Wrongful fine - County Court Claim

elanurt74

Hi,

I’m new to this forum and have read through the Newbie threads and Templates but I’m still really confused on what to do and would really appreciate some advice.

Back in July last year I was working, and transferred to a different store for three days as they were understaffed. We don’t have to pay for parking when we’re working, so the manager of the store asked my registration number, I gave it to him, and he reassured me that it would be wiped from their system.

I recieved 3 parking fines from Parking Eye. I initially ignored these, until I received a letter of claim. I spoke to the security who works for Parking Eye at the location, and he told me he would wipe all 3 fines. I also, stupidly, submitted a counter claim. I am 21 and a relatively new driver and to be honest had no idea that I wasn’t supposed to do that. 

Regardless, he didn’t wipe them, and I’ve now received a county court claim letter with DCB legal’s defence questionnaire attached. It also said I had 7 days to settle the claim. I rang the security at Parking Eye once again, spoke to somebody different, and he assured me he would wipe them. Once again, stupidly, I didn’t ring DCB legal within the timeframe. The security then came back to me after the timeframe, explaining that he managed to wipe one of the fines but the other two are too late in the process and are being taken to court.

I have realised since reading these threads that I made a mistake in making a counterclaim and also missing the timeframe to settle.

Can anyone please advise me if there’s anything I can do to avoid going to court? I’m a student and finding the whole thing so stressful because they’re asking for over £400 with admin fees etc bunked on top.

Should I just pay, or do I go to court and try to win? Is paying even an option at this point seeing as I missed the 7 day mark? Ultimately I know I wasn’t supposed to receive the fine, which would be my leg to stand on, but could I lose in court for ignoring the fines? I have evidence of all messages where I gave my registration and proof that I was working etc.

porridgestation

Firstly you won't be paying anything. Feels good now right? You won't need to pay anything.

These are not fines, but claims of 'damages' from breaching a contract. Not council penalty charges but just legally dubious claims of damages from parking on private land.

DCB Legal picks up the hopeless parking cases that they can't actually win in court, hoping for a default judgment. They will run off at the first sign of a Money Saving Expert Forums backed defendant. Some gentle paperwork and you'll be free.

On the Claim Letter you'll have a password to log into Money Claims Online (MCOL) and file your Acknowledge of Service (AoS). Once done you can begin a robust defence using the templates in the Newbies thread.

Have you spoken to your employer about these parking charges? I'm sure they would be horrified at their employees being hassled and threatened by these aggressive parking companies.

Fruitcake

They are not fines.

Plan A is a complaint to the landowner, your employer, and your MP, and it is never too late to do so.

Please show us the redacted claim form, your defence and counterclaim, and PE's defence to your counterclaim (or whatever letters you have received because it is not clear from your initial post). Leave all dates showing.

Never, ever 'phone a parking company or any of their agents, ever. Stop, and block their number if they try to ring you.

nopcns

Calm down. You haven't received any "fines". Also, stop calling whoever it is that you think is ParkingEye and asking them to cancel the speculative invoices. Unless you have anything in writing, you may as well believe in unicorns if you think you can prove that they promised to cancel anything.

Nobody who has arrived here and read the Newbies/FAQ thread pays a penny in a claim filed by DCB Legal on behalf of anyone. You are going to get a claim form or two, depending on how many outstanding PCNs there are. They are easily defended using the template defence and, as long as you follow the advice, you will eventually see your username in lights on the DCB Legal discontinuation thread.

What has your employer said about getting the PCNs cancelled? What has the "manager" you dealt with who said they would enter your car reg into the system to prevent you getting a PCN said?

What exactly do you mean with "...I’ve now received a county court claim letter with DCB legal’s defence questionnaire attached. It also said I had 7 days to settle the claim."? Have you received a Letter of Claim or have you received an N1 claim form from the CNBC?

You need to go back and re-read the second post in the Newbies/FAQ thread to figure out what you need to do depending on what the letter you are referring to is, an LoC or an actual claim form.

elanurt74

nopcns said:

Calm down. You haven't received any "fines". Also, stop calling whoever it is that you think is ParkingEye and asking them to cancel the speculative invoices. Unless you have anything in writing, you may as well believe in unicorns if you think you can prove that they promised to cancel anything.

Nobody who has arrived here and read the Newbies/FAQ thread pays a penny in a claim filed by DCB Legal on behalf of anyone. You are going to get a claim form or two, depending on how many outstanding PCNs there are. They are easily defended using the template defence and, as long as you follow the advice, you will eventually see your username in lights on the DCB Legal discontinuation thread.

What has your employer said about getting the PCNs cancelled? What has the "manager" you dealt with who said they would enter your car reg into the system to prevent you getting a PCN said?

