CEL , DCB LEGAL court claim, at WS stage

grgwm

Gr1pr said:

Your hearing date letter tells you what to do and by when, read it again,  because your WS plus your Exhibits bundle is due 

You would have to contact the court itself to check if the hearing fee is paid,  it will likely proceed if paid

No , you cannot track it online 

You wont receive anything except for the CEL WS bundle,  or a discontinuation,  not from the court 

Keep checking your email spam folder and inbox for their N279 NoD document,  from DCB Legal 

I've read the 'Notice of Trial Date' document again; there is no mention of a witness statement, or what date that is due, just that the court must receive the electric bundle at least 3 days before the hearing date. Maybe this is the wrong document, page 2 is all about remote hearings.

Coupon-mad

If it's not on that - usually on page 2 - then it was on your Notice of Allocation (months ago); the first letter you were sent by the local court when they received it after N180 DQ stage.

grgwm

Coupon-mad said:

If it's not on that - usually on page 2 - then it was on your Notice of Allocation (months ago); the first letter you were sent by the local court when they received it after N180 DQ stage.

Yes you are right. Witness statement etc due no later than 14 days before hearing.

I'll read about how to do it on this forum and report back soon. Thanks!

grgwm

They've offered to settle for £90. My witness statement bundle is due no later than Wednesday.

Should I call the court to see if they paid the court fee in time? If I ignore this are they likely to proceed?

Gr1pr

If this is CEL via DCB Legal then they normally discontinue just before the hearing fee needs paying, especially when they offer settlement figures below £100 , there are around 650 examples in the discontinuations thread by Umkomaas,  so i am surprised that you have asked that question  !

Definitely call the court on Tuesday,  see if its been paid,  plus keep checking your inbox and spam folders for their N279 NoD document,  a discontinuance 

Please alter your thread title to something more suitable like 

CEL , DCB LEGAL court claim,  at WS stage 

grgwm

Gr1pr said:

If this is CEL via DCB Legal then they normally discontinue just before the hearing fee needs paying, especially when they offer settlement figures below £100 , there are around 650 examples in the discontinuations thread by Umkomaas,  so i am surprised that you have asked that question  !

Definitely call the court on Tuesday,  see if its been paid,  plus keep checking your inbox and spam folders for their N279 NoD document,  a discontinuance 

Please alter your thread title to something more suitable like 

CEL , DCB LEGAL court claim,  at WS stage 

Yes it's Civil Enforcement Ltd. I'll check the thread.

grgwm

To be clear though, the hearing fee was due on the 13th August, and I have not received any N279 NoD document. Wouldn't that have been sent before the hearing fee date? 

Car1980

No, sometimes they're daft enough to pay even if they intend to discontinue. 

And since it's a game of chicken they sometimes send you a NoD the day before the hearing.

Coupon-mad

grgwm said:

grgwm said:

They've offered to settle for £90. My witness statement bundle is due no later than Wednesday.

Should I call the court to see if they paid the court fee in time? If I ignore this are they likely to proceed?

So they've made a claim for 3 PCNs totalling £689.44 with little or no intention of proceeding, having wasted the court's time and resources (as well as yours).

And they now want to bail out at your expense for £90 which is just TWENTY QUID more than the court fee they paid at the start!

I'm not sure what more evidence the MHCLG need to understand what DCB Legal are doing.

This looks very much like repeated abuse of the course process, using the courts as a cheap form of intimidatory 'debt collection', and it looks to all of us almost exactly like the MIL Collections model, only without a Deed of Assignment. Can the DVLA be bothered to investigate DCB Legal's model?

They should, it is long overdue IMHO.

While you await your discontinuance, as I mentioned earlier, this month, we need you:

PLEASE bookmark this thread below and do the government's Public Consultation if you haven't done it yet.

Their proposals are wrong. We must stop them.

See this thread: -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline! Just 2 weeks left but please don't rush it. You can do some then save it and come back to it as you have time.

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that.

So to try to help, I've written some guidance on that thread.

Any questions on the Consultation please ask - on the dedicated thread - but I've covered up to question 20 already in that first post, openly telling everyone what I'm going to put and/or what sort of evidence you might wish to use for your response, if you agree with what we'll be saying from our experience.

Whilst your answers must of course be your own, there are vital points to safeguard motorists interests to make, that many people may not think of without our guidance because we see cases every day and we know the legal background. 

However, people like you have lived & breathed the intimidation, greed and unfairness first hand so your voice is needed!

grgwm

So I've just confirmed with the court that the trial fee £85 was paid by the claimant. Does that make discontinuance less likely? I assume they offered to settle for £90 to cover the trial fee they paid, but if I don't settle would they not more likely proceed (since what do they have to lose if already paid)?

I need to submit my witness statement by tomorrow.