5 year old "fine"

FlatTyre

I received a letter from DCBL regarding a fine supposedly occurring in 2019. That is good 5 years ago. The presented motive is "parking beyond the permitted time" in a Waitrose carpark. I can't even remember what happened a year ago, so I cannot remember who the driver was at the time of the alleged offense. Certainly not me. They stated "To ensure no further action is taken, you should make immediate payment...". They also added "At this point, you are no longer able to appeal the parking charge. Your next opportunity to dispute the charge would be if the matter goes to court". So, the letter is basically telling me to either pay up or they'd go to court. No link to communicate with them other than to discuss ways to pay. They gave me 14 days to pay, which started 5 days before I even received their letter.

What are my options to fight this travesty, please?

Le_Kirk

Plan A, as advised in the NEWBIE sticky, which of course you have read, is to complain to the retailer, in this case, Waitrose.

FlatTyre

Le_Kirk said:

Plan A, as advised in the NEWBIE sticky, which of course you have read, is to complain to the retailer, in this case, Waitrose.

Thanks for the reply. I did read the Newbie sticky. My concerns are:

1- I have only a few days before the 14-day deadline expires. Should I ignore that deadline?

2- I am currently overseas, so would you suggest I call or send a letter to the local Waitrose? Or shall I email the general customerserviceteam@waitrose.co.uk ?

Thanks.

Fruitcake

FlatTyre said:

Le_Kirk said:

Plan A, as advised in the NEWBIE sticky, which of course you have read, is to complain to the retailer, in this case, Waitrose.

Thanks for the reply. I did read the Newbie sticky. My concerns are:

1- I have only a few days before the 14-day deadline expires. Should I ignore that deadline?

2- I am currently overseas, so would you suggest I call or send a letter to the local Waitrose? Or shall I email the general customerserviceteam@waitrose.co.uk ?

Thanks.

DCB Limited or DCB Legal Limited?
The former are powerless debt collectors and can safely be ignored.
The latter are solicitors, but in this instance they are acting as powerless debt collectors, so again, this can be ignored. The clue is the 14 day deadline. A real letter of/before claim must give 30 days.

For your complaint, go as high up the food chain as possible, so email Waitrose/John Lewis CEO and area/store manger. Include your loyalty card number if you are a member, and point out you can't afford to shop with them again if each visit comes with a £100 surcharge. Other supermarkets are available.

Gr1pr

1) not ONLY ignore the 14 days deadline, IGNORE DCB LTD too, debt collectors are powerless, so post 4 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements applies,  no contact whatsoever, just file the letter in a drawer 

2) email them 

FlatTyre

Great. Thanks all. I will email Waitrose indeed. The letter is from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd.

Fruitcake

FlatTyre said:

Great. Thanks all. I will email Waitrose indeed. The letter is from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd.

Free (poor quality) bog paper. If there is another run on it (pun intended) then you will be ahead of the game.

Gr1pr

FlatTyre said:

Great. Thanks all. I will email Waitrose indeed. The letter is from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd.

Acting as debt collectors, because at the bottom it will state that the case is not subject to bailiff action 

However, DCB Legal are the likely candidates to send an LoC in the future , the second post helps you with that one 

FlatTyre

I now received a Claim Form from the Civil National Business Centre. It gives 3 options: Pay, partially challenge, or fully challenge. And if the challenge is unsuccessful that would be recorded on the credit history. That won't make a difference and won't deter me. But what I also find interesting is the form is asking about my full financial status. I mean the stuff a divorce court would be asking you about :-) So it seems the system is geared towards supporting these parking cowboys instead of the genuine victims.

Grizebeck

just follow the newbies, most of the paper work has no relevance to a defend claim

Umkomaas

The 12 steps in the Template Defence Announcement (one of 5 permanently at the top of the forum thread index list) will guide you through this now. Please do read it, and keep it handy for reference as your case progresses. If you follow due process, given that DCB Legal are involved, have a read of some of the following thread, because if you stick to the plan, your case will be included in it in a few months time.

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