DCB Legal Court Claim for 2018 UKPC PCN

B789

moneyhaven said:

Is it customary for a claimant to receive their DQ before the defendant in these sorts of cases?

No. I am at this stage in my own case with a different claimant. It is very clear that the CCBC sends out N149A “Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track” to both parties at the same time, stating the date by which a party must file its N180 DQ and serve a copy on the other party. The only difference might be how long it takes to arrive, but the deadline is set to allow two weeks for replies. The wording in the N149A I received is equally applicable to both parties and as it happens, we have filed DQs simultaneously, not early.

There is no obligation to file a DQ until instructed to do so by the CCBC but neither is there any obligation to wait, or any apparent advantage, given that the claimant has already filed one and served a copy on you.

I received a blank paper N180 which is perfectly usable but the instructions make clear that an N180 from the HMCTS website is equally acceptable - as long as you do actually sign it, file it and serve it on or preferably well before the deadline!

I think that the N180 DQ is sent out and filed back before allocation to a track.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part26

KeithP

moneyhaven said:
It is very clear that the CCBC sends out N149A “Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track” to both parties at the same time by 1st class post, stating the date by which a party must file its  N180 DQ and serve a copy on the other party.

I would suggest that is not quite right.
I will concede that on rare occasions the CCBC have been seen to send a DQ to the Defendant quite early.

moneyhaven said:

There is no obligation to file a DQ until instructed to do so by the CCBC but neither is there any obligation to wait, or any apparent advantage, given that the claimant has already filed one and served a copy on you.

It has occasionally been reported here that the CCBC have returned a completed DQ to the Defendant because they have not yet received a response from the Claimant that they, the Claimant, intends to proceed. 

I  would suggest that the OP keeps checking their MCOL Claim History and as soon as it is seen that the CCBC has sent a DQ to the Defendant, he is ready to download a DQ, complete it and fire it back at the CCBC, remembering to send a copy to the Claimant of course.

moneyhaven

I think that the N180 DQ is sent out and filed back before allocation to a track.

Yes, the title of the N149A that came from the CCBC was “Notice of Proposed Allocation to the SCT” so the DQ evidently provides each party with an opportunity to agree or disagree!

moneyhaven

I  would suggest that the OP keeps checking their MCOL Claim History and as soon as it is seen that the CCBC has sent a DQ to the Defendant, he is ready to download a DQ, complete it and fire it back at the CCBC, remembering to send a copy to the Claimant of course.

Yes I certainly think it’s best to follow the court’s instructions to the letter when they are received (by whatever route) and that’s certainly what I’ve done, neither early nor late!

B789

moneyhaven said:
Yes I certainly think it’s best to follow the court’s instructions to the letter when they are received (by whatever route) and that’s certainly what I’ve done, neither early nor late!

The only problem (and it has happened) is when the D does not check their MCOL history and the N180 DQ fails to arrive by post leading to all sorts of problems if not sorted out in time. Hence the advice here is to regularly check MCOL history for notice of DQ being sent.

Winston_Smith2

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses. I tried logging into my MCOL account with my GG ID and password, but kept getting an error message. Tried resetting my password, but the Gov website is awful and just sends me through loop that doesn't resolve the issue. I called the helpdesk and the person I spoke to confirmed that my DQ has not been issued yet. They said the claimant's DQ hadn't been filed, but admitted they were working through a backlog so perhaps hadn't got to it yet. I'll do as advised and wait for CCBC to send me my DQ. I've sent an email to MCOL asking them to help me access my account; hopefully this will be resolved soon, so I can check my MCOL history for notification of the DQ being sent. 

Winston_Smith2

Hi everyone, I received an email from DCBL this week and need some advice. To bring everyone up to speed with my case, I got sent a DQ from the CCBC a few months ago, which I filled out in accordance with the advice on this forum and returned. A couple months later I got a letter in the post letting me know that my case has been transferred to my local court, on my birthday of all days!

This is the email I got from DCBL this week:


First and foremost, I don't intend to accept this offer. The difference between the "outstanding balance" and the offer isn't especially tempting... I've got some historic pictures from Google Street View that show the "staff only" signs at the entrance to the carpark were put up after my PCN was issued. I'm tempted to reply to DCBL, attach these pictures, and let them know that I don't accept their offer and intend to fight this in court on the grounds that there was no signage at the entrance and the signage in the car park itself was not prominent enough. The idea being that this will get them to back off and cancel the court case.

Would this be a bad idea because I'm essentially showing my hand before the final cards have been dealt? Any other advice about what I should do at this point in time would also be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Coupon-mad

Ignore it.  They always send that.

You can say your piece at WS stage.

patient_dream

Same old, same old copy and paste letter from DCBL, IT'S GETTING SO BORING .... we have seen about 200 of these followed by a discontinuation after reading your WS

UncleThomasCobley

Winston_Smith2 said:

Hi everyone, I received an email from DCBL this week and need some advice. To bring everyone up to speed with my case, I got sent a DQ from the CCBC a few months ago, which I filled out in accordance with the advice on this forum and returned. A couple months later I got a letter in the post letting me know that my case has been transferred to my local court, on my birthday of all days!

This is the email I got from DCBL this week:


First and foremost, I don't intend to accept this offer. The difference between the "outstanding balance" and the offer isn't especially tempting... I've got some historic pictures from Google Street View that show the "staff only" signs at the entrance to the carpark were put up after my PCN was issued. I'm tempted to reply to DCBL, attach these pictures, and let them know that I don't accept their offer and intend to fight this in court on the grounds that there was no signage at the entrance and the signage in the car park itself was not prominent enough. The idea being that this will get them to back off and cancel the court case.

Would this be a bad idea because I'm essentially showing my hand before the final cards have been dealt? Any other advice about what I should do at this point in time would also be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Do not respond to them. They are trying to sucker you into paying them, anything, before they discontinue.

This is well known behaviour from the intellectually malnourished firm. Hold fast and wait for the inevitable discontinuance.