Civil Enforcement Limited & DCB Legal LTD - From LBA to County Court Claim

Mekky24

I am in receipt of 'Letter before Action  - Claim for Debt' from Civil Enforcement for unpaid £170 invoice (parking charge notice).  In November 2022 my wife visited Oxfam Charity shop and parked in the car park as she has done in the past but unknown to her on that occasion a new parking enforcement was in place requiring car details to be registered while in the shop.
A notice to the keeper was sent me as keeper of the vehicle. I appealed against it as the keeper without naming my wife as the driver as I needed to safe her the stress. I provided evidence to Civil Enforcement in form of screenshot of bank statement showing that I was a genuine customer at Oxfam shop at the time of contravention. I noticed photographic evidence of the parking restrictions in force at the car park at the time of the incident was not included in the notice which I pointed out to CE.
The appeal was unsuccessful but the charge was reduced to £20 which I still found unfair just for making innocent mistake. The photo of the parking restriction supplied was not taken at the car park location nor the timing of the photograph given. I felt the essence of the parking enforcement was not to punish innocent customers that made innocent mistake.

Following unsuccessful appeal to CE I approached Oxfam to get them to cancel the PCN. While waiting for Oxfam response to my email the deadline to pay the reduced amount elapsed and the fine was subsequently increase. Oxfam subsequently declined to intervene and cancel the PCN.

Due to my busy schedule I also missed the deadline to appeal to POPLA.

Debt recovery letters followed which I ignored.

Now in receipt of Letter before Action I am confused as to how to approach the situation. I don't really want to help fund these scammers preying on innocent and low abiding citizens. Please I need you advice on how to go about this. Can I name the driver at this stage? Or Should I respond to the Letter before Action as the keeper and save my wife the stress? The letter is dated 07/02/2024 and I have 30 days to respond. If the right approach is to respond to the letter please point me to the right guidance I can follow.

Fruitcake

You and your wife are the only ones who can decide who is best placed to defend a claim. Naming the driver should reset the clock, but there is no guarantee that will happen. Once the claim has been issued, naming the driver will have no effect; the keeper will have to defend.

If the NTK was not PoFA compliant then there is no argument; defend as keeper. If the NTK was PoFA compliant, then there is no advantage in naming the driver unless you want more time.

Coupon-mad

There is nothing to be gained by naming the driver, IMHO.  Protect her from the stress and defend the claim as keeper.

Mekky24

Many thanks for your replies. Very much appreciated.
I am willing to defend the claim as keeper. However, my wife thinks she would have paid the £20 if I had told her about it. She wants to know whether naming her as the driver will reset the process and give her opportunity to pay reduced amount. Has anyone ever come across such scenario?

Coupon-mad

As it's Civil Enforcement, no they won't.

troublemaker22

Have you checked whether the NTK is POFA compliant?  If not, definitely defend as keeper. Have you written to the Oxfam CEO to challenge their refusal to help a loyal customer (if it’s Oxfam’s own car park) or the site manager (if it’s a shared car park)?  Have you involved your MP?

Mekky24

Many thanks to those who provided comments on this issue. I’ll like to provide update and get your advice on the latest development.

I responded to letter before action from Civil Enforcement back in March 2024 requesting for a number of information. In their response they failed to provide all the requested information. One interesting thing was that they could not provide time stamped picture of parking restriction in force at the time of the incident. The picture they provided was not taken at the location and was taken before the date they confirmed they started managing the car park. When I pointed it out they claimed it was an error and apologised. 

I did not hear again from Civil Enforcement following the initial communications.

Surprisingly I received another Letter of Claim dated 15 August 2024 from DCB Legal (third party) last week relating to the same case given me 30 days to respond. I am confused by this development as I don’t understand why I have to go through the same pre-action protocol with a third party having done so with Civil Enforcement. It feels to me they are abusing the process. I am now wondering what to do with this latest request. I’m looking at the following options:

• Write to Civil Enforcement to complain they’re abusing the pre-action protocol and sharing my personal details with multiple third parties over the last two years.
• Respond to DCB Legal to make them aware of the ongoing pre-action correspondences with Civil Enforcement and because of that I am unable to deal with their request.
• Ignore the letter from DCB legal.

Your advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks 

Gr1pr

Personally I would respond with a short precis like you gave us above, telling them to refer it back to their client for clarification, then add that in the alternative,

Then copy and paste the template response to the reply 

You can also complain to the CEL legal team and copy in DCB Legal 

Coupon-mad

Don't do any of what you posted.  It is good that the case has gone to DCB Legal because they'll file a claim then discontinue it in 2025.

See the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread.   This is now the road to the scam being over.

Mekky24

Hello everyone,
Thank you all  for providing the invaluable information and guidance on this forum. I received Claim Form from HM Courts & Tribunal Service yesterday, 29/11/2024. The issue date of the form is 26 November 2024. The total amount being claimed is £283.20 (court fee and legal representative's fee inclusive). Please I need your advice to fight this case as I don't want to make mistake. I want to complete and send acknowledgment of service but will need your advice before doing so. Also it will be helpful if anyone can direct to a similar case where the outcome was successful so I can tailor my defence accordingly. 

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated. 

Kind regards,
Mekky24

Coupon-mad

Please show us the POC like you see on ALL other DCB Legal claim threads. Read half a dozen first.

And please change your thread title now.