UKPC / DCB Legal claim

Overthinkingit29

I received letter of claim as my first notice of this ‘parking charge’. I have not received anything previously and I did not have a ticket of any sort on my car. I have now received a claim form. It is from uk parking control limited/ Dcb legal. 

I have read through the pages here and it does feel a little overwhelming. I have spoken to someone legally and they have offered to represent me for a fixed fee of £120. Or to strike out the claim for £303 on a ‘no win no fee’ basis and the money will be claimed back from the opposition of successful. 

My question is basically should I pay them to do it as they are ‘more knowledgeable’ or is it extortionate and something simple to fight myself? I’d appreciate opinions, thank you! 

Umkomaas

We do it here for free. Just follow the required court process, then find your case included here .....

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

KeithP

Overthinkingit29 said:

I received letter of claim as my first notice of this ‘parking charge’. I have not received anything previously and I did not have a ticket of any sort on my car.

Welcome.

The usual reason for not receiving anything earlier is that the vehicle's Registered Keeper has failed to keep the vehicle's Registration Document(V5c) up to date.
Have you moved house recently and missed doing that?
Easy enough to fix that online. Do it now if needed.

Overthinkingit29 said:

I have now received a claim form. It is from uk parking control limited/ Dcb legal. 

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Can you please show us a picture of the contents of the Particulars of Claim box on your Claim Form - with your personal detail hidden of course.

Overthinkingit29

I haven’t done anything as of yet. I moved over 3 years ago now I may have not updated my address on the v5 I will look into that asap. 

The claim form is dated 17th June

Overthinkingit29

Here is the particulars 

Overthinkingit29

Here are the particulars

LDast

I think the OP has only received an LoC, not an actual claim yet.

OP, stop trying to waste your money on a simple task such as defending a claim from the bottom-dwelling duo of UKPC/DCB Legal. Follow the advice given here and you won't be paying penny and will eventually see your username in lights in this thread:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Whoever is the "legal person" you spoke to is going to be more expensive than £0 so make your choice.

The first place you should seek answers is in the second post of the Newbies/FAQ thread. There is already a template there for the repose to the LoC. Whilst it will not prevent the claim from being issued, it does give you the chance to report the scammers to HMRC for suspected VAT fraud... a 5 minute task.

Once the claim is issued, you are taken by the hands step by step responding to it and there is a template defence where you only have to add a single, short paragraph and it is all done through email. Follow the advice and in 6 to 9 months you will be relieved when they eventually discontinue. You can place money on it.

KeithP

Overthinkingit29 said:

The claim form is dated 17th June

With a Claim Issue Date of 17th June, you have until Monday 8th July 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 22nd July 2024 to file your Defence.

That's well over three 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'.

Overthinkingit29

Ok acknowledgement of service done. 

Unable to update v5 as out of hours so will sort that tomorrow hopefully. 

Going through defence guidelines now. 

Appreciate the help so far thank you! 

LDast

The "issue" date of the PCN in the PoC... is that the date of the parking event or the date the NtK was "issued"? Normally, for a DCB Legal issued claim, it is the date of the alleged breach of contract. Because of that, it is not known when the NtK was "issued". That date is the starting point for calculating when the aged debt became overdue and interest could be calculated. Also, they have not stated in the PoC up to what date the interest was calculated. Was it the issue date of the claim or earlier.

It is worth emailing DCB Legal with a CPR 18 or CPR 31 request for a breakdown of how the amounts in the claim were calculated. They are obliged to provide this information and a request should be responded to within no more than 14 days. Failure to respond to the request could see the claim thrown out.

Email DCB Legal something along these lines:

I am writing regarding the claim you have filed against me through Money Claims On Line (MCOL) under case number [Claim Number]. After reviewing the Particulars of Claim (PoC), I note that a breakdown of the sum claimed has not been provided.

To properly respond to the claim and prepare my defense, I require a detailed breakdown of the sum you are claiming, including but not limited to:

1. A list of all items and their corresponding amounts that make up the total sum claimed.
2. Any supporting documentation or evidence that justifies these amounts.
3. Any calculations or formulae used to arrive at the final sum.
4. How the 8% interest was calculated and the actual dates used for the calculation.

I request that you provide this information by [give a reasonable deadline, typically 7 days from the date of the email].

If you do not provide this information within the given time frame, I will apply to the court for an order compelling you to supply this information, and I will seek any costs incurred in doing so.

Please treat this letter as a formal request under CPR Part 18 for further information, or if you believe CPR Part 18 does not apply, please consider it a request under your duty to disclose relevant information and documents under CPR Part 31.

Overthinkingit29

The date is the alleged date of offence. 

I have sent them an email, thank you.
 Will update accordingly.