2 years chased for fine, now its a Letter of Claim by DCB Legal (Euro Car Parks)

robmalik

Hello All,

I have been reading many articles of advice on here over last few years, so thanks for all support, and I really want to stand against these car parking firms best as possible. Apologies if this is incorrect forum, or other links are ready for this issue:

Situation:

I received a £170.00 parking fine due to getting my car washed on the 31/12/2023 at Derby Hand Car Wash, which is located on the same site as MFG Texaco Traffic (Derby). I walked to my bank (Halifax in Derby) to withdraw money to pay Derby Hand Car Wash. I do not have any receipt of having my car wash, as I paid by cash. The firm is no longer around, hense i cannot contact them. PCN number: 88887453711

It is Euro Car Park company which run the area, hence sent the fine. Plus I have been chased for 2 years by debt collectors Debt Recovery Plus, ZZPS and GCTT, DCB Legal.

I have sent letters to Euro Car Park, MFG Texaco Traffic regarding the situation, however they have both denied cancelling the fine.

I have proof from google earth, that no signs were erected at the petrol station about fines to park for anyone, or limited time to park. They have been installed in the last year. This can all be proven by Google Earth history.

I have sent a letter to POPLA  however I have not completed the POPLA varfication. .

I now have a letter from dcb Legal – Letter of claim regarding the £170.00. They act for Euro Car Park Limited and the formal letter of claim in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debit Claims. It was issued on 23 May 2025.

Any advise now… shall I pay, speak to a solicitor?

Or please send me to the right forum, response drafted.

Thanks All

Gr1pr

Its not a fine, nor was it £170 either, probably a £100 Parking Charge Notice from ECP

IGNORE the powerless debt collectors letters 

Do not pay, no need for a solicitor 

Just email the LoC response template to DCB Legal,  same as everyone else  ( 2nd post in the newbies sticky thread in announcements   )

Coupon-mad

Try MFG again and insist on the CEO stepping in. We had a similar thread about this the other month where MFG had a staff member replaying who was unhelpful so they went above his head.

I think they were also at LBC stage but got it cancelled by the top officials at MFG.

It's probably linked recently in SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINTS ABOUT PPCs.

Go look. Do the same.

Car1980

99% chance you're going to get a court claim.

99.9% chance they'll discontinue it towards the end of the year.

Read up on the stages in the stickied threads. It's just emailing some forms and most of the work here is done for you. You won't be paying or going anywhere near a court room.

Although it sounds like a ripe case for counterclaiming and dragging in the Texaco franchisee if you did want to do a Perry Mason 😂

robmalik

Thanks all. I can confirm that I have followed the above advise, and completed the following two activities this afternoon: 

1) Issued the LoC response template to DCB Legal email address: info@dcblegal.co.uk... it is: 

Dear Sirs,

Your Ref. [removed by Forum Team]
Proposed Legal Proceedings
Claimant: Euro Car Parks Ltd
I refer to your letter of claim.
I confirm that my address for service .......................etc.... 

2) I have issued another professional, but very unhappy customer email to MFG contact (also asking for CEO) regarding the situation, and how I've been chased endlessly by firms over the last two years for getting my car washed. Also how Euro Car Parks and or MFG have not canceled charges after i contacted them on the first instance. I have also cc'd in my local MP, 

Catherine Atkinson, who has been working with BBC East Midlands this year regarding other car park issues, and endless incorrect charges! 

I will update this post if anything comes back. 

Thanks again... 

robmalik

Hi All,

 

DCB Legal Ltd responded to the email. Can you advise next step please?

As update, I received nothing back from Texas Director + Customer service, after I also sent another email.

Reminder on the event: I parked my past car at Derby Car Wash Limited on the 31 December 2023 (48mins). I paid them cash for a full clean, no receipt. I did not see any parking signs about the 20min rule. I was also not informed by Derby Car Wash. The firm no longer exists. There are plenty of photographs on google earth displaying the area, and clearly no visible signs. New signs have been installed over last 12 months.

Traffic St, Derby DE1 2NL

 

Dear …..

We write in response to correspondence received in our office dated 31st May 2025.       

We have made a record of the contents of your correspondence and noted this on your file accordingly. We now respond to the same as follows.

Prior to the issue of the parking charge, our