Secure Parking Solutions / DCB Legal Claim x 2

Hamish_123

All advice appreciated.

Wonder what everyone’s thoughts are on this situation, haven’t come across a situation like this anywhere else. Stick with it, I’ll briefly explain! 

The car park in question is a small private gym with approx 30 spaces. Signs are sporadically placed around the car park without indicating which bays are “authorised” and “unauthorised”. Driver returned to car with a ticket attached to window. Driver spoke with the staff in the gym who said to simply ignore it. “They will send a few letters then they will just go away” was the advice. Soon after the first letter arrived (picture 1). Letter ignored. A follow up letter was then received (picture 2). Letter ignored. Then letters 3,4,5,6 and 7 then followed. All of which were ignored. 

As this was a gym that was attended several times a week, by the law of averages the driver returned to their vehicle on another occasion to a window ticket, but this time it was on a different vehicle that the driver owned (picture 8 ) - Notice the difference in “Date of contravention” on pictures 7 and 8. 

Also, it is worth noting that both letters from DCBL arrived at the keepers address on the same day through the post, and the letters were both produced on the same day, despite the contraventions being nearly 13 months apart - suggesting to the keeper that it is a further attempt of scare tactics and panic paying by a company that may have recently been instructed to try and gain payment as previous attempts have been unsuccessful. 

Would welcome anyone’s thoughts on any of the above, but I have a few specific questions for anyone that may have experience in this field;

- Why has the “charge” decreased between letters 6 & 7?

- I moved house in October and the letters from DCBL have arrived at my new address as I informed the DVLA when moving. Would this suggest DCBL are more serious in persuing this charge as they have run a fresh check on my details? I have seen it suggested in the sticky to submit a subject access request to the parking firm to erase old address details. 

- The reason given for the charge is “unauthorised vehicle” although the driver was using the car park as a customer of the landowner. Also worth mentioning is that it is not pay and display nor do you need to declare the vehicle reg when entering. There are no ANPR cameras it is a warden that patrols the car park on occasion and seems to issue tickets without any real system.

- The fact that two PCN’s are in the name of the keeper, does this make it a more attractive proposition to send to court? 

- The location stated in the PCN is the street in which the business is located, not the name of the business itself. Possible case of incorrect info being cited on a PCN?

Of course due to the time that has gone any “official” periods of appeal have now lapsed. 

My initial thoughts are that if a court judgement was going to be persued by the PPC, it would have materialised by now but the correspondence arriving at my new address has made me question that slightly, until I dug out the old paperwork and found that we have been here before with a different “debt collector”. 

Thanks in advance for any advice/feedback 👍🏼

Gr1pr

The alleged charges include non existent debt collectors fees, so anything over £100 is incorrect and regularly thrown out in court 

The fact that they are going to the keeper doesn't matter as regards enforcement, either they will issue a court claim, or they won't 

The claimant has 6 years to pursue a court claim, so the elapsed time means nothing at all 

The claimant or their lawyers are expected to trace the current address under the PAP rules, so good to see it happening instead of using old addresses 

The gym advice was foolish Advice by people who haven't a clue, the letters should have been dealt with, not ignored 

nopcns

The second DCBL letter (8) is not related to the first NtK you have shown us. The NtK is not PoFA compliant and so, as long as the drivers identity is not revealed, you, the keeper, cannot be liable for it.

I strongly suggest you thoroughly read the Newbies/FAQ thread. Ignore all debt collector letters. You will understand why if you read the Newbies/FAQ thread.

If/when you receive a real Letter of Claim, go and re-read the second post of the Newbies/FAQ thread on how to respond to it.

Hamish_123

Thanks for the reply. 

I can see from the different posts on this forum that ignore is not the advice given. They do hand out a huge amount of tickets. To the point where people in there have received 10+ tickets on some occasions. You can see yellow packets with tickets in littered around the car park where people have just pulled them off and thrown them on the ground 😅

I know I’m only to respond when notice of claim is delivered, so sitting tight until then. I just can’t help but feel that if Secure Parking Solutions wanted to go down the court route it would have happened by now based on the steps they’ve taken via the letters. 

What is the cost that would be “demanded” if it was to go to court? A nominal parking fee plus costs?

