Rang DCB legal before I read the Newbies thread about £170 PCN - am I doomed?

greensmoke85

In between going back and forth about who pays for this (Travelodge asked me to pay and they reimburse me, whereas I wanted Travelodge to pay directly) I've had a CCJ through. 

Can anyone advise what I do in this situation?

DE_612183

greensmoke85 said:

In between going back and forth about who pays for this (Travelodge asked me to pay and they reimburse me, whereas I wanted Travelodge to pay directly) I've had a CCJ through. 

Can anyone advise what I do in this situation?

Do you mean this has gone to court and you have not responded, and a CCJ has been awarded in your absence?

greensmoke85

DE_612183 said:

greensmoke85 said:

In between going back and forth about who pays for this (Travelodge asked me to pay and they reimburse me, whereas I wanted Travelodge to pay directly) I've had a CCJ through. 

Can anyone advise what I do in this situation?

Do you mean this has gone to court and you have not responded, and a CCJ has been awarded in your absence?

The original letter was from DCB Legal asking for £170. They gave me 30 days to respond and during that time I was going back and forth with Travelodge who agreed to pay it. The day I went to pay it, I got a letter from HM Courts & Tribunals Service to say:

'We're contacting you because someone claims you owe them money, and a money claim has been made against you. The claim is attached.'

The claim is for that £170 + interest, plus £35 court fee and £50 legal representatives cost.

It says my options are Admission form N9A or Defence and Counterclaim form N9B 

DE_612183

ok, so you don't have a CCJ (Yet) - have you read the newbees thread?

what is the date of the claim?

Nellymoser

Post the letter you received from the court redact all personal details as advised at top of this page. Sounds more like you have a Claim Form rather than a CCJ. 

greensmoke85

Sorry yes @DE_612183 you're right. I misunderstood the letter/newbies thread and thought I was dealing with a CCJ but you're right it's a claim. I have a newborn baby and my brain isn't firing on all cylinders to put it lightly! 

Issue Date of claim is 21 February - I received it via post yesterday. 

Looking at the newbies thread it says I should go on MCOL and submit an acknowledgement of service and then send my defence separately via the email address. I'll look at the templates when I get to that. 

Do I leave Travelodge for now? Also am I right in my understanding that I don't pay anything at this point?

Fruitcake

You do not need to pay anyone anything unless and until a judge tells you to.

No, you do not leave Travelodge alone. You should escalate your complaint to the CEO (look up the CEOemail website), and complain to your MP as well.

It is not too late for the hotel chain to instruct their agent to cancel the charge that was caused by their employee's omission/mistake.

KeithP

greensmoke85 said:

Issue Date of claim is 21 February - I received it via post yesterday. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 21st February, you have until Wednesday 12th March 2025 to file an Acknowledgment of Service('AOS'), but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AOS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AOS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 26th March 2025 to file a Defence.

That's 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 again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the AOS guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an AOS, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an AOS has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Coupon-mad

In most current defences v DCB Legal claims, paragraph 3 (within the 30 paragraph Template Defence) looks similar to the thread below by @shahib_02  ... just change the incident date:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6576011/cel-dcb-legal-pcn-cnbc-claim-defence-assistance-required-please

No need for more detail except if you have something important to add about the matter.

greensmoke85

Thank you all. 

I have heard back from Travelodge CEO who informs me that they cannot offer anything other than the £170 reimbursement (the current court claim is £265) and that they are unable to cancel the original claim because it is with CP Plus who own the carpark (even though it is a carpark for their hotel). They also gave me some spiel about how on their website and in the hotel there are signs that say you have to register your car, but this was never mentioned at the hotel, and it's a hotel that you can only access by car. Is it true that they can't cancel the claim? Surely they can just contact CP Plus to say this was a hotel guest and the claim should be cancelled?

I've filed the AOS so I am going to prepare my defence. 

One thing to double check which I'm a bit confused about. If I lose this defence will I have to pay additional court fees? Or will I just be ordered to pay the claim?