Adding Additional Defence Info to DCB Legal 'Letter of Claim' Response email - Advice needed!

candy_cars

Hi all, 

I'll try to keep it brief. As I'm sure you get bombarded with similar posts all the time. 

I have received a letter from DCB Legal in response to an alleged offence back June 2020 (3/6/2020). I have read the Newbies forum and have drafted my response email based on the template in Post 2 as advised and plan to send direct to DCB Legals info@xxxx email address. 

However I I could do with advice on the following. Where it says 'You can briefly also state (ABOVE those two questions) your reasons for disputing the claim....' I am tempted to include information that I feel supports my defence / disputes the initial claim - but I just want to make sure I am not making a rod for my own back or doing something that may make the situation worse. 

My charge was issued for 'Exceeding the maximum duration of stay' at a Homebase carpark - 90mins of free parking allowed, our parking period 125mins. 

My initial refusal to pay the charge was because this was the time needed to get into the store, to get everything required, to pay and to load up the car, and I don't remember any options to 'extend' our parking time if required (ie by buying additional time from a meter, etc).
There was a one-in one-out queuing system at the store during this visit due to Covid restrictions, with the queue to get in taking well over half an hour of additional time. I also have bank statement showing that we made a payment to Homebase so feel that the Business / client did not lose out on any money in this case. 

Is it worth adding information about the covid restrictions that were in place at the time, or mentioning the payment made to the business, or is this just not relevant at this stage? 

I could be in the wrong here refusing to pay but I feel really aggrieved at having to pay £170 for just using a business as intended. Especially when there were Covid restrictions in place which significantly added to the duration of any visit at the time. 

Any advice would be greatly received. And I apologise if this is something that has been answered previously. I did look through dozens of threads but couldn't find one that quite fit the bill.... 

Just want to say this forum is beyond helpful and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that takes the time to respond to everyone. 

Thanks again, 
Candy_Cars 

Gr1pr

Thats not brief

But

Just email the template response,  no additions,  no stories,  no explanations, nothing extra whatsoever 

Don't look for ones that are identical 

UKPC sent the pcn invoice for the alleged breach of the parking contract on that private property,  namely,  an overstay,  like the Barry Beavis case a decade ago,  so the similarities start there.   They issued an invoice for a breach, certainly no offence was committed, alleged or otherwise,  no laws were allegedly broken,  just a possible civil breach under contract law 

Stick to the rules of the game,  not your own, nothing you can write will stop the roboclaim juggernaut,  so don't bother 

Email the template as is

Bear in mind that you should have started with plan A from the get go, getting the retail park management company to cancel it,  by complaining to them, they hired ukpc,  they could still get it cancelled,  on behalf of the actual landowners   ( which is not Homebase   )

Coupon-mad

The claim will end up issued anyway then discontinued before the hearing, so there's literally no point adding info for these horrific predators at this stage.

Umkomaas

Have a read of the DCB Legal Discontinuation thread of shame, because if you're dealing with DCB Legal, then by following forum guidance, your case will be listed there towards the end of this year.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Car1980

The only point in adding a defence point to the DCB Legal letter of claim is if it's really spurious e.g. you weren't there and it's a cloned car, or you had a heart attack.

This *may* make Sarah Ensall think twice about taking a punt and it *may* increase your chance of costs when/if you write to the judge after the Notice of Discontinuance because it adds to the unreasonable behaviour charge.

If it's complicated, just wait until the defence.

candy_cars

Gr1pr said:

Thats not brief

Thanks Gr1pr. 

No it's not brief sorry!  It started brief and I got carried away. But thank you for the advise. 

Yes in hindsight I should have contacted the landowners. I think I missed that (or didn't take that fully on board) when I looked for advice all those years ago! I know for next time.....if it ever happens again. I did actually try to do that recently when I started getting letters again, just in case it helped, but there stores not there anymore. 

Thanks again for taking the time to respond 

candy_cars

Coupon-mad said:

The claim will end up issued anyway then discontinued before the hearing, so there's literally no point adding info for these horrific predators at this stage.

Thank you, will do. And thanks for all the previous advice you've given on the Newbies forum 

candy_cars

Umkomaas said:

Have a read of the DCB Legal Discontinuation thread of shame, because if you're dealing with DCB Legal, then by following forum guidance, your case will be listed there towards the end of this year.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Will do, thank you!

candy_cars

Car1980 said:

The only point in adding a defence point to the DCB Legal letter of claim is if it's really spurious e.g. you weren't there and it's a cloned car, or you had a heart attack.

This *may* make Sarah Ensall think twice about taking a punt and it *may* increase your chance of costs when/if you write to the judge after the Notice of Discontinuance because it adds to the unreasonable behaviour charge.

If it's complicated, just wait until the defence.

Thanks for the additional info. Yes I'll just keep it simple for now as advised by everyone and then take the next steps as they come.

Thanks again for all you help everyone

Le_Kirk

candy_cars said:

Yes in hindsight I should have contacted the landowners. I think I missed that (or didn't take that fully on board) when I looked for advice all those years ago! I know for next time.....if it ever happens again. I did actually try to do that recently when I started getting letters again, just in case it helped, but there their stores not there anymore. 

Unlikely to be cancelled by an individual store anyway (as stated elsewhere in this thread) but if it is a retail park there will probably be a totem pole on entrance to it and at the bottom of that will be the managing agent, such as Savills or Jones Lang Lesalle

Gr1pr

As above,  nothing to do with the stores,  everything to do with the landowner,  who is represented by the retail park management company,  so I don't think that you are quite onboard yet  ( Homebase are or were tenants, same as the other businesses there, they had no contract with the parking company,  the retail park management company did  )

Different if it was Asda or Tesco,  where the business may be the landowner 

But Plan A covers all of them, you choose the correct one accordingly,  never too late for plan A 

Whereas now you are on notice of a possible or probable future court claim,  instead of getting the pcn cancelled as a legitimate patron of the private property