Gr1pr

In my experience of reading threads, court claims tend to be raised between 2 and 4 years later, UNLESS its Parking Eye or similar on the ball companies which is within 2 years, the smaller ones may wait until over 5 years but dont want to miss the boat at the 6 years deadline 

IMHO they like to rack up thousands of unpaid invoices and then dump them en masse to one of the well known parasite lawyer firms that infest the industry, it's the numbers game 

A typical loss in court is the £100 parking charge Plus legal and court fees, so between £200 and £250 for one PCN, even if they inflate the claim with dubious costs like debt collectors fees 

Coupon-mad

DCB Legal will get the case next - passed over from the next desk at DCB Ltd this Summer - and they will sue.

They'd claim all or some of the £100 PCNs in one claim (this could be 4 figures if you accumulate 5 PCNs or more), and the solicitors would add what the Government called 'extorting money from motorists' (£70 per PCN. Completely disproportionate and unjustified but the industry blocked the DLUHC from banning their moneymaking & CCJ churning game).

They wouldn't get it all even if they won.  But to win this case yourself, you must see every letter - certainly ignore debt demands - BUT respond to a LBC and defend a claim.

The important thing is not to get complacent, not to accumulate any more (AT ALL) and not to assume "they'd have sued me by now".

Wrong.  They have six years to sue, and each month adds more interest potentially able to be added to the claim at 8% (yep, 8% per annum).

For six years a claim could arrive at any address they hold for you. Hence why you must tell them to ERASE any older address when you move.

You can't leave them with 2 addresses to choose from, with a claim brewing.  I think you still have that danger.  You don't mention telling all these goons to erase your old address.  You MUST.

nopcns

They have up to 6 years from the date of the alleged contravention to issue a court claim. However, what normally happens is that they farm it out to useless debt collectors in the hope that a scary letter with the words "bailiff" and "CCJ" will scare the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to capitulate into paying.

Nothing for you to do except wait and see if/when they issue a claim. If you move address within that period, you must instruct the DPO at the PPC to rectify your address and erase the old one. The best way to guarantee a CCJ by default is ti not update your address for service.

You need to find out about that DCBL letter for a PCN from March 2023.

Hamish_123

You need to find out about that DCBL letter for a PCN from March 2023.

Sorry, what do you mean by this?

Coupon-mad

Hamish_123 said:

You need to find out about that DCBL letter for a PCN from March 2023.

Sorry, what do you mean by this?

I think they are observing that not all letters relate to the same PCN but I see you know that.  There are 2 PCNs, one in Feb 2022 and one in March 2023.  You don't need to find out more.

You DO need to tell DCB Ltd to erase the old address from BOTH PCN FILES and to tell their client and their mates at DCB Legal to do the same and to consolidate them into one case to stop all this intimidatory letter duplication.

Hamish_123

Coupon-mad said:

DCB Legal will get the case next - passed over from the next desk at DCB Ltd this Summer - and they will sue.

They'd claim all or some of the £100 PCNs in one claim (this could be 4 figures if you accumulate 5 PCNs or more), and the solicitors would add what the Government called 'extorting money from motorists' (£70 per PCN. Completely disproportionate and unjustified but the industry blocked the DLUHC from banning their moneymaking & CCJ churning game).

They wouldn't get it all even if they won.  But to win this case yourself, you must see every letter - certainly ignore debt demands - BUT respond to a LBC and defend a claim.

The important thing is not to get complacent, not to accumulate any more (AT ALL) and not to assume "they'd have sued me by now".

Wrong.  They have six years to sue, and each month adds more interest potentially able to be added to the claim at 8% (yep, 8% per annum).

For six years a claim could arrive at any address they hold for you. Hence why you must tell them to ERASE any older address when you move.

You can't leave them with 2 addresses to choose from, with a claim brewing.  I think you still have that danger.  You don't mention telling all these goons to erase your old address.  You MUST.

Thanks for the reply. So my next step is to email the DPO for Secure Parking Solutions (the parking firm) and the DPO for DCBL? I can use the template in the newbie thread.

So do you think it’s pretty certain that a Notice Of Claim is on its way? With a claim amount of approx £300 for two PCN’s?

What do you think the chances of success are with a case like mine? How is it likely to pan out? 

nopcns

Hamish_123 said:

You need to find out about that DCBL letter for a PCN from March 2023.

Sorry, what do you mean by this?

Every letter you have shown us relates to letter #1 (the original NtK from Feb 2022). Except letter #8 that relates to a PCN fromMarch 2023.