DCB Legal ~ Hospital Parking ~ Staff Permit

MellowLedbetter

Hello everyone,

My wife, a nurse, is being taken to court by DCB Legal on behalf of ParkingEye.

She received a Claim Form on the 25th Sept. and has been in correspondence with DCB as she believed that this claim had been made in error for the following reasons.

• She pays £22.10 per month for a staff parking permit.
• When she is forced to park in visitor car parks, she contacts the department to advise them of this (and moves when opportunity presents).
• She had just bought a new car and their records of the car had not been updated.

POC

1. The defendant (D) is indebted to the claimant (C) for a Parking Charge(s) issued to vehicle XX11XXX at Macclesfield Hospital (main Entrance Staff 1 and Late Start Staff).
2. The PCN(s) were issued on 24/11/2023, 27/02/2024.
3. The defendant is pursued as the driver of the vehicle for the breach of the terms  on the signs (the contract). Reason: Vehicle Remained On Private Property In Breach Of The Prominently Displayed Terms and Conditions.
4. In the alternative the defendant is pursued as the keeper pursuant  to POFA 2012, Schedule 4.

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS 

1. £280 being the total of the PCN(s) and damages.
2. Interest at a rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 from the date hereof at a daily rate of £.05 until judgement or sooner payment.
3. Costs and court fees.

Amount Claimed: £293.77
Court Fee: £35
Legal representative's costs: £50
Total amount £378.77

My wife responded to the claim online at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk (Moneyclaim Gov) defending the claim.

She has provided evidence to DCB Legal that she has a valid parking permit and has also provided proof of payment to this effect.

After providing the above, she has received an email from DCB advising that court proceedings will continue however, as an 'act of good faith' they will reduce the total claim from £378.77 to £250. She has 7 days to respond from the 30th of October.
They have stated that one of the reasons they are continuing is that she had not registered her car. My wife maintains the permit is for the person, not the car.
In addition, as I have been typing this out this evening, it occurred to me that on the first occasion (24/11/02) she was not responsible for parking the car. This was the day she bought the car and I went to pick it up and brought it back to the staff car park, parked it there and handed her the keys for her to drive home.

They have provided the N180 by email which my wife has printed off.

For the record, my wife has already advised that the Head of the trust does not get involved with with parking issues and that she does not want to get the union involved.

The way she sees it, she has 3 options.

1. Pay the reduced amount.
2. Go to court.
3. Seek advice (this is where I, and you lovely MSE'ers come into play.

I genuinely believe that she has a chance, but we need to (a) act fast, and, (b) act correctly.

Please can you advise on next steps. I have read the newbies thread/posts and also done a search but this seems a lot more complicated than it should be.

Thank you all.

Grizebeck

Stop corresponding with dcb legal. 
No need to act fast at all.

Gr1pr

Post the exact wording she submitted to the CNBC in her defence response 

Some of those dates seem to be incorrect 

Has she received a N180 DQ form from the CNBC yet. ?

Parking Eye tend to use DCB Legal with iffy claims, as in this case 

KeithP

Those Particulars are woefully inadequate.

Particularly this bit...

So it is alleged that the driver 'breached the terms on the signs (the contract)'.

And that allegation is then repeated - 'Reason: Vehicle Remained On Private Property In Breach Of The Prominently Displayed Terms And Conditions'.

Nowhere in those Particulars is there any explanation of what the driver is alleged to have done wrong.

This would've been a very easy win if you hadn't already filed a Defence.

As above, please show us the exact wording your wife used for her Defence.

MellowLedbetter

Thanks for the replies.

I will get the exact wording from my OH and post asap.

Coupon-mad

I wish you'd come here first.  This was easy to defend.  We do need to see what she put, verbatim.

MellowLedbetter

Hi All,

Thank you as always for the input.

MellowLedbetter said:

My wife responded to the claim online at www.moneyclaim.gov.uk (Moneyclaim Gov) defending the claim.

She has provided evidence to DCB Legal that she has a valid parking permit and has also provided proof of payment to this effect.

