Advice wanted regarding Letter of Claim from DCB Legal

aRatherAnnoyedCitizen

Earlier this year, I arrived one day at a car park managed by GroupNexus to do some shopping. Came back just over 2 hours later and went to pay the parking fee. The signs stated that I could pay at anytime that suited me as long as the bill was settled prior to departure. I'd exceeded the 2-Hour free period, but should've been able to retroactively pay for the additional time.
Unfortunately I found that all the payment terminals were out of order. I attempted to download a parking app (as advertised on-site) but couldn't due to either a bad signal or a fault with the app store. After an additional hour of wandering around trying to find a way to pay, (including checking the signs) I concluded that surely the Operator should be aware of the issue with the terminals and suspended active monitoring until the issue was resolved, but quickly shot footage of the terminals in case I needed proof. After this I left. I was there for over 3 hours in total.

Seems my assumption was wrong. Shortly after I started receiving letters from GroupNexus, then DCB Limited demanding payment. As per advice from family members and later this forum when I initially discovered it, I chose to ignore them.
This weekend I got a letter from DCB LEGAL entitled 'Letter of Claim'. From what I understand, they are about to get serious. The letter states that I have 30 days to either pay up or submit a reply. (Letter is dated from 4 days before I received it, so just a few days over 20 now...)

I confess I find the prospect intimidating, especially if I'm required to turn up to a court and defend myself in front of a hostile room. I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle the pressure. Not to mention there's still a few things that confuse me. This is in part why I'm here on the forum today.

I think I somewhat understand what I need to do, but here's what I'd like to know/confirm:

• Should I wait until actual court summons/instructions from the court or should I start submitting documents now? I saw something about filing an AoS, but not sure if I fully understood it. (I'm guessing the answer to this question is 'start now')
• With regards to submitting a SAR, is there a template for this? The only link I can find leads to a dead-end
• With regards to not being able to download the parking app, will this hold up in my defence? Or will I just be told that it's not a valid excuse? (This is my main concern and what prompted me to post here)
  
• Slightly unrelated: I know now that I really should've appealed this with the first letter, but I was under the impression that with most of these cowboy companies any actual attempts to appeal would just be rejected anyway regardless of how cut and dry the evidence was. (Was I right or wrong?)
• Will DCB/Group Nexus try and use the absence of an Appeal against me?

Alternately, should I just accept defeat and pay? (I'm reluctant, as not my fault their Payment machines were broken! but at the same time some of the processes look like a headache and last thing I want to be doing is make things worse for myself!)

I read the Newbies Sticky Posts and apologize in advance if I'm asking questions that have already been answered there. (Might've missed them in my haste) I'm submitting this anyway because I want to be certain that I am doing this all correctly and not misinterpreting anything. Also want to make certain that my specific chain of events will actually hold up and not hinder me.
I've not had to deal with legal jargon quite like this before, so please understand this is all uncharted territory for me. I'm not a lawyer!

Apologies for the long post, Thank you for your time. Let me know your thoughts and if you need any additional information in order to help me.

I've already drafted a witness statement, so if nobody minds I'll post it for feedback/second opinions.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

I'll just address this one point for now...

aRatherAnnoyedCitizen said:

I confess I find the prospect intimidating, especially if I'm required to turn up to a court and defend myself in front of a hostile room. I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle the pressure.

A hostile room?

I guess you haven't seen this video?...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n93eoaxhzpU

Just three or four people sitting round a table having a discussion.

That video was made a few years ago and most hearings nowadays seem to be via telephone or video link.

Coupon-mad

You won't go to court anyway as DCBLegal will discontinue in 2024.  Easy as pie to defend and kill.

aRatherAnnoyedCitizen

KeithP said:
I guess you haven't seen this video?...

Forgive me, I've never had the pleasure or misfortune of setting foot in a court of law before, so I didn't really know what to expect, though in hindsight that should've been part of my research over the past few days on how to proceed. I guess I was all wrapped up in figuring out what paperwork to file and how!

Either way, thank you very much for making me aware of this awareness Keith! That puts my mind to rest.

my main concern is whether I'll be fobbed off on account of the app - will that hinder me at all? That said, should I even be worried?

Coupon-mad said:

You won't go to court anyway as DCBLegal will discontinue in 2024.  Easy as pie to defend and kill.

You mean to tell me they're going out of business? Am I understanding that correctly?

-

Also, regarding the SAR request template. I found the link to it on Legal Beagle earlier and mistook it for something else. Upon second reading I can indeed see it's a template!

I've taken the template and made my own modifications. Will also attach a scan of the V5C logbook as recommended on the Newbies thread. Do I also need to explicitly state whether I am the keeper of the vehicle or should I just use the template as is? Just to make sure I don't say anything that hampers any of my defence!

Coupon-mad

No. They discontinue all defended claims.

DO NOT SEND A SAR.

1505grandad

"They discontinue all defended claims."

All 200 of them in the last 400 days   -  courtesy of Umkomaas:- 

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

UncleThomasCobley

@aRatherAnnoyedCitizen... STOP! Slow down. Take a breath. You are rushing headlong into a FUBAR situation.

Go back and carefully read the second post of the Newbies/FAQ thread which details exactly what you need to do and when. The only thing you should ignore in that post is the bit about the SAR. Do not send a SAR. You have all the details and so you don't need one.

Right now, all you need do is wait for a claim to be issued. They are most likely to do so and that will be their downfall. As DCB Legal are involved, you can place money on the fact that this will never reach a hearing. If you follow all the advice (carefully), this will end up being discontinued.

aRatherAnnoyedCitizen

UncleThomasCobley said:

Right now, all you need do is wait for a claim to be issued. They are most likely to do so and that will be their downfall. As DCB Legal are involved, you can place money on the fact that this will never reach a hearing. If you follow all the advice (carefully), this will end up being discontinued.

So if I'm understanding the second post of the Newbies thread correctly, I need to hold my nerve and wait until I get official documents from the court.
Then, and only then I file the AoS and begin with the other formal processes (WS, N180, etc)

Le_Kirk

Yes, you will get a claim form (N1) from CNBC/CCBC, then you submit your AoS, then the important step - the DEFENCE - using the template, then allocation, N180, WS etc.

UncleThomasCobley

You really shouldn't be getting "nervous" about this. We deal with this on a daily basis and it is almost 100% guaranteed that DCB Legal will discontinue before this ever gets to a hearing. Also, now there also a very recent appeal judgment which is persuasive on the court that their claim will be struck out at allocation stage. Have read of this thread:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

aRatherAnnoyedCitizen

Ok, I think I now have a much better understanding of what to do now - Thank you all for your help, this has helped put my mind to rest! Not to mention the string of DCB's discontinuations longer than my arm helps my confidence a fair bit!

I'd also like to apologize for coming off as panicky, this is all fairly new to me and I wanted to make sure that I was doing this right. I did read the FAQs but something about them didn't quite click with me until now, hence why I posted here.

On the plus side, I've written a draft of my witness statement already, so at least I'm somewhat prepared for what's to come. I'll post a copy here for feedback closer to the time if that's ok with you guys.

In the meantime, I shall keep a watchful eye on my letter box.

Thank you all once again!