UKPC/DCB Claim Form Defence

thefoxanddragon

Hi, I've been using this site for help with a PCN received from UKPC last year, thanks for all the helpful posts, templates and guidance.

DCB Legal have issued a claim form and I have followed the process set out in the sticky, I have sent the AOS (24 May) and I have created a first draft of my defence using the template. Would anyone be able to offer some feedback on paragraph 2+3 please? Hoping DCB do their usual trick of pulling the plug at the last minute.

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle.

3. The Defendant entered the street in question from the surrounding streets, at no point was it apparent that there was a prohibition on entering this specific street. The Defendant stopped near the riverside to take photographs of the surrounding scenery and the vehicle, having noted no prohibitions on stopping in the road (no kerbside markings). The Defendant was very surprised to receive a letter for a parking charge a few weeks later, which did not show any evidence of the vehicle parked, rather CCTV images of the vehicle driving through an open road. Upon revisiting the site, the Defendant saw only inadequate signage proclaiming ’Registered Users Only’ at the location of the CCTV cameras.

For a driver proceeding at the appropriate speed through the area, this sign is wholly inadequate to form the basis of a contract through which a charge can be levied, it is neither clear that this road is private land (it is part of a continuous road network in the area constructed of the same material, with no barrier or obvious change in street furniture/layout) nor is it clear how a driver could read the sign, understand whether they qualified as a Registered User, and a decision made as to whether to proceed, within the seconds it takes to drive past. The signage in the other areas of the road (close to the river) is equally inadequate, being composed of incredibly small font and not highlighting key information, whilst being located high above the ground – all of which greatly impede readability. The signs closer to the river state ‘No Unauthorised Parking’, without explaining what constitutes authorisation, and state ‘No parking on yellow lines or in an area with hatched markings’. The Claimant has shown no evidence that the Defendant was parked on yellow lines or in hatched markings. Furthermore, none of this information led the Defendant to consider he was entering into a contract for parking with an outsized charge that would lead to years of threatening and unpleasant letters.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

thefoxanddragon

Hi Keith, it's 19 May 23

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 19th May, you have until Wednesday 7th June to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 21st June 2023 to file your Defence.

That's three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

B789

It is a UKPC/DCB Legal bottom-dwelling duo claim. Read the particulars of claim (PoC) and make sure your defence refers to what is in the PoC. As it is from DCB Legal, they are atrociously sparse, vague and ambiguous. Use the template defence as in this example, just replace paras #2 and #3 with your version:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5r7vbqttho3q948/2023 defence.pdf?dl=0

What you have written above is more like a witness statement. Keep it very simple and you can, if necessary, expand on it later in your WS although unlikely as they will discontinue before any hearing.

For #3 something like: "The Claimant is put to strict proof that any contravention occurred as no evidence has been provided. The Defendant questions the veracity of the claimant's statement of truth".

Coupon-mad

Yep just remove that large narrative end paragraph and keep it for your later WS before they discontinue.  Include the extra paras as seen in the above link. Easy!

thefoxanddragon

Thanks everyone - that's super helpful. I will submit the defence shortly - I don't think there's anything to be gained from waiting for the deadline?

Coupon-mad

Nope all good as long as you are using the linked version with its extra paras 5-11 and are going to be following the first 12 steps religiously (in the Template Defence thread).

thefoxanddragon

Yes, have updated to include the extra steps from the latest file. Side note, I found it a little tricky to get the pdf into an editable state -LibreOffice couldn't manage it at all, and Word did but required quite a lot of rejigging. NB for anyone in future with the same issue, take car with word as the numbering and spacing of the paragraphs can quite easily get mixed up, read through it many times to check!

Thanks everyone.

Umkomaas

UKPC/DCB Legal claims are flooding the court system at the moment. Looks like UKPC have heaved across their entire back catalogue of unpaid charges for DCB Legal to get their teeth into. But, play the game, go through all the required phases and in due course find your name in lights on the following thread.

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