DCBlegal Letter of Claim

bellazbc

On 31 January 2022  - received a PCN from UKPC dated 24/12/2021. This was for an overstay at a shopping car park that occurred on 10/12/2021 where I parked for 3 hours 26 minutes. It was £100 discounted to £60 if I paid within 14 days but I received the letter more than 14 days after the date. Due to personal issues I was facing at the time I ignored the letter. This was then followed by debt collector letters which I ignored. First Debt Recovery Plus then DCBL and now I have a Letter of Claim from DCBlegal.

The car park used to allow 4 hours that's why I parked for 3hrs26minutes. The PCN was a shock. I should have taken steps to check when they reduced the hours to 3 but I didn't at the time due to panic, irritation and overwhelm. I have now done a google search and found articles in the local paper (dated 14/01/2022 and 18/01/2022) saying many motorists were caught out by this change at the owner of the shopping centre Royal London Asset Management had contacted UKPC to put additional signage (there had been complaints) and that they were working with UKPC "to cancel any penalty charge notices issued as a result of these changes and to reimburse fines paid." Clearly UKPC didn't receive that memo.

Questions:
1. Is it too late to bring this to UKPC's attention? I have links to the newspaper articles.
2. I can't seem to find an address for Royal London Asset Management to bring this issue to their attention, is it worth writing to them attaching the newspaper articles?
3. Should I go ahead and send the SAR and go through to court?
4. Is there anything I can do to have this PCN cancelled at this stage?

KeithP

Which shopping centre?
Does the shopping centre have a website?
Has the shopping centre featured on this parking forum before?

Perhaps this information from the RLAM website is a good starting point...

Coupon-mad

Respond robustly to DCBLegal with your evidence and tell them you have complained to the shopping centre because clearly UKPC should have cancelled ALL PCNs from that time, and you have also asked your MP to step in and support the complaint, who will be in touch with their client and shopping centre.  As such, the case must clearly be put on hold and DCB Legal must revert to their client.

bellazbc

Thank you @KeithP . The shopping centre is Century Park Retail park Dalton Way, Watford. They have no website. I haven't seen any post where they were featured here. I had found the postal address for the Royal London Asset Management before starting the thread and spent a couple of hours crawling over their website looking for an e-mail address as i thought that would have been a quicker way to communicate with them. It seems you can only e-mail them if you are a client. I will send them a letter in the post as well as follow @Coupon-mad's idea.

bellazbc

Coupon-mad said:

Respond robustly to DCBLegal with your evidence and tell them you have complained to the shopping centre because clearly UKPC should have cancelled ALL PCNs from that time, and you have also asked your MP to step in and support the complaint, who will be in touch with their client and shopping centre.  As such, the case must clearly be put on hold and DCB Legal must revert to their client.

Thank you for this advice. I will e-mail DCBLegal right away.

Galloglass

Landowners rarely, if ever, get involved. They appoint agents to handle the work. See the Completely Retail site for Managing Agents. 

https://completelyretail.co.uk/scheme/3465

Coupon-mad

bellazbc said:

Coupon-mad said:

Respond robustly to DCBLegal with your evidence and tell them you have complained to the shopping centre because clearly UKPC should have cancelled ALL PCNs from that time, and you have also asked your MP to step in and support the complaint, who will be in touch with their client and shopping centre.  As such, the case must clearly be put on hold and DCB Legal must revert to their client.

Thank you for this advice. I will e-mail DCBLegal right away.

AND get in touch this week with your MP to support the complaints to the BPA, the DVLA, UKPC and landowner.

bellazbc

UPDATE: I managed to find an e-mail address of one of the executives at RLAM and e-mailed him to direct my complaint to the right department in his organisation. I thought sending a letter in the post was inefficient but I wasn't holding my breath. To my surprise he forwarded my e-mail and a property manager from a company called JLL got in touch with me. I also e-mailed DCBLegal as suggested by @Coupon-mad - writing the e-mail felt great!

I am delighted to report that the property manager e-mailed me today to say the PCN has been cancelled and no further action will be taken.

I'm grateful for the advice on this site (have spent hours on here reading the Newbies thread and other people's posts). I refused to be intimidated by the debt collection letters and I promptly started this thread when I received the DCBLegal letter as advised. £170 stays firmly in my bank account. These companies are a joke. 

Phew!

Boat_to_Bolivia

Great news. Well done.

KeithP

bellazbc said:

UPDATE: I managed to find an e-mail address of one of the executives at RLAM and e-mailed him to direct my complaint to the right department in his organisation. I thought sending a letter in the post was inefficient but I wasn't holding my breath. To my surprise he forwarded my e-mail and a property manager from a company called JLL got in touch with me. I also e-mailed DCBLegal as suggested by @Coupon-mad - writing the e-mail felt great!

I am delighted to report that the property manager e-mailed me today to say the PCN has been cancelled and no further action will be taken.

That's great to hear. Well done.

Please can you tell us the person who helped you in RLAM and the email address.
It would be good to know the same details of your JLL contact.
It will certainly come in useful for the next victim.

bellazbc

@KeithP -  From the RLAM website on their intermediaries page I picked Oliver Van Nairn, Business Development Manager, South East England e-mail oliver.vannairn@rlam.co.uk.
The JLL contact was Demi Sistern (Surveyor – Property & Asset Management)
Austin House Stannard Place St Crispins Road | Norwich | NR3 1YF e-mail Demi.Sistern@jll.com