DCBL Final Notice Letter - Defence Being Prepared

bonsterbay

Hi all, 

Hope someone can help.

I have received a number of debt recovery letters from DCBL for a PCN received in December 2023. The original PCN correspondence was sent to my previous address as I had forgot to update my V5C (now done).

The car park in question is run by Bank Park Management Ltd, and states that users must enter their reg in touch screen in the various retail/restaurant premises for 2 hours free parking, which i forgot to do. I was on site for a little over 1hour and a few minutes while I ate breakfast at the onsite restaurant.

DCBL eventually mailed me at my new address to say I owed them £170.

As a naive fool i called DCBL to explain that I had not received any correspondence, they just replied it was my responsibility to keep my V5C updated (fair enough). I can't remember what else was said, other than that I would not pay the ridiculous fine. When i quoted the PCN number on the letter from DCBL, they were unable to find the details and instead had to find it via my registration number.

I called the restaurant to complain, and while they were sympathetic they said they couldn't do anything as they are not the owners of the car park (i'm unsure who is).

I also emailed Bank Park several times, to ask for original copies of all correspondence as I had nothing (they emailed me back copies) and they stated that I was outside the appeals time due to me not getting the paper work sent to the correct address.

So, do even have a defence? Should i ignore DCBL further or just pay the fine?

I have read through the NEWBIE thread as much as possible and can't really see how to deal with my situation, so any advice would be much appreciated.

Coupon-mad

There's no fine!

You won't be paying a penny.  No idea why people think otherwise. This will be easy to defend using the template defence.

BUT BUT BUT you must email DCB Ltd one more time and tell them to erase the old address.  Copy in Bank Park's DPO email too.   Even though they traced the new address you CANNOT leave them holding 2 possible addresses for a claim.

That's all.  Then await the LBC from DCB Legal, which you know from the NEWBIES thread how to respond to.

bonsterbay

Thanks Coupon-mad. I have had no email correspondence with DCBL, only directly with Bank Park. I presume I should still email them directly?

Also, what is the defence, when it gets to the LBC stage?

Coupon-mad

Email both & use the word erase.

Doesn't matter what the defence is (once you get the claim form) because we have a Template Defence and DCB Legal almost always discontinue defended court claims.

And LBC stage is already in the NEWBIES thread which I will never repeat in threads because we want people to go & read the 2nd post of it for themselves, and be confident.

bonsterbay

After sending the LBC i have received the following;

Dear xxxx xxxxx  

  

We write in response to your correspondence received in our office dated 31st May 2024.  

 

We now respond to the same as follows. 

 

The terms and conditions on the signs on site, stated that parking was permitted for vehicles that purchased a valid ticket. Therefore, your claim this was not 2-hour free parking is incorrect.  

 

The parking charge of £100.00 has been issued as per the Contract. A charge of £70.00 has been added to the sum as per the contractual costs outlined on the signs, as the Claimant has had to go to the expense of instructing debt collection agencies to recover the debt. 

 

The HMRC ‘VAT Supply and Consideration manual’ (VATSC06140), which was last updated on 02 September 2020, confirmed that parking charge notices falls out of the scope of VAT.

Our Client applied to the DVLA for the details of the Registered Keeper of the Vehicle. Your name and address of xx xxxx xxxx, xxx xxx were provided. It is your responsibility, as the Registered Keeper, to ensure the DVLA is kept up to date with your current address at all times.

You were afforded the opportunity to; appeal the parking charge, transfer liability to the driver (if it was not you) or make payment. Neither a successful appeal, nor an adequate nomination were received, yet payment remains outstanding.  

 

DCB Legal have been instructed as all previous attempts to resolve the matter have been unsuccessful. 

 

You now have 30 days from the date of this email to make payment of £170.00. Failure to make payment will result in a Claim being issued against you without any further reference. 

Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account: - 

Account Name: DCB Legal Ltd Client Account     

Sort Code: 20-24-09     

Account Number: 60964441 

You must quote the correct case reference (117071.10704D) when making payment. If you do not, we may be unable to correctly allocate the payment. If further action is taken by us as a result of an incorrect reference being quoted, you will be liable for any further fees or costs incurred. 

 

We would ask that you kindly furnish us with your most up to date telephone number and email address, this can be emailed to us at info@dcblegal.co.uk.  

 

Alternatively, you can contact DCB Legal Ltd on 0203 838 7038 to make payment over the telephone or online at  


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Do i just ignore this and wait for the claim form?

Coupon-mad

Neither.  Report DCB Legal to HMRC now.  They are pretending that the £70 is part of the parking charge and thus exempt from VAT but THAT ISN'T THE CASE.

A debt recovery fee added by DCB is (clearly) a debt recovery fee, and VAT applies and the VAT element of the fee CANNOT be passed to the consumer.

Say the above to HMRC.  Online form. Easy and anonymised whistle-blowing but it's REALLY important that everyone does it. Took me 5 or 10 mins when I reported another notorious parking 'legal' in the same way re VAT concerns.

To find that same template DCB reply on other threads please search the forum for DCB Legal and a few words from their sentence on VAT. You'll see what the concern is about & that potentially £millions could be recouped by HMRC if our concerns are correct.

patient_dream

DCBL SAY .....

"The HMRC ‘VAT Supply and Consideration manual’ (VATSC06140), which was last updated on 02 September 2020, confirmed that parking charge notices falls out of the scope of VAT"

They are right regarding the £100 ticket price. 
THEY ARE WRONG by adding adding their fake charge to the ticket price and then mislead YOU, mislead the court and worst of all mislead HMRC

Contractual charges and damages that DCBL use are just a cloud dreaming words for DEBT COLLECTION

As Coupon-mad says, advise HMRC that DCBL are misleading you

bonsterbay

Ok, thanks both. I’ll try and find the form on the forum

 So what should I do with further correspondence from them. 

fisherjim

bonsterbay said:

 ........as the Claimant has had to go to the expense of instructing debt collection agencies to recover the debt. 

    

And that in itself is yet another lie, the claimant has not had "the expense of instructing debt collection agencies" they work on a no win no fee basis, and they want you the defendant to pay them as an add on!

They just treat the general public as dimwits and make up any old twaddle to get their inflated charges in!

LDast

bonsterbay said:

 So what should I do with further correspondence from them. 

You are unlikely to receive further correspondence from them until later in the process when they beg you to settle for less... which you ignore as it will be their preliminary step before discontinuing.

The next thing you are going to receive it the N1SDT claim form. A re-read of both the second post of the Newbies/FAQ and the Template Defence threads is required from you in order to refresh your memory about what your next steps will be.

Coupon-mad

bonsterbay said:

Ok, thanks both. I’ll try and find the form on the forum

 So what should I do with further correspondence from them. 

What form?

We advised you simply to make an online 'VAT concerns' complaint to HMRC about DCB Legal.  There's no form and it's nothing to do with the forum.

Please tell us once it's done. I advised you exactly what to say.  Takes ten minutes.