CEL Claim via DCB Legal 2024

Browsing03

Hi all,
I'm new to the forum and I am seeking advice on what to do next.
In February this year I stopped off at Weston super Mare to buy some chips from a chip shop (Frydays)
The parking is covered by a camera and you have to put your vehicle registration into a tablet - there are no charges levied to park. The car I drive is a Company Lease Car.
I live in the midlands and do not frequent the chip shop so its not something I have to do on a regular basis but I put my registration into the tablet and thought nothing more of it.
In March I received a PCN through the post (£100 reducing to £60 if paid in 14 days).
I did not understand why I had received a PCN but knew that I had a receipt for the chips on my credit card statement to prove that I was a customer.
I googled PCN which gave the MSE link to the high level overview of what to do if you receive a private parking ticket.
I was encouraged by the statement that you should not just pay the invoice - the high level option I chose was what MSE recommended for most which was appeal and then use the POPLA route ( I could prove I was a customer after all). 
Unfortunately, at that time I did not dig deep enough into this forum and mistakenly thought that showing my receipt would be enough to get the charge cancelled.
I did also phone up the Chip shop but they said it was controlled by the landlord and there was nothing they could do.
They also said that they complain to the landlord all the time but he doesn't do anything.
I regret not digging deeper into this forum until now, as after the event I can see how you need to use the specific wording that you use in your appeal responses in order to increase your chances of winning the POPLA appeal.
Anyway, I responded to the first appeal with a copy of the credit card statement as proof of purchase but effectively admitting that I was the driver (Mistake I know now)
They responded by saying they would reduce the fine to £20 with lots of supporting wording which I didn't fully understand if I'm honest - after reading some posts on here I now have a better understanding that this is their practice for mis keying issues but trying to decipher that from their response at the time was beyond my understanding.
Thus at the time I was still non the wiser why I should pay anything to them - I thought perhaps because the car park was shared across two businesses that the non chip shop business (Betfred) was the one for which I was being pursued. So I decided to appeal to POPLA as an independent appeals process thinking that surely they would agree that as it seemed to me that I had done nothing wrong.
It was at the point when I appealed to POPLA that I finally I found out that it turns out I had not put my complete registration into the tablet only the first two letters (According the Civil Enforcement anyway).
There was a list of other registrations all entered correctly as evidence that there was nothing wrong with the machine.
I wrote my appeal to POPLA saying obviously I tried to comply with entering the registration info but that it had been accepted before I could complete - not being a regular user of the system I did not realise that this had happened - I thought I had entered my registration properly - there is no ticket issued so how are you supposed to know?
Anyway POPLA rejected my appeal on the grounds that miss entering a registration number is no excuse and actually said I was a regular user in their response which is not true and a complete contradiction of what I said about me living in the Midlands and not being local to the chip shop and not regularly using the system in my appeal response.
They now expect me to pay the full £100 charge.
The advice I am asking now is:
1) Have I completely messed this up?
2) Having exhausted their appeal system should I just pay the charge and mark it down to life sucks occasionally (My wife's recommendation as she doesn't want any further stress due to other events that have recently emerged in our private lives. She also read an article in the papers recently that said these firms can identify the terms of the contract as they wish and legally there is nothing we can do)
3) If I decide not to pay what is the next course of action and what are the realistic chances of success?

I'm a bit demoralised now as it seems ludicrous to me that there is no actual charge for using the car park, its permit system is there to deter non customers from parking.
As a proven customer I'm perplexed to find that they are still pursuing me for money.
Also their appeals process seems broken to me as I didn't actually find out what the issue was until I was at the final stage of the appeals process (I can see that if I joined this forum earlier I could have avoided falling into that trap but how is an average person meant to understand this process without this forums direct support?)

Thanks in advance for any help provided
Regards
Browsing03

Boat_to_Bolivia

Hello and welcome.

No DO NOT PAY these scamming parasites.

Come back here for advice if you get a Letter Before Claim or a Letter of Claim.

In the meantime, Ignore any threatening debt collectors letters. They are powerless and can safely be ignored.

Coupon-mad

Just ignore the £170 demands and come back if you get a court claim.

99% are won by Defendants here.  There is zero CCJ risk as long as you follow our advice and don't go moving house without telling CEL.

DO NOT PAY.

Laughing at a flurry of £170 red letters as shown in the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread is not stressful.

KeithP

@Browsing03, did anything further happen?

Browsing03

Hi KeithP,
I have continued to familiarise myself with the process via the newbies sticky and following the threads on this forum.
I duly ignored the DCBL debt collector letters.
I returned to the chip shop a couple of months later and spoke to the chip shop owner face to face (He had ignored my emails) and got the landowner details.
The tablet had been out of action for over a month so I took photos and got the chip shop owner to respond in agreement to my emails indicating that the tablet was not fit for purpose and that this had caused lots of issues for his customers. 
I also took photos showing there are no signs directly outside the chip shop where CEL indicated there were on their site map at the POPLA appeal.
I emailed the landowner stating the tablet was not fit for purpose and asking him to request cancellation. 

He ignored me.
I wrote to my MP and to John Penrose. 

Both were supportive but useless.
Several months ago I noticed all of the signs were gone and the parking spaces are no longer monitored. I emailed the landowner asking if they had been kicked off the site.
He ignored me.
I have supported CM’s calls for evidence answering Q4 also gathering photos of local car park signs and the debt collector questionnaire which they did not follow up with me.
I supported Nellymosers petition.
Two months ago I got an LOC from CEL, I responded with the forum LOC response template and upon receiving the usual evasive letter in reply I reported them to the HMRC for VAT concerns.
I am currently awaiting a claim.
regards 
Browsing03

Browsing03

Hi all,
update:
A claim was issued by DCB Legal in November 2024.
I responded with the usual template defence plus paragraph 3 in the usual manner.
The claim was signed by SE.
I had the usual response letter from DCB Legal and since then nothing.
I’m a bit fed up of checking MCOL every month as postage from the courts reference the DQ is unreliable.
Do I just leave it in no mans land or should I push for something to progress?

Coupon-mad

Just tell the CNBC if you change address.

ChirpyChicken

Nothing is going to happen with that now