County Court Claim from DCB Legal

Craic1979

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and seeking your help on a parking issue.

I parked in a Private Car Park a year ago for work, a friend working in the premises nearby said they had an agreement with the owner of the car park, however when I returned, I had a parking ticket. Turns out my friend did not have as concrete an agreement as they thought, attempts to contact the owner of the car park went unanswered. I tried to explain the situation but the appeal was not successful.

The car park is controlled by UK Parking Control Ltd. They have sent multiple requests for payment which I did not answer, believing they would give up eventually. Most recently I have received a letter from the County Court Business Centre. The claim is now requesting around £260, for amount claimed, court fee, legal representative's costs, etc. 

What are my options? I really would like to find a solution to this that doesn't involve paying £260. Thanks so much in advance.

Umkomaas

What is the date of issue shown on the court claim form? Have you submitted your Acknowledgement of Service (AOS) and if so, on what date? 

At the same time, I thought I'd draw your attention to this fairly recent thread which you might have not yet seen. You must keep going through all the necessary court procedure phases, but the hope is that your case will follow the same pattern as all those detailed in the thread. 

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

B789

You won't be paying a penny if you follow all the advice you receive here. Assuming that it is the farcical duo scammers of UKPC/DCB Legal, you may want to have a read of this thread if you want to predict the outcome after using the device given on this forum and submitting a robust defence, when the time comes:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

You MUST now read, re-read and read again the Newbies/FAQ thread, second post in particular, which informs you of ALL the steps in this process and what to expect and when.

What is the issue date on your Claim form? @KeithP will be along shortly with advice on some deadlines you need to be aware of.

Fruitcake

What is the issue date of your claim form?

Unless you get a landowner cancellation you will need to defend this using the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in the second post of the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES and the template defence sticky Announcement that includes a twelve step guide to the process.

You will need to complete the AoS on or very shortly after day six of the claim issue date and then submit your defence thereafter.

Amend only paragraphs 2 and 3 of the defence template and show us your draft before you submit it by email to the CCBC.

Get photos of the site and signage. Use Google Streetview to see if there are any historic images that help. UKPC signs are always inadequate and incapable of forming a contract with the motorist because the £100 charge is always in unreadable tiny font.

Where and when did the alleged event occur? It may have cropped up here before.

Coupon-mad

What are my options? I really would like to find a solution to this that doesn't involve paying £260.

You won't be paying a penny, nor will you be likely to have a hearing.  This is the stage you want!

Dead easy, copy and paste - except for paragraph 3 which you draft individually - the recent UKPC defence by @Johny86 (that is a link to his profile...go look at his discussions there).  This is your defence to draft but that is what we recommend you do.

Le_Kirk

There you go, replies from four of the top regulars all in under one hour!

Boat_to_Bolivia

Duplicate thread started by the OP just now states that the Issue Date was 20th March @KeithP.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6439256/parking-ticket#latest

Craic1979

Hi there,

Very sorry for the lack of reply — I am new to the forum and did not know there had been replies as I didn't get email notifications, but someone has pointed this out now. 

I am afraid I missed the deadline to acknowledge the claim (the issue date was 20 March) as I had misread the form and thought I had 28 days to reply. 
I am very worried. I'd be very grateful for any advice. 

B789

You should be very worried as you are likely, if not already, had a default CCJ issued. Check your credit file.

Craic1979

Is there anything i can do?

KeithP

Craic1979 said:

I am afraid I missed the deadline to acknowledge the claim (the issue date was 20 March) as I had misread the form and thought I had 28 days to reply. 
I am very worried. I'd be very grateful for any advice. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th March, you had until close of business today - Tuesday 11th April 2023 - to file an Acknowledgment of Service but that didn't happen.
I.e. you could've actually spent ten minutes today filing an Acknowledgment of Service instead of writing about your failure to do so.
That means that your Defence filing deadline became 4pm on Tuesday 11th April 2023.

Since 4pm today the Claimant has been free to seek a Default Judgment against you.

If they seek and get that Judgment before you have filed a Defence, then they win the race - it's game over - you lose.

On the other hand if you file a Defence before the Claimant actually seeks and gets that Default Judgment, then you win this heat and go through to the next round and I suggest you aim to file a Defence before 8am tomorrow.

The good news is that whatever the Claimant may do, nothing untoward will happen overnight.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. From now on the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Everywhere I have written 'you' or 'your' I do of course mean the named Defendant.