The wording provided in the OP was typed from the letter provided.

I have done some digging in order to provide an accurate timeline.

As stated, my OH responded to the claim through the MoneyClaim website.

This is the verbatim defence (only Personal details removed)

Your defence was received on 02/10/2024 at 12:05:23

I have been a nurse for 20 years at Macclesfield hospital and pay each month for a parking permit evidence which I can provide. The payment for parking comes out automatically each month from my wages. I change for car every 2 or 3 years.
I purchased a {new car} plate XX15XXX on the 26/11/23 which I can provide evidence for. I sent an email to carparking on the 28th of November 2023 informing them I have changed my car and provided them with new
vehicle details {new car} plate XX15XXX. I have a copy of the email asking parking to amend my permit with my details should there be any problems. Therefore contrary to parking eyes claim that I did not have a permit I do and still today have a permit.

May I also add this claim has caused me a lot of personal distress as I have always paid for permits and informed the hospital carparking team my change of car.

**PLEASE NOTE: Regrettably, the date of 26/11/23 was incorrect but provided in good faith The car was purchased on the 24/11/23**

Following on from this, my wife received an email.

Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2024 14:38

Dear {OH},

We act for the Claimant.

You have alleged that you purchased the Vehicle VRM EO15OVB on 26/11/2023.

Please note, PCN 012345/123456 was issued on 24/11/2023, prior to the date of the alleged purchased of the Vehicle.

We kindly request that you provide evidence in support of your allegation from the DVLA to confirm you were not the Registered Keeper at the time of the contravention, and proof of purchase of the Vehicle.

You may wish to forward your evidence to info@dcblegal.co.uk quoting our reference number 111111.231709D when corresponding with our office to ensure it is allocated to the correct file.

We look forward to hearing from you within the next 14 days.

Kind Regards,

Paralegal

===========

Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2024 14:38

Thank you for the email I am the owner of the vehicle that was never in question - it was that i did not have a staff parking permit which I can provide the courts plus months and months of payslips showing I have paid my permit.
The permit is for the staff not the car - and I have been informed by carparking that a staff member can have up to two cars on the same permit. I have attached an email to car parking the change of vehicle. 

Many thanks 

OH
===========

Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 08:33
To: OH
Subject: Re: URGENT CAR PERMIT EVIDENCE

 

Hi OH,

We are a relatively new parking team since Dec 2023. I have looked back over the history of your permit and think that {name removed} must have been emailed a vehicle registration change from XX60 XXX to XX15 XXX. EO15 OVB was added on 27/11/2023. I can see on the parking eye system that you have a fine for 24th November. This is due to the vehicle not being registered at this time. You also have a fine for 27/02/2024 for parking in a visitor space which is not permitted under your permit.

I can confirm that you are a member of staff who has paid and is paying from salary for your parking permit.

Please use this email as proof of payment.

I trust this assists.

Name removed

Kind regards

Hospital Car Parking Team

Macclesfield District General Hospital
=============

Sent: Friday, October 18, 2024 09:20
To: OH

Dear OH,

We write in relation to the correspondence received in office dated 11th October 2024.

So that we may investigate the matter further we ask that you kindly provide evidence of your staff permit within 7 days of this email. Once received we shall review and respond accordingly.

Kind Regards,  

Name removed

DCB Legal Ltd  

=================================

Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 10:14

Good MorningHaving reviewed the content of your defence, we write to inform you that our client intends to proceed with the claim.In due course, the Court will direct both parties to each file a directions questionnaire. In preparation for that, please find attached a copy of the Claimant's, which we confirm has been filed with the Court.Without Prejudice to the above, should you be agreeable to our client's offer within our email dated 30/10/2024, please confirm within 7 days and make reference to our correspondence.If you have provided an email address within your Defence, we intend to use it for service of documents (usually in PDF format) hereon in pursuant to PD 6A (4.1)(2)(c). Please advise whether there are any limitations to this (for example, the format in which documents are to be sent and the maximum size of attachments that may be received). Unless you advise otherwise, we will assume not.

Kind Regards,  

Name Removed
==================

Points of Note
1. Wife purchased the car and informed the parking scheme managers within a reasonable timeframe - this is normally enough to have any PCN's squashed 
2. The permit IS for the person, not the vehicle
3. Procedure at the hospital when parking in visitor parking (relating to the 2nd offence) is to email or call the parking scheme managers. Wife called them and moved the car when opportunity arose.

I and my OH look forward to your replies. Thanks for reading.

Coupon-mad

They have provided the N180 by email which my wife has printed off.

Does the MCOL record show that a N180 has been sent by post to her yet? If not, await that first.  Nothing needs to be done fast.

The defence is quite good.  Phew!

It's a compelling and honest account that should get any Judge on her side (they are human!) and given that the POC failed to plead that the 2 PCNs were raised for completely different reasons, it's unsurprising that she can say she thought she was being accused of 'not displaying a permit' both times and this is why her defence responded only to that.  She can also put right the date typo & explain that's all it was.  The vehicle was purchased on 24th. 

The POC was silent about the two - very different - alleged breaches so she can certainly rely upon CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande in her later witness statement.   Several recent WS have wording all about the relevance of those 2 cases and the court transcripts (she'll need those as exhibits) are in a 'judgments' link in the WS & evidence section of the NEWBIES thread.

Make sure your wife knows that she (or someone she nominates: it could be you) MUST take the compulsory Mediation phone call in a few weeks. Offer NOTHING but take the call.  See the first 12 steps of the Template Defence thread. I think you are around step 8 or so.

MellowLedbetter

Coupon-mad said:

They have provided the N180 by email which my wife has printed off.

Does the MCOL record show that a N180 has been sent by post to her yet? If not, await that first.  Nothing needs to be done fast.

My understanding (just spoke with OH) is that the N180 was received y post and responded to online. I'm not sure where to check on MCOL to see the postal dates, however I have seen
Response History
Issue Date 25/09/24

Coupon-mad said:

The POC was silent about the two - very different - alleged breaches so she can certainly rely upon CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande in her later witness statement.   Several recent WS have wording all about the relevance of those 2 cases and the court transcripts (she'll need those as exhibits) are in a 'judgments' link in the WS & evidence section of the NEWBIES thread.

Thanks for this. I'm not dumb by any stretch but my word this is complicated. I assume she will need to quote them in the mediation call(?). I'll read up some more on the Newbies thread, thank you!

Coupon-mad said:

Make sure your wife knows that she (or someone she nominates: it could be you) MUST take the compulsory Mediation phone call in a few weeks. Offer NOTHING but take the call.  See the first 12 steps of the Template Defence thread. I think you are around step 8 or so.

There has been no correspondence around the mediation call at this point but I will make her aware that this is compulsory for her to take.

DCB have literally just tried to call her on her mobile phone. I told her to reject the call because it will be more 'bullying' to try and get her to pay a lesser amount and they will use coercive phrases such as 'could' 'may' 'CCJ' 'court costs' etc.

Thanks again to everyone who is assisting.

  

Gr1pr

MCOL has a claim history after logging in, similar to checking bank statements, login, check, copy and paste the details below , like the following examples 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6538888/court-case-claim-form-received-from-ukpc-ltd-dcb-legal-14-days-has-surpassed/p4

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80963294#Comment_80963294?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=mcol+claim+history+


The fact that an N180 came in the post doesn't tell us where it came from, because 2 will arrive, an early one from the lawyers or claimant, a later one from the CNBC in Northampton 

The latter triggers her to download the online N180 form from the gov website, fill it in accordingly with the advice from the newbies sticky thread, emailing it to the DQ email address at the CNBC in Northampton 

One complication here is that you are the go between, so ascertaining exact facts is proving difficult 

No phone calls, she should follow the exact process advised on here, no deviations or shortcuts , take it one step at a time 

Coupon-mad

Just log in and look at the MCOL history.  If no N180 has been posted to her by the CNBC yet, then she doesn't complete it yet.

Of course she doesn't start talking about anything in the mediation call! I don't think you've read the guidance on that step yet.