DCB Legal Claim for 3 PCN for Business Vehicles

UKPUMPMAN

Coupon-mad said:

I think you have grounds to also counterclaim.

They are notoriously hard to plead and win, though.

If I were you I'd ask David (who posts here on the forum as @bargepole ) if he fancies taking it on and writing you a well-pleaded defence & counterclaim.

For a small fee he can help you and I suspect the counterclaim should be four figures because you are the wrong Defendant:

I am completely unconnected to the firm and have never been involved in it, just to be clear!

I am suggesting this route because I think your CC should be 4 figures and I know David has done this before, successfully.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will get in contact with David and see if this is something he would take on.

Would probably be worth the fee even if it is unlikely that I will win a counterclaim, as I have a very busy schedule and making time for writing the defence may prove difficult.

UKPUMPMAN

Le_Kirk said:

Whose name is on the N1 claim forms and does this correspond with the name of the Registered Keeper?

My personal name is on the Claim Form, but I am not the registered keeper. 

The registered keeper is the company I work for (I do not own it), which I informed DCB Legal of in a previous letter in June.

B789

Interesting that your name appears on the N1 claim form but you are not the RK. Are you a director in your dad's company?

Fruitcake

B789 said:

Interesting that your name appears on the N1 claim form but you are not the RK. Are you a director in your dad's company?

I suspect the PPC latched onto the OP because he responded to the original PCNs on behalf of his employer's company and now the leeches won't let go. They have a name and seem to have made the obtuse assumption that he must have been driving all 3 vehicles at the same time.

@UKPUMPMAN, how did you and your dad get on with your complaints to the landowner/the company that contracted your dad's company to carry out the emergency work? Have you made the complaints to your respective MPs yet? 

I think local and national press might be interested in this. "Hero work-crew prevent massive sewage spill but get a court claim for unauthorised parking."

UKPUMPMAN

B789 said:

Interesting that your name appears on the N1 claim form but you are not the RK. Are you a director in your dad's company?

No I am not a director, the only reason I can think of is that National Parking Control had my name from my original contest against the charges and have passed this information onto DCB Legal who have then pursued the wrong person. 

Umkomaas

UKPUMPMAN said:

B789 said:

Interesting that your name appears on the N1 claim form but you are not the RK. Are you a director in your dad's company?

No I am not a director, the only reason I can think of is that National Parking Control had my name from my original contest against the charges and have passed this information onto DCB Legal who have then pursued the wrong person. 

That will be exactly that, because there was no other way they would have acquired your name.  Understandable in the first instant, especially you responding in your own name, not that of the company (to which the first letters were addressed?).  But the subsequent outlining of the company's position as registered keeper should have seen them switch to dealing with the company, not you. But little is logical in the private parking sector, especially anything that needs more than a brain cell to understand. They have the smell of blood, and they will ignore anything that gets in the way of them bringing their prey down. 

B789

So, how or why did you make contact with the bottom-dwellers in the first place. Did your dad just give you the NtKs and tell you to deal with them? In what capacity did you respond to the PCNs?

UKPUMPMAN

Hi Everyone, sorry for the inactivity, I have been very busy with work and had to put this to the side for a bit. 

I reached out to David, unfortunately I did not hear back. I have decided to use the template and plead my own case and want to share what I have in my facts section so far, is there anything I should include or omit? 

I also want to counterclaim on the basis that they have acted unreasonably, does this need to be included in the conclusion where I am claiming for costs?

My defence is as below (I have left out the copy and paste bits from the template that I am sure you have all seen a million times! As well as removed the name of the company who are the RK replacing it with (The company I work for)):

1.  The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  Further, it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as agents) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the boilerplate text in the Particulars of Claim ('the POC').

 

The facts known to the Defendant:

2. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  Conversely, the Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case.  The POC is devoid of any detail and even lacks specific breach allegation(s), making it very difficult to respond. The Defendant was neither the registered keeper, nor the driver of the vehicle at the material time and the claim is purely vexatious.

3. The Defendant is employed by a Pump Company that on 13/10/22 were carrying out emergency works at Enderby Wharf on behalf of another drainage company. The works involved repairs to the pipework of a sewage pump station that would have overflowed if it was not for the works being carried out. Heavy confined space equipment was necessary to carry out the works, as a confined space entry was required to enter the pit and cut out/install the pipework and valves. The engineers were told they were ok to park the vans outside the building while works were carried out. No PCNs were affixed to the vehicle at the time of the alleged breach.

4. A Notice to Keeper was received the following week by (The company I work for), which the Defendant was asked to appeal on behalf of the company, which he did on 19/10/22. The Claimant has sent the Defendant a copy of the appeal containing ‘Note: Keeper was the selected choice’, the Defendant has no recollection of selecting ‘Keeper’ on the appeal form and usually selects ‘other’ in this section when appealing parking charges like this, as the Defendant is not, nor has ever been the Registered Keeper or Driver of this vehicle. This appeal was rejected with what the Defendant views as a copy and paste email, with no relevance to the evidence submitted, therefore this was ignored.

5. The Defendant received a Letter of Claim for £160.00 from DCB Legal on behalf of the Claimant addressed to them to their home address on 19/05/23. This letter claimed that the Defendant was liable as the driver or the keeper. Due to the Defendant being neither of these at the material time, the Defendant wrote a letter responding to the Letter of Claim clearly explaining that they were neither the driver nor the registered keeper and included the name and address of the registered keeper (The company I work for) where future correspondence regarding this case should be addressed.

6. The Defendant received an email on 24/07/23 claiming ‘Regarding your request to change addresses, please note that the details provided do not bring up a serviceable address. As such, we are not able to change the details.’. This confused the Defendant as the address was the same as the Notice to Keeper letters were first sent, so it was assumed that DCB Legal were just being unreasonable. The Defendant has clearly still been pursued for these costs rather than (The company I work for), inducing a lot of stress and worry for the Defendant.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as always.

B789

Can you show us the PoC? There has been a very recent appeal case that is persuasive on the courts that could get this thrown out without a hearing.

1505grandad

"....carrying out emergency works at Enderby Wharf...."  -  is that a residential site?