which seemed to be best practice.
3) Do I need to do anything else?

Your answers will be found in the NEWBIE sticky or the 12-step list on the defence template thread, apart from question 2, which has been answered by @Coupon-mad with updated info.