DCBL said to ignore court letters and then proceeded with CCJ.

Brokenchief

Hello all, me again!

I have had a couple of PCNs pop up from 5 years ago, no memory of receiving them hence now being chased. Got threatened with a CCJ (LoC) from DCB Legal, so I started putting a defence together with the brilliant advice on this forum. I requested 30 days from DCB Legal to allow to me to get legal advice, which they agreed to. A week later I got a letter from the county court (N1SDT). I messaged DCBLegal straight away and requested that they honour the 30 days and for them to reissue the claim to county court. I also requested a breakdown of the costs incurred.

I got a response from DCBLegal saying "We ask that you please disregard the letter received from the Courts, you have until ****** to make the payment." They ignored my request of a breakdown of costs.

Today I went to check my credit rating and noticed that I now have a CCJ which went to court at the end of March. 

Is there anything I can do without having to go through the whole set aside process again? I feel that them telling me to "disregard" the court letter and then getting a CCJ against me is seriously misadvising me for their own gain.

Any advice? Or is it just going to be a case of getting it set aside or reduced due to the ridiculous costs they're added on out of thin air.

Many thanks

KeithP

There is no hint in your post that this issue is anything to do with parking.

If you are looking for general information about how to set aside a County Court Judgment then surely there are better places to look than a forum devoted to parking?

LegalBeagles might be the place, but I really don't know.

Coupon-mad

Was the '30 days' date up when they filed the CCJ?  You should have shown us that date in their email here:

I got a response saying "We ask that you please disregard the letter received from the Courts, you have until ****** to make the payment." 

Why did you ignore a court claim?

Brokenchief

Coupon-mad said:

Was the '30 days' date up when they filed the CCJ?  You should have shown us that date in their email here:

I got a response saying "We ask that you please disregard the letter received from the Courts, you have until ****** to make the payment." 

Why did you ignore a court claim?

It was the 10th of March they required payment for. I was expecting another letter from the county court.

After receiving the original letter from the county court I did send DCBL requesting a breakdown of costs incurred and the following line:

I've also already received a county court letter despite you giving me 30 days from the 10th of Feb. I will be expecting this to be cancelled and to be reissued at the date you've agreed to.

I received the following response back:

We would like to start by confirming, in accordance with the appeal decision made on 29th July 2020 in Britannia Parking Group Ltd v Semark-Julien [2020] EW Mis 12 (CC), it is not correct to propose this claim should be struck out as an ‘abuse of process’ due to the contractual costs claimed. You may wish to seek independent legal advice to access up to date information.

When a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) is issued the balance stands at £100.00, this is typically brought down if paid within a set timeframe. If no contact is made the case progresses onto debt recovery.

We are unable to confirm the balance added at this stage as we do not have access to their systems, however, the balance when legal action was requested, stood at £320.00.

We ask that you please disregard the letter received from the Courts, you have until 10th March 2023 to make the payment.  

I've obviously messed up by not responding to the county court letter but I only did so because they told me to disregard it after I requested they cancelled it. Would this stand if I go to get it set aside?

B789

Brokenchief said:

Hello all, me again!

Had a couple of tickets pop up from 5 years ago, no memory of receiving them hence now being chased. Got threatened with a CCJ, so started putting a defence together with the brilliant advice here. I requested 30 days from DCBL to give me some more time which they agreed to. A week later I got a letter from the county court, I messaged DCBL straight away and requested they honour the 30 days they said I would have to and to reissue the claim to county court. I also requested a breakdown of the costs incurred.

I got a response saying "We ask that you please disregard the letter received from the Courts, you have until ****** to make the payment." They ignored my request of a breakdown of costs.

Today I went to check my credit rating and noticed that I now have a CCJ which went to court at the end of March. Which means I definitely shouldn't have disregarded the courts letters.

You are not very clear in what you write. Considering you have been here before, you should know the difference between an LoC and County Court Claim N1 form. DId you request the 30 days for debt advice within the 30 day deadline from the LoC?

When you say DCBL, do you mean DCBL or DCB Legal, two very different parts of the same organisation? You really must make an effort to be clear.

What is this "letter" you received from the County Court a week later? Do you mean that you received the Claim Form N1 with the PoC? When you were told to disregard the court "letter", was that from DCBL or DCB Legal?

You should already know, if you've had advice here before, that you argue the breakdown of costs in your defence and WS because these scammers won't give you that detail and it is one of the defences that is used to hammer the claimants.

Please read the above and come back and clarify everything that has been asked.

Coupon-mad

You are going to have to pay it in full to avoid a CCJ. Sorry.  You had to defend a claim.  Court claims don't just disappear into the ether.

But then (after paying) get your revenge:

Make a formal complaint to DCBLegal.  Address it to their complaints email 

Then send your evidence to the SRA and make a formal complaint about this so-called legal firm prematurely issuing a claim then telling you in writing to 'disregard' it. Then applying for a CCJ.

Brokenchief

@B789 I apologise. I wrote the original message in a frustrated state without access to the original letters. I've updated my original post.

I have had a couple of PCNs pop up from 5 years ago, no memory of receiving them hence now being chased. Got threatened with a CCJ (LoC) from DCB Legal, so I started putting a defence together with the brilliant advice on this forum. I requested a pause for 30 days from DCB Legal to allow to me to get legal advice, which they agreed to.  A week later I got a letter from the county court (N1SDT). I messaged DCBLegal straight away and requested that they honour the 30 days and for them to reissue the claim to county court. I also requested a breakdown of the costs incurred.

Brokenchief

Coupon-mad said:

You are going to have to pay it in full to avoid a CCJ. Sorry.  You had to defend a claim.  Court claims don't just disappear into the ether.

But then (after paying) get your revenge:

Make a formal complaint to DCBLegal.  Address it to their complaints email 

Then send your evidence to the SRA and make a formal complaint about this so-called legal firm prematurely issuing a claim then telling you in writing to 'disregard' it. Then applying for a CCJ.

Cheers Coupon Mad.

I'm assuming I'm not going to see the £550 again.

I am saving for a house currently so the main thing if that I don't have a CCJ against my name.

I'll get looking into writing a formal complaint now.

Thanks for the help