DCB Legal / ParkingEye

cheme7676

Hi,

The claim is for a 20 minute stay in a car park (as opposed to 15? not sure it was somebody else driving my car & was a while ago). The event took place 28/02/22 and NTK was issued 19/04/22. At the time, I took no action whatsoever to appeal etc.

On the 28th June I received a Letter of Claim from DCB Legal on behalf of ParkingEye. I followed this up with a SAR Request on the 10th July since I had lost all the NTKs from Parkingeye. They emailed me back with this information on July 27th.

At the same time I submitted the SAR Request, I emailed the landlord to complain. However I did not get a reply.

Strangely. On the 20th July, I get a letter "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs" where they say their client may be offered to "settle" to avoid further costs being incurred and help the court etc. The thing is, they have not even raised a claim against me but imply that they have. They also left the "Claim Number" part blank.

Any guidance would be appreciated! Do I just wait for them to bite the bullet and submit a claim with the court and defend as usual from there?

YankeeBrit

I'm assuming that this is separate from your other DCB Legal issue: Court Claim CP Plus & DCB Legal Ltd

As you point out, you have not yet received a claim, only a LoC which gives you 30 days notice that they may or may not issue a claim after the 30 days. As this is not your first PCN that you are dealing with, you should know the procedure by now and all is explained in the Newbies/FAQ thread.

You either respond to the LoC rebutting their allegations and demand they provide you with the evidence they are relying on, and/or tell them you require 30 days to seek debt advice although no debt is admitted but don't do this until around day 28 of their 30-day limit. You then wait for their claim to arrive.

As this is PE and they are using DCB Legal, it is fair to assume that added damages have/will be added and so the template defence (updated 2023) with the added points from the Johny86 defence should be used. An example of which is linked to here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y2dbj71jq99yslexl530p/Updated-defence-Aug2023.rtf?rlkey=i07s8l5q8o1c9c2sd7qqnoe3p&dl=0

It would appear that PE has started using the intellectually malourished DCB Legal for claims that they are unsure of being able to win and so we expect that if they are robustly defended using the template defence, they will eventually discontinue. However, you must still follow all the steps as advised in the Newbie/FAQ thread.

cheme7676

Thanks for your help @YankeeBrit

Yes you are right, this is separate.

Since it's ParkingEye, should I use the "enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk" to try go back to appeal stage - as on the Newbie's thread? I'm not entirely sure what the benefit would be since we would repeat the entire process again to get to this very point again but thought I should mention.

In terms of replying to the LoC, the 30-day deadline has passed (it was issued 28th June). I should then respond to this imminently by letting them know I'm seeking debt advice although no debt admitted? (Basically it's not too late provided they haven't taken action yet right?)

I don't think I received a "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs" from DCB Legal beforehand. On my previous PCNs they went straight to small claims after LBC. Does the fact they're looking to compromise at thing point show that they really are doubting their chances at all?

Umkomaas

cheme7676 said:

Thanks for your help @YankeeBrit

Yes you are right, this is separate.

1. Since it's ParkingEye, should I use the "enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk" to try go back to appeal stage - as on the Newbie's thread? I'm not entirely sure what the benefit would be since we would repeat the entire process again to get to this very point again but thought I should mention.

2. In terms of replying to the LoC, the 30-day deadline has passed (it was issued 28th June). I should then respond to this imminently by letting them know I'm seeking debt advice although no debt admitted? (Basically it's not too late provided they haven't taken action yet right?)

3. I don't think I received a "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs" from DCB Legal beforehand. On my previous PCNs they went straight to small claims after LBC. Does the fact they're looking to compromise at thing point show that they really are doubting their chances at all?

1. You can try, it might disrupt the process, but I expect you'll be bounced back to DCB Legal.

2. Get on with that straight away.  If they haven't yet issued a claim, you should get the 30-day hold. 

3. As this is just a conveyor belt operation, PE having only recently contracted DCB Legal to chase up their unpaid parking charges (they will have dumped multi-thousands of cases on them), there is no scope for any human interaction (like 'doubts'), the juggernaut will plough on. 

https://portfolio.cpl.co.uk/Parking-News/432/24/

Only later in the process might you sense the hand of a human involvement. But, you must continue to play the game. Please read the thread below!

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

cheme7676

Thanks both.

Submitted the email to the DCB Legal for seeking debt advice as per Newbie's thread.

Will wait to see if they indeed take it further. I'll post here once there's been any update

YankeeBrit

cheme7676 said:

Thanks both.

Submitted the email to the DCB Legal for seeking debt advice as per Newbie's thread.

Will wait to see if they indeed take it further. I'll post here once there's been any update

You seem to have missed the fact that the intellectually malnourished DCB Legal will indeed "take this further". However, when robustly defended according to the advice here, it will, eventually, be discontinued In the meantime follow all the steps you are already familiar with or go refresh by re-reading the Newbies/FAQ thread.

patient_dream

We all know that Parking Eye are dancing with the devil and PE will end up with egg on their faces
It does not matter how big the parking company is, they are open to failure and it will be a repeat of the UKPC  RUBBISH, especially that PE signs are on par with UKPC

We await the first DCBL/PE discontinuation and all their "our client wants to deal" junk

The rot for PE will start .... MORE FOOL PARKING EYE

Umkomaas

I think PE are jumping on the DCB Legal gravy train ahead of the cementing into place of the new Code of Practice.  Clear their decks in readiness to make way for its implementation, leaving it to a third party to shovel the proverbial. I suspect that PE won't be too exercised whether DCB Legal succeed significantly, but you can be sure they will pull in income that they would not have otherwise seen, or not without a disproportionate effort on their own part. 

patient_dream

Umkomaas said:

I think PE are jumping on the DCB Legal gravy train ahead of the cementing into place of the new Code of Practice.  Clear their decks in readiness to make way for its implementation, leaving it to a third party to shovel the proverbial. I suspect that PE won't be too exercised whether DCB Legal succeed significantly, but you can be sure they will pull in income that they would not have otherwise seen, or not without a disproportionate effort on their own part. 

I'm sure you are right for the moment.
DCBL and the scare tactics they use will work on many people. Of course not this forum

Of course DCBL can only get involved once POPLA has favoured PE ..... and POPLA are in love with PE ?

Once we get an independent appeals service and I don't mean the Cartel that operates at present, tears will be shed

A cartel is a group of independent companies which join together to fix prices, to limit production or to share markets or customers between them. Cartelists can also collude on product quality or innovation. Action against cartels is a specific type of antitrust enforcement.

And this foolish government still call it the private parking industry

Umkomaas

Of course DCBL can only get involved once POPLA has favoured PE ..... and POPLA are in love with PE ?

That's not a prerequisite. There will be many more thousands who will simply ignore everything from PE. 

patient_dream

Umkomaas said:

Of course DCBL can only get involved once POPLA has favoured PE ..... and POPLA are in love with PE ?

That's not a prerequisite. There will be many more thousands who will simply ignore everything from PE. 

I'm sure there are . and that is why PE want a robo claimer, hence the farm out to DCBL just like UKPC use DCBL as a public convenience, , seems PE are taking the same route. "NOT OUR MONEY GUV"