I received a letter from the Civil National Business Centre from DCB Legal Ltd

newbiehelp05

Hi All - any help on the below issue will be greatly appreciated!

I was issued a parking charge notice on 10th February whilst in Manchester. I had an appointment and unfortunately the clinic's car park was closed due to some ground maintenance. The street had no parking so I decided to park off the street and in the entrance (parked to one side) of a disused building, gates were closed and covered by some heavy stone bollards. I figured I would literally be 30 minutes and wouldn't cause any harm.

The ticket was left on my windscreen at the time and I've have had a few debt recovery letters which I ignored.

Fast forward to now, I received the claim form in June which had an issue date of 12th June. Having read various posts on this forum I completed the acknowledgment of service form on 20th June which means by my calculations I have until the 14th/15th July to file my defence.
They are claiming I owe them £258.76, see breakdown:
£170 (+ interest) - PCN and damages
£35 - Court fee
£50 - Legal Representative costs

I would greatly appreciate guidance on how to address this matter and potentially avoid the fine.

Thanks for your assistance.

Gr1pr

Who is they. ? Who is the claimant. ?

Post a redacted picture of the POC on the left of the form, hiding the VRM details, also hiding the rest of the claim form too

KeithP

newbiehelp05 said:

I received the claim form in June which had an issue date of 12th June.
I completed the acknowledgment of service form on 20th June which means by my calculations I have until the 14th/15th July to file my defence.

You are right with your Defence filing deadline but there might be something useful here...

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th June, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 15th July 2024 to file a Defence.

That's less than 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.

newbiehelp05

apologies, should have been clearer. 
Claimant is the vehicle control services, Sheffield

newbiehelp05

letter attached 

newbiehelp05

image attached - let me know if you need anything else?

LDast

Was the parking event on the 10th February or is that the date that the PCN was issued (sent) as an NtK?

Can a sign that is prohibitive form a contract? If there was no contract but they are alleging that the claim is for a breach of contract, are they being truthful?

Of the £170, how much is the principal debt and how much is the damages? How are the "damages" defined?

If PoFA 4(5) states that a claim must not be for more than the amount in the original notice (£100?) why have they added fake damages to that amount?

How was the interest calculated without knowing the actual date the PCN was issued, which cannot be the same date as the alleged breach of contract? Up to what date was the interest calculated that is quoted in the claim?

Why has the claimant signed a statement of truth if there are untruths in the claim?

Coupon-mad

Similar paragraph 3 needed as I advised here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80868090#Comment_80868090?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=barrier+KFC

Prohibiting parking doesn't offer a contract.

newbiehelp05

@LDastThanks for your response. Correct, the parking event was on the 10th of February. The initial charge was £100 but if paid within 14 days a reduced amount would have been accepted at £60.

Apologies in advance for my ignorance. I am a newbie to this forum and only just joined today given the circumstances.

@Coupon-mad - thanks you. Quick question please. Do I only need to offer Paragraph 3 as my response or does my response need to be more comprehensive. Apologies again, not sure how this works. I found a defence letter which has 28 or so paragraphs, do I need to copy the template and only use paragraph 3? Thanks again for your help.

Coupon-mad

Do I only need to offer Paragraph 3 as my response?

Absolutely NOT.  This is really serious; a court matter. You don't just put in a paragraph. That's why we have a Template Defence.

newbiehelp05

@Coupon-mad thanks for your reply. I will complete my defence using the template. Thank you