Total Carpark PCN

Coupon-mad

toddler9 said:

Tomorrow is my mediation phone call with the court. My plan is to offer them nothing on account of 1) I have never at any point tried to avoid paying for my parking ii was unable to pay due their own payment processing being out of action 2) I reached out to them at the time to make them aware of the issue and ask for an alternative way to pay 3) when I was issued the parking ticket I again offered to pay for my parking (which totalled 16 minutes) 4) they have declined my offers to pay for the parking and have decided to persist with this going to court so let it go to court! If I lose so be it but honestly at this stage I feel they should be paying me! Crazy that because their own payment system was down I have had to go through this whole process- taking time away from work and my three young children to fill out forms and questionnaires and now to have a call with the court! Any advice or words of wisdom welcome before the call! 

But this - Mediation - is nothing. Unrelated to the court process really.

Just 5 minutes. Phone DOWN. You don't have to give grounds or detail your reasons. You could literally answer it while in Tesco. Get rid of the Mediator. Pointless.

Three posters here had Mediation today. Did you miss reading those threads? They are right here in the forum.

And also the thread from 2 days ago called 'G24 - Just had my Mediation call' (you can easily find it).

toddler9

I have had the call- I said I wasn’t willing to offer any money. The mediator said DCBLefal were only looking to come away from the call with a cash settlement so it was a non starter. 

He then took me through the next steps in terms of likely court dates and what happens if I win or lose and if they don’t turn up. He advised me to get 30 mins free solicitors advice to check I have solid case to win before the hearing date and that of the cases he has seen it’s usually 50% win 50% lose. He said if I lost I’ll haven’t their travel costs on top so looking to be around £450 total. 

Does all thinks sound correct? To be honest £450 or not I’m wanting this to go to court out of principle!! Realise I may be being stubborn here but the whole situation is farcical 

Le_Kirk

The mediator is not supposed to get into details.  They are purely there to negotiate, as you wrote, a cash settlement figure.  Sounds like they exceeded their brief, report them to; -
scmreferrals@justice.gov.uk
If you lost in court for a single PCN, it is likely to be £212

toddler9

Okay thanks for the advice. He also said that my court date was likely to be in 6-9 months time and in that time I will receive multiple threatening letters from DCBL as they will want to extract any amount of cash from me at all…

toddler9

DCBL Legal have just now tried to call me- they can do one 

Coupon-mad

and that of the cases he has seen it’s usually 50% win 50% lose. He said if I lost I’ll haven’t their travel costs on top so looking to be around £450 total.

He is lying. COMPLAIN ABOUT HIM.

He hasn't 'seen' any cases.

He doesn't get to hear outcomes.

It's a series of lies. We also know that he is lying because DCB Legal discontinue EVERY single PCN claim (except for TPS, VCS and Excel ones, which do go to hearings).

And he is lying about the Claimant being able to claim travel costs. Absolutely untrue in small claims (except if you act unreasonably, such as not turn up). He shouldn't be allowed to Mediate if he can't tell the truth.

toddler9

So I have a court date and the case has been blocked listed at Stockport county court. Since I got the letter witb the date DCBL Legal have left me several voicemails asking me to speak to them. Last week I received an email offering me settle the case for £60 without prejudice. This email was then recalled and i received the same email but this time offering me the reduced price of £180 instead! I declined  
In just wanted to check can the witness statement be submitted via email or does it need to be sent Royal Mail recorded delivery? Also will I receive a copy of the witness statement they submit? Thanks in advance 

ChirpyChicken

Email is good

toddler9

I have received the witness statement  from Total Carparks /DCBL today which basically states my defence is a load of rubbish - copy and pasted from the internet (I used a template from here but added my own version of events too) - and that ultimately the claim should be struck out by the judge. They claim although they were unable to accept some Mastercard payments at the time of parking I should have paid by some other means,  which I don’t disagree on - bearing in mind I am the one who contacted them at the time of payments repeatedly failing and when they didn’t respond I moved  my car after 16 minutes. 

What is the likelihood of the judge striking this out based on the witness statements? I am more than willing to appear in court now and fight my corner on this but I kind of thought they might have dropped it by now! Ha ! They have until 15th Feb to pay the fee so will that be the telling time on whether this ends up before the judge? Sorry for the long post I’m at my wits end with this now - I’m not an unreasonable person at all but this whole situation has become so ridiculous! 

Coupon-mad

That's a template WS. Have you done yours?