What exactly do you mean with "...I’ve now received a county court claim letter with DCB legal’s defence questionnaire attached. It also said I had 7 days to settle the claim."? Have you received a Letter of Claim or have you received an N1 claim form from the CNBC?

You need to go back and re-read the second post in the Newbies/FAQ thread to figure out what you need to do depending on what the letter you are referring to is, an LoC or an actual claim form.

My employers said they couldn’t do anything, and the manager who took my reg initially gave me the mobile number for the security at Parking Eye, and instructed me to speak to him directly as they know him personally. I do have messages of correspondence with him.

I understand that you know the topic well so it’s probably frustrating to read, but I don’t know what type of letter it is. It isn’t titled. I’ve attached  a photo of the first page though. The rest of the pages are a pre-filled Defence Questionnaire from DCB legal. 

I’ve read over the threads a lot but I’m struggling to understand which part I’m actually up to in the process. I also don’t know if the fact I’ve made a counterclaim is going to impact anything, because another thread explained that if you make a counterclaim then it HAS to go to court as both sides have made a claim. I’m not sure though.

Thanks

elanurt74

Fruitcake said:

They are not fines.

Plan A is a complaint to the landowner, your employer, and your MP, and it is never too late to do so.

Please show us the redacted claim form, your defence and counterclaim, and PE's defence to your counterclaim (or whatever letters you have received because it is not clear from your initial post). Leave all dates showing.

Never, ever 'phone a parking company or any of their agents, ever. Stop, and block their number if they try to ring you.

I spoke to my employer who gave me the number for the Parking Eye security. I will look into contacting my local MP too.

So the letter of claim I've attached, is dated 14th Feb. I responded to the claim online through a government gateway website. I'm currently trying to find a way for me to log back in and get that, but I essentially outlined what I have in my initial post in this thread. I'm assuming I wasn't supposed to do that but I didn't know at the time. They came back to me on 26th March saying that they are going to proceed with the claim.

Coupon-mad

All of this is standard - see the Template Defence thread first 12 steps to suss out where you are at.  That DCB letter is already mentioned. The resources are here.

Did you pay a fee for the counterclaim?

What exactly did your defence & counterclaim say (verbatim please).

elanurt74

Coupon-mad said:

All of this is standard - see the Template Defence thread first 12 steps to suss out where you are at.  That DCB letter is already mentioned. The resources are here.

Did you pay a fee for the counterclaim?

What exactly did your defence & counterclaim say (verbatim please).

No I didn't pay a fee. I've been locked out of my government gateway account so I can't use verbatim but I briefly explained what I did in my initial thread; I was at the car park for work, I wrongfully received the fine as my reg was supposed to be wiped, was informed that it would be wiped.

In terms of where I am, would that be the acknowledgment of service part and the defence if I've already received a letter of claim and submitted a counterclaim? Or have I gone past that by filing the counterclaim?

Coupon-mad

OK so you don't have a counterclaim in then.

You are at the stage in the 12 steps (in the TEMPLATE DEFENCE thread not the NEWBIES thread) that talks about that latest DCB letter.

Umkomaas

This is what I wrote earlier today for a couple of PE/DCB Legal cases, both in similar positions to you. 

'Your case is one of a pile of 'no-chance-we'll-collect-ourselves' (ParkingEye) files shunted over to DCB Legal in the hope of some 'crumbs', and believe me, DCB Legal will frighten enough punters to make it a worthwhile effort for them and PE. You will need to defend this, but that will ensure you win when DCB Legal inevitably run away (discontinue). 

Start by reading how to respond to their LBC (includes a template reply) in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, thereafter read the following linked thread to give you confidence that if you follow forum advice, you will not only win, but have your win recorded in the DCB Legal Discontinuations thread. 👍

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

elanurt74

Umkomaas said:

This is what I wrote earlier today for a couple of PE/DCB Legal cases, both in similar positions to you. 

'Your case is one of a pile of 'no-chance-we'll-collect-ourselves' (ParkingEye) files shunted over to DCB Legal in the hope of some 'crumbs', and believe me, DCB Legal will frighten enough punters to make it a worthwhile effort for them and PE. You will need to defend this, but that will ensure you win when DCB Legal inevitably run away (discontinue). 

Start by reading how to respond to their LBC (includes a template reply) in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, thereafter read the following linked thread to give you confidence that if you follow forum advice, you will not only win, but have your win recorded in the DCB Legal Discontinuations thread. 👍

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

Thanks for that. Since reading over the threads I understand now that I have already submitted a defence. I didn’t realise the importance of it at the time, so I really didn’t support my case enough and just wish I’d seen the templates beforehand. DCB responded saying they intend to proceed, so I suppose now my only option is to defend in court. I just can’t wait for this to all be over.