Reach Settlement or Pursue Court?

WindowsTechSupport1

Hello, I would like to start off with giving a little context. I am currently in a legal battle between myself and a parking company due to unpaid parking tickets for not displaying a permit even though I hadn't been sent one. I had been sent multiple tickets during the period I didn't have a parking permit and had called back managing to get 1 or 2 of the tickets removed.

Now they have chased me up over this 6 year old ticket and have taken me to court. In my defence, I mentioned how I had some tickets cancelled but some weren't even though they were all given for the same reason and how debt collection cannot be pursued after 6 years. 


Now, the case stay on my court case has been lifted 4 days ago and the claimant submitted a DQ? but I didn't receive one. I have also just received a call from the claimants debt collection agency asking for a settlement (which they haven't told me the details of) between me and them and stop court procedures or carry on the court process. Now, I would like to ask, is this a routine call? Do I accept the settlement? Would they have even asked to pursue a settlement if they knew their claim would hold up in court? Should I carry on through court? Thank you.

Umkomaas

Who are the two 'theys'?

Trainerman

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

Fruitcake

With regards to the DQ, the court should have told you when to submit it, but there is nothing stopping you from downloading one yourself and submitting it, but don't use anything sent to you by the claimant.

You don't want it heard on papers, so you will need to say so in the DQ using the wording from this post.

County Court Claim received, parking fine from 2 years ago - drafting a defence - Page 5 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

It may not fit in the relevant box on the form, so insert a text box and paste the wording in, but set to font size 9 point text.

How did you get on with Plan A, a complaint to the landowner and your MP? It is never too late to do this.

Where did the alleged event occur? If it was at a residential site, what does your lease/AST say about parking and your right to quiet enjoyment? This will have priority over anything an unregulated private parking company has to say.

WindowsTechSupport1

Trainerman said:

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

It is a residential park where everyone had their own designated parks but wasn't enforced and no one had an issue until UKPC came along.

Umkomaas

WindowsTechSupport1 said:

Trainerman said:

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

It is a residential park where everyone had their own designated parks but wasn't enforced and no one had an issue until UKPC came along.

Well, that's one of the 'theys', from that I guess the other is DCB Legal.  You need to continue the court process, then you could well end up as one of the stars in the following thread:

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

WindowsTechSupport1

Umkomaas said:

WindowsTechSupport1 said:

Trainerman said:

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

It is a residential park where everyone had their own designated parks but wasn't enforced and no one had an issue until UKPC came along.

Well, that's one of the 'theys', from that I guess the other is DCB Legal.  You need to continue the court process, then you could well end up as one of the stars in the following thread:

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

OK. I will let them know that I would like to pursue court. Thank you!

WindowsTechSupport1

Umkomaas said:

WindowsTechSupport1 said:

Trainerman said:

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

It is a residential park where everyone had their own designated parks but wasn't enforced and no one had an issue until UKPC came along.

Well, that's one of the 'theys', from that I guess the other is DCB Legal.  You need to continue the court process, then you could well end up as one of the stars in the following thread:

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

Just for some info, what is their purpose of asking if they want to reach a settlement?

B789

What, exactly, did you put in your defence? If it is robust enough, and that shouldn't be too hard as the particulars of claim (PoC) which were signed by Yasmin Mia will have been woefully inadequate. However, if you've not defended properly, they could just try their luck and take it all the way to a hearing.

A robustly defended clam from an intellectually malnourished duo like UKPC/CB Legal will inevitably be discontinued. 

Jenni_D

WindowsTechSupport1 said:

Umkomaas said:

WindowsTechSupport1 said:

Trainerman said:

Is this to do with residential parking, parking at a place of business or something else ?

It is a residential park where everyone had their own designated parks but wasn't enforced and no one had an issue until UKPC came along.

Well, that's one of the 'theys', from that I guess the other is DCB Legal.  You need to continue the court process, then you could well end up as one of the stars in the following thread:

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

Just for some info, what is their purpose of asking if they want to reach a settlement?

