Euro Car Parks - Rodney Street, Wigan

hugh4878

I received a letter of claim from DCB Legal Ltd a few days ago for a so called parking offence dating back to February 2020.  I replied via email as per the newbies thread, stating that I was not the driver, I have no recollection of the incident.  They replied with:

"We now respond to the same as follows. 

For clarity, this matter relates to a PCN issued at Rodney Street Wigan due to remaining on site without making payment to cover the duration of your stay.  

In order to review the matter further we would require the name and serviceable address of the Driver on the contravention date.  

In relation to the argument that the amount owed is a hugely exaggerated sum, the amount owed is no more than the original amount of the PCN plus the recovery fee. The ‘Genuine pre-estimate of loss’ argument was often advanced in parking ticket claims prior to Parking Eye -v- Beavis [2015]. This issue was settled in that case. Furthermore, our Client is a member of the British Parking Association and pursuant to 24.1b, “Where a Parking Charge becomes overdue and before Court Proceedings have commenced, a reasonable sum (which covers the cost of recovering debt) may be added for the debt recovery fees. This sum must not exceed £70 unless prior approval from the BPA has been granted”. No VAT has been added as the sum owed is a legally owed debt. 

The PCN was issued due to breach of contract not for loss or damages. Your vehicle was observed on site in breach of the terms and conditions as per the signage; therefore, a PCN was issued. 

You now have 30 days from the date of this email to provide the Driver details or make payment of the outstanding balance £170.00. Failure to make payment will result in a Claim being issued against you without any further reference."

Do I just wait now for them to send a claim to me?  If that is the case, I will begin preparing my defence while I'm waiting.

Thank you for any help or advice anybody can offer at this stage.

Gr1pr

You could name the driver at this point if its not you 

If their letter is an actual Letter of Claim, giving that 30 days notice period, reply by email to the LoC with the template LoC response ( the VAT response. ), seen in post 2 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

LDast

Was the NtK PoFA compliant?

Either way, this will end up as a claim, probably through DCB Legal and end up as a discontinuation  as with all other DCB Legal filed claims that are defended. 

Coupon-mad

You'll win in the end.

Only name the driver if the NTK was a PoFA compliant one (back in 2020) AND IF the driver is a different person AND a more robust person than the registered keeper.

If you got no earlier PCN or chasers over those early years, then you must tell DCB to ERASE THE OLD ADDRESS that their client got from the DVLA ( i.e. no PCN knowledge is the fault of the keeper for having an old address on the car logbook at the time).

This is vital. Never leave an old address on the database of a PLC or their nasty 'legals'.

hugh4878

I'm not sure if the NTK is PoFA compliant, I have attached a copy in this post, would somebody be able to check for me please?

Coupon-mad

Yep that's a POFA version.

Have you reported DCB Legal to HMRC for VAT concerns, which was the whole point of the template LBC reply you sent?

Discussed on hundreds of threads.

hugh4878

Thanks for the reminder Coupon-mad.  I have just reported DCB Legal for VAT concerns via tax.service.gov.uk/report-tax-fraud

hugh4878

updating my thread - just received this

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th September, you have until Tuesday 24th September to file an Acknowledgment of Service.  Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 10th September, but otherwise 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 Tuesday 8th October 2024 to file a Defence.

That's over four 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'.

Coupon-mad

Just use the Template Defence as you see in all the other DCB Legal / Euro Car Parks claims at the moment.  They are litigating a huge batch. We have 2 or 3 exact match threads like yours each day, so go back and scroll through the forum to read a good half dozen or more. Learn how people worded their paragraph 3. Copy!

hugh4878

Thanks for the advice KeithP and Coupon-mad, I'll get onto it.