DCB Legal letter of claim advice

Bowling_ball · 17 April at 12:53PM

Hi all,

Just want to say thanks for the advice you’ve already provided via other posts, now I’m after something a bit more personalised if possible.

About 5 years ago I parked in a car park in my company van, I paid for parking, and when I returned found I had a parking ticket as I hadn’t paid specifically for van parking… I remember it quite well as it was early in the morning and the parking machine was very barely visible due to moisture in the screen, to the point the person in front told me it was broken, and the person behind me took it as a reason not to pay (I was actually quite proud that I’d managed to pay to be honest). There was work going on in the car park for whatever reason and so when I looked for a sign to say vans have a different tariff after receiving the ticket (despite parking other side of the car park the work was on, in a car park space the same size as others), there was a temporary sign which was battered and not in an obvious place, felt like it was only implemented to make most of the workers, so ignored it to be honest.

Anyway, back end of last year started receiving letters from DCBl, which I ignored as suggested, but have now received a ‘letter of claim’ notice so understand I need to reply.

So, do I just reply with the standard paragraph found in the newbie thread, or do I personalise it and explain the situation? And how honest should I be, as there is likely no evidence of me being there, and it was a company van so in theory anyone could’ve been driving it and it’s unlikely they’ll have evidence from five years ago… in which case should I include the following (borrowed from another thread, I’d personalise it explaining it’s a company van and such):

“I am the registered keeper of the vehicle. I am not obligated to identify the driver and I decline to do so. As there is no legal presumption that the keeper of a vehicle was its driver on any particular occasion, your client cannot pursue me as driver (see VCS v Edward, 2023).

As you and your client are well aware, there is no keeper liability at Gatwick Airport because the airport is not ‘relevant land’ as defined in Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. So your client cannot pursue me as keeper.

As your client cannot pursue me as driver or keeper, it would be an abuse of the court’s process for your client to issue a claim against me and I will defend any such claim vigorously and seek costs in relation to your client’s unreasonable conduct”

As mentioned, I’d change it to say I’m not the registered keeper but used the van for work at one time and that I’m unable to identify the driver, as well as the specific info (if you think that’s the way to go).

It’s worth noting that I don’t have evidence that I paid as it was on a company credit card and haven’t worked there for nearly 3 years, however the notice explains I was ‘parked without paying van tariff’. I also have no idea where I was parked, only that it was a Euro Carparks and where it was (is it worth emailing them before replying to DCB Legal as others suggest?) I’d probably just pay the fine but feel like it’s so unjustified it seems a bit mad to especially from what I’ve read on these threads…

Finally, does anyone have an email for DCB Legal? Or shall I just use the one on my letter of claim? I’ve looked through the forums as suggested but didn’t find anything!

Thanks again for the advice already provided, and thanks in advance for you responses!