Because they know their case is weak ... and it is likely to end up as discontinued as long as you defend robustly and follow the process through.

WindowsTechSupport1

B789 said:

What, exactly, did you put in your defence? If it is robust enough, and that shouldn't be too hard as the particulars of claim (PoC) which were signed by Yasmin Mia will have been woefully inadequate. However, if you've not defended properly, they could just try their luck and take it all the way to a hearing.

A robustly defended clam from an intellectually malnourished duo like UKPC/CB Legal will inevitably be discontinued. 

Here is my defence.

"First of all, I would like to start out by saying, my old flat had
a communal parking area which had designated parking spots for
each resident. Around 2016 a private traffic parking charge
company steps in and starts monitoring the area. All residents
residing in the flat were given a permit but us. Our permit ha
been sent to the landlord rather than to us. If we had gotten our
parking permit, all would've been well and good, but because I was
renting out the place and didn't own the flat, my permit had been
sent to the landlord. By the time my permit arrived, I had
acquired around 3-4 parking charges all for the same reason,
Parked in a permit area without displaying a valid permit. I do
have the parking permit even till this day but UKPC sending the
permit to the wrong address their ignorance of the situation that
they caused resulted in me getting 3-4 fines. Of course I
appealed, and I one of them had been revoked.

Since then I moved into a new flat and did not hear from UKPC
until I received a letter from UKPC legal team about a letter of
claim and paid it as I did not want to go to court due to their
fearmongering tactics through the idea of court. Before paying, I
had called asking why they would cancel some but not all parking
charges if they were all given for the same reason and there
response was that they don't know. This shows that even UKPC
themselves do not know why they are pursuing these parking charges
because they clearly do know that I am in the right hence why they
cancelled one of the many parking charges I recieved.

A few months later I recieve Letter of Claim. This time I will
seek my right through court because UKPC is metaphorically robbing
people in daylight. When I look back in my inbox I can find no
response to the appeal I had made against the parking charge in
question with reference number XXX at the time in 2017,
leading me to believe that they had stopped pursuing this
parking charge however that had not been the case as proven by the
letter of claim I received. The only thing in my inbox was
an automated repsonse Your charge will be placed on hold whilst
under appeal. So lack of communication and an answer also led m to
believe that UKPC would've perhaps stopped pursing the parkin
charge.

As part of my defence for this, I had requested a Subject Access
Request where I asked for all data held of me including, all
photos taken, all letters/emails sent and received, including any
appeal correspondence earlier, all data held, all evidence that
you will rely on, a full copy of the PCN, NTK, a list of all PCNs
outstanding against me, all PCNs which were cancelled,
all telephone recordings from my numbers XXX and/or
XXX as it is my right to do so under the Data Protection
Act 2018. Most of this data was sent over bar the data that would
bring to light their unlawful practices. The data they didn't send
over the telephone recording where the UKPC employee states she
doesn't know why some but not all parking charges are cancelled
despite all these parking charges being given for the same reason.
This selective sharing of information I believe is an attempt on
UKPC's half to hide the truth which I believe also violates the
Data Protection Act 2018. They asked for dates and times of the
telephone recordings even though that is irrelevant since I was
asking for ALL telephone recordings from my numbers.

I would also like to state that this parking charge was issued
around December 2016 and court proceedings have started in 2023 to
the best of my knowledge. Under the Limitation Act An action to
recover any sum recoverable by virtue of any enactment shall not
be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on
which the cause of action accrued and it has been over 7 years
since the issue of this parking charge. This is also the reason
why I stopped pursuing after data such as telephone recordings
which was to be used in this case as I had thought that after six
years, UKPC would abide by the law and stop chasing after this. I
feel that under the Limitation Act 1980, UKPC shall not be able to
pursue this recovery of the unpaid parking charge.

Overall, I hope you are able to see things from my perspective and
can see the wrongdoings and malpractice of UKPC. Thank you."