Claim Form following PCN- DCB Legal

abes_22

Hello,

Looking for any advice and experiences from others who have actually been through this process and won….

My backstory for context:

I have received a Claim Form on 3rd September from DCB Legal for £298.04 (amount claimed £213.04, court fee £35, legal representatives costs £50) regarding an unpaid parking charge notice from August 2021 (Europarks Ltd).

My husband and I stopped at Bella Italia for some dinner whilst on a long drive home from a trip away. This was within a shopping complex with cinemas, etc. Parked for 46 mins. We did not see any signs notifying of charges, nor ticket machines. We parked in the centre of the car park directly in front of Bella Italia. Few weeks later received a PCN from Europarks Ltd. Charge of £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Ticket cost we should have paid would have been £1.50.

Upon receipt of the notice we responded to Europarks Ltd with a letter informing them that we would not be paying the extortionate charge. We looked back on Google Earth and there was a single sign at the entrance of the car park, not in direct line of sight for driver and ticket machines tucked away at the far end of the car park in front of the cinema entrance.

The letter we sent outlined reasons below:

“The intent of this letter is to inform euro car parks, that I will not be paying this parking charge amount, for the following reasons:

1. Poorly advertised signage around the car park;

2. Grossly inappropriate fine.”

We stated in the letter that as a compromise we would be willing to pay the original ticket price of £1.50. We received no response from Europarks Ltd and did not engage in any further correspondence with them. After a month or so I started receiving letters from various private debt collection companies and ignored all of these. All stating payment now of £170.

In recent months DCB Legal have sent a couple of letters, including most recently a Letter of/before claim. I (wrongly I realise now) ignored this too.

As I said at the start I have now received a Claim Form. I have spent many hours reading through all of the posts on here including the NEWBIEs thread in detail. I have submitted an AOS stating that I dispute all of the claim and am about to use the defence template to submit that in the coming days.

My key question is whether anyone on here has gone through this process specifically with DCB Legal and won but also in the same / similar circumstances (instead of a lot of examples here being about parking in residential sites / going over maximum allowable time) as myself regarding not buying a ticket in the first place and claiming the defence of unclear signage and grossly disproportionate/excessive charge? I would also be interested to know if people have gotten as far as a court hearing and had to attend? I am very keen to fight this, however, my main concern is the threat of it affecting my credit rating and wondering if at any point (and even if I am co-operating with the process) can DCB Legal issue a CCJ? If it actually goes to court and I lose, will that then affect my credit rating? I have no legal background and whilst I appreciate this forum cannot offer legal advice it would be helpful to hear from others’ experiences / be signposted to appropriate legal support.

Thanks in advance!

1505grandad

What is the full name of the claimant?
What is the issue date of the claim?
When did you submit AoS?

abes_22

Euro Car Parks Limited is listed as claimant name
Issue date: 3/9/24
AoS submitted 11/9/24

Thanks

KeithP

abes_22 said:

Issue date: 3/9/24
AoS submitted 11/9/24

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 7th October 2024 to file a Defence.

That's nearly 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 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'.

abes_22 said:

My key question is whether anyone on here has gone through this process specifically with DCB Legal and won...

Suggest you have a read of this thread...
     DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

abes_22

KeithP said:

abes_22 said:

Issue date: 3/9/24
AoS submitted 11/9/24

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd September, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 7th October 2024 to file a Defence.

That's nearly 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 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'.

abes_22 said:

My key question is whether anyone on here has gone through this process specifically with DCB Legal and won...

Suggest you have a read of this thread...
     DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Brilliant thanks for confirming this as was my understanding from having read the linked thread.

Very interesting read re DCB discontinuations...
 
Regarding the defence which we will be starting this evening- are you able to advise if photographic evidence is required given that the argument is based on inadequate signage? 

Is it also worth submitting a complaint letter to the retailer? My understanding was that it is too late by this stage but a few threads seem to suggest otherwise.

Thanks again

KeithP

abes_22 said:

Regarding the defence which we will be starting this evening- are you able to advise if photographic evidence is required given that the argument is based on inadequate signage? 

No evidence gets filed with a Defence.
Evidence comes later - at Witness Statement time.

LDast

It really doesn't matter much what you put in your paragraph 3 of the defence. It could be "Mary had a little lamb" for all it is worth. Imagine you had no idea about the PCN and the only knowledge you have about it is what is in the PoC. Now, based on that scant knowledge put together a defence... if you can.

For example, what is the allegation? s there a concise description of it? Would you be able to figure that out based on the wording in the PoC? Do you have any idea of the contractual term that was breached? Is the sum claimed the principal or damages or both? If damages are claimed, how are they calculated? If interest is claimed, how has it been calculated? Has it been calculated on the principal or the damages or both? Check the date they say the PCN was "issued". The PCN can only be "issued" after the Keepers data has been requested and provided by the DVLA and that takes a few days and never on a weekend. So, is the date shown the date a PCN could have been issued?

The interest can only be applied from the date after the invoice became due. Can you figure that out from the PoC?

Of course you can't but those PoC have been signed with statement of truth. Do you think it is truthful?

So, your para 3 should e based what you can figure out from the woefully inadequate PoC which fail to comply with CPR 16.4 and in reality, the claim should be struck-out.

As I said though, it really doesn't matter wha you put in for your para 3 because DCB Legal will, inevitably, discontinue. I'd place money on that fact if all the advice is followed.

abes_22

Thank you ever so much that is incredibly helpful- the dates do not match up. The date of the event was Thu 25th Aug and the issue date on the original PCN sent was 2nd Sept. The date they have here on the PoC is incorrect.

Coupon-mad

Please edit your thread title and your first post as soon as you get the right to edit (after a few more posts).  Having a title and first post telling readers it's about 'Europarks Ltd' will forever confuse us all along this process.

(Please don't reply telling us you can't edit yet. We know. Do it when you can edit please).

Your claim form is the exact same as all the other ones these past few weeks.  There's a huge batch of Euro Car Parks claims from DCB Legal this Summer. All the same.  Some even about that same location.

Scroll around the forum and read at least half a dozen to see how people worded their paragraph 3.  This is easy and the claim will be discontinued in 2025.

abes_22

Coupon-mad said:

Please edit your thread title and your first post as soon as you get the right to edit (after a few more posts).  Having a title and first post telling readers it's about 'Europarks Ltd' will forever confuse us all along this process.

(Please don't reply telling us you can't edit yet. We know. Do it when you can edit please).

Your claim form is the exact same as all the other ones these past few weeks.  There's a huge batch of Euro Car Parks claims from DCB Legal this Summer. All the same.  Some even about that same location.

Scroll around the forum and read at least half a dozen to see how people worded their paragraph 3.  This is easy and the claim will be discontinued in 2025.

Sure no problem. What title would be more helpful for you all? 

Coupon-mad

It is fine apart from the name of the company!