DCB Legal ltd court claim through civil national buisness centre

PUD83

Just after some up to date advice on this as there is so many different opinions online and many from years ago.

The driver received a £100 PCN last year for stopping on on "private land" for 7 minutes and 51 seconds. The PCN came from secure parking solutions and arrived conveniently after the discounted period.
The car was stopped just outside of a allocated parking bay, outside of the shop trading hours and causing no obstruction there was also no indication that the public path was private property. No one exited the car which was temporarily pulled over to address a dash light. 
Despite the pcn stating you need a permit to park (on the allocated parking bays) this can be used freely and parking is allowed without permit when visiting the premises so parking is permitted there.

The PCN was appealed and driver received a generic  response that did not address any of the complaints including the fact that the sign wasn't visible from when the car was stopped.
The car was not stopped in the allocated parking bag, the lack of signage to indicate the land was private, poor visibility of signage,  questioned the time given as period time, and the fact the letter was dated 3 weeks prior to receipt. 
The rejection stated that the driver was in breach of contract and was not authorised to park there.

The letter stated the driver  could complain and form asked for specific details on what the driver didn't agree with for consideration including things such if there was discount offered. This was completed returned no response received. Annoyingly the payment of £60 pound would have been paid to save hassle despite not believing it was fairly issued but £100 was a joke.

The driver went on to appeal to Popla who responded 5 months later and stating that the driver had falsely claimed they were a customer (at no point was this suggested) and stayed over 5 minute grace period and driver should pay, the within 2 days a letter for £100 demanding immediate payment arrived.

Following this a text msg from comp called Lowell requesting a call no indication what the msg was regarding.

Now a claim letter has been received from DCB claiming for £266, siting court fee and £70 damages, response is to be made via Moneyclaim.gov.uk or payment to postal address no with no mention of payment method.

Just wondered if anyone has any advice regarding how to respond to this, matter of days remaining  to respond time has been wasted trying to get advice from cab, and establishing the best way to defend this, 

Any advice appreciated 

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

Sounds like you may have a County Court Claim Form.
If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

PUD83

Date is 29th May, states service dare is 5 days after that, driver was away and opened letter 2 days ago so struggling to find good advice with time remaining

Gr1pr

Study the newbies FAQ thread by coupon mad in announcements, about 6 down from the too of the forum 

Also study the defence template thread by her too, both in announcements 

Do the AOS online this weekend to get the maximum time allowed for a defence submission by email later this month 

Only do the AOS online on MCOL, nothing else 

KeithP

KeithP said:

Sounds like you may have a County Court Claim Form.
If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

PUD83 said:

Date is 29th May...

With a Claim Issue Date of 29th May, you have until Monday 17th June to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 1st July 2024 to file your Defence.

That's a little over two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

PUD83

Thank you should the acknowledgment be done via MCOL site? What we are trying to find out is what happens if the ruling does not go in favour will there still be an op to pay the fine without ccj and would there likely be additional fees added for defending?

KeithP

PUD83 said:

Thank you should the acknowledgment be done via MCOL site?

Read again my reply - the line starting "To file an Acknowledgment of Service...".

PUD83 said:

What we are trying to find out is what happens if the ruling does not go in favour will there still be an op to pay the fine without ccj...

Yes, and there is no fine.

PUD83 said:

...would there likely be additional fees added for defending?

No. Even if you lose, the amount you would have to pay is very likely to be less than the amount claimed.

Gr1pr

PUD83 said:

1) Thank you should the acknowledgment be done via MCOL site?

2 What we are trying to find out is what happens if the ruling does not go in favour will there still be an op to pay the fine without ccj and would there likely be additional fees added for defending?

1) definitely on MCOL , too late for sending by post anyway, it won't get there and be logged by Monday if sent by snail mail . !

2) no fine was issued, magistrates issue fines , this definitely didn't happen and will never happen 

The judge will make a judgment and if you lose the judge will determine the total figure to be paid within 30 days, in full

There is a CCJ as soon as the judge rules, the grace period is given in order that you can pay in full to avoid future credit issues, so if you lost in court, pay in full ASAP to avoid any consequences ( pay the judgment. )

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6534418/court-changes-or-conflicting-advice-ccj#latest

A typical loss in court is about £200

KeithP

Can you please show us a picture of the Particulars of Claim from your Claim Form with personal detail - like vrm - hidden?

PUD83

particulars as

Coupon-mad

You aren't going to be paying it.  You will not be settling this. DCB Legal are hearing-shy and will discontinue when you follow our advice to the letter.

Lowell has nothing to do with parking charges. Lowell deals with things like phone contract debts.  No connection at all to this case.

"time has been wasted trying to get advice from cab"

Don't!  DO NOT EVEN ASK THE CAB.

Sadly their advice is so wide of the mark to be embarrassing and indeed, wrong, on parking charges and claims from PPCs, that are in fact so dead easy to defend that it's laughable.