Smart Parking Ltd

fezzo

Hello.
 So it's been almost a year since my last post. 
This week i received the 'letter before claim' from 'dcb legal' on behalf of their client 'Smart Parking' 
From reading the different threads i know i need to reply to this one... however i could really do with some advice on how to go about it.  
Before i found my way to MSE forum i appealed to POPLA referencing the 2010 Equality Act in my defence, as when i received the fine for an overstay of 15 minutes i was attending to my young baby who needed feeding.  The details of all this should be in the previous threads.  Long story short POPLA rejected the appeal on these grounds and debt recovery letters would arrive like clockwork once a month.  
I have also discovered that since my baby was 8 months old at the time of receiving the ticket i won't be able to reference the 2010 Equality Act in my defence as a mother with young baby who should be treated with more consideration as the Act covers mothers with babies up to 26 weeks after giving birth.  
I could really do with some advice on where to go from here.  
I have read that Smart Parking/dcb Legal have not to date brought a claim against a registered keeper. Is this true?
As part of my appeal to POPLA i have stated i was with the car on the day the fine was issued however i have not stated i was the one driving. 
Smart Parking/dcb Legal state i need to inform them who the Driver was within 28 days  of receiving the PCN or they will hold the registered keeper liable. (Is this the case?) 
Is it too late to inform them that i wasn't driving at the time the fine was incurred and can't remember who was? ( at the time of making the POPLA appeal i was unaware that being the registered keeper as opposed to the driver would make any difference or would have appealed it differently)
On the day the fine was issued i was out with my mother and father and grandmother who were all in the car. My parents would have been in the two front seats of the car while i sat in the rear middle seat next to the baby seat passenger side and my nan sat next to me on the other side.   
I wouldnt be prepared to name one of my parents as the driver anyway so could 'registered keeper not the driver' still be used as a defence some 18 months after receiving the PCN having not previously mentioned it in the POPLA appeal or to Smart Parking up until now?
I've tried to research this myself but any clarity regarding this detail or how i could word this would be appreciated. 
Ive also made note that the fine was incurred on the 29th June 2024 and the PCN was issued on 12th July 2024. 
Have Smart Parking complied with informing me as the registered keeper within the 2 week timeframe? ( as i would not have received this letter until a day later at earliest in the post) 
As i understand it if the registered keeper is not informed within 2 weeks of the PCN being incurred then the Claimant (smart parking/dcb Legal) cannot pursue the registered keeper? 
One other point that i also should have mentioned in the POPLA Appeal was that we were held up from exiting the car park by several minutes by another car trying to park.  
As the overstay was only 15 minutes (minus 10 minutes grace time) the actual overstay amounts to just 5 minutes which could have made all the difference. 
I would not be able to show evidence of this hold up though other than everyone in the car having witnessed it at the time.  
I want to start putting together a reply to the letter of claim which will hopefully dissuade Smart Parking/dcb Legal from taking things further. 
Are there any other defences i can cite to try to do this?
Thanks  in advance for your help.  I will post my Draft reply to the  'Letter of Claim'  on here for approval before sending. 

Kind Regards 

C 
 

Coupon-mad

Forget all of the above. Play the game.

Read post 2 of the NEWBIES thread.

1505grandad

And never refer to the parking event ticket as a "fine"  -  you will never see that word in any of their correspondence  -  it is merely an invoice.

fezzo

hi sorry finding this website difficult to navigate. could you send a link to 'post 2 of Newbies thread'

Gr1pr

Go to the top of this parking forum, as directed in the signature in every post by coupon mad

Scroll down to the third announcement , the thread with NEWBIES in the title 

Click on it

Then scroll down to the second post from the top, which says post 2 in red,  read it 

Email the Letter of Claim response template to the info@ email address for DCB Legal 

Then wait for the inevitable N1SDT Money Claim pack to arrive in the post from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL 

fezzo

So I have found the Newbies thread and read through post 2. 
So I will copy and paste the 'Generic Reply to Letter of Claim.

I would just like to clarify some points around 'Registered Keeper Liability' as would like to state in the reply that I was not the driver.
However as previously admitted in POPLA appeal I was with the car and the driver at the time as a passenger and have not previously stated as to not being the driver until replying to LOC.
my question is.... do I still have a case to argue this point as I was with the vehicle and have not complied with informing Smart Parking/dcb Legal of who the driver was within their stated timeframe. If I cant argue my case on this point then should I still make reference to not being the driver in reply to LOC?
Regarding Smart Parking/dcb Legal and their right to pursue the Registered Keeper have they acted accordingly regarding the Protections of Freedoms Act 2012?

Gr1pr

So I believe that the incident happened about 18 months ago, shen Smart Parking were NOT complying with Pofa2012,  meaning that you have NO LEGAL Liability under POFA2012,  and I presume that you were NOT the driver either,  so NO driver Liability either

Meaning that Smart Parking have no legal methods of holding you to account or as liable,  being a passenger is OK and not revealing who was actually driving is also ok too   ( great for you because you wont be paying a penny,  no matter how long it takes   )

In your LoC responsereply,  state that you are the Registered keeper, (  if true  ) , but were definitely not the driver on that incident date ( if true  ) meaning that their client has no cause of legal action against you and they should stop harassing you 

It may not stop the roboclaim against you,  but they will fail in the end,  if you don't worry and you follow our advice,  but it will take a while before they actually discontinue the case,  perhaps sometime next year,  but we will help you to beat these fools

fezzo

This is my proposed reply to letter of Claim to dcb Legal for your feedback

dcb legal  

ref 

Regarding Proposed Legal Proceedings on behalf of your Claimant 

Smart Parking Limited.

I confirm that my address for service for the time being is as follows, and any older address must be erased from your records:

You should revert to your client because the 'propensity to pay' score in my case is zero, so any claim is hopeless and a waste of the court fee.

The alleged debt is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.

As the registered keeper of the vehicle in question and not the driver on the day the alleged debt was incurred I refer you/your client to the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) under which the requirements your client has failed to comply.

As such no transfer of liability from the driver to the keeper can be upheld.

Non Compliance of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 outlined below

The alleged parking event occurred on 29th July 2024

Your Notice to Keeper is dated 12th July 2024 

Under PoFA Schedule 4 paragraph 9(5) a Notice to Keeper sent by post is presumed delivered 2 working days after posting

Therefore, the earliest deemed delivery date would be 

• Day 1: Monday 15th July 2024
• Day 2: Tuesday 16th July 2024

Thus the notice was not delivered until 16th July 2024, which is 17 days after the parking event.

PoFA Schedule 4 paragraph 9(4) requires that the Notice to Keeper be delivered within 14 days of the parking event. The deadline was 13th July 2024

Your notice therefore misses the statutory 14 day deadline and does not create keeper liability.

Because the Notice to Keeper does not meet the conditions of Schedule 4, you cannot pursue me, the keeper, for this charge.

Any mention of keeper liability in your correspondence is therefore incorrect and must cease.

 I am under no obligation to name the driver, and I will not be doing so.

Given the above I expect any further action to be cancelled.

Yours faithfully

C......

Registered Keeper

Coupon-mad

Yep that's good. Send it.

You can't lose in court (and there will never be a hearing anyway) but let's see what utter misleading crap DCB Legal reply with.

fezzo

Thanks for looking it over.  I have a contact email address on the LOC as ... info@dcblegal.co.uk 
Is this the one i should send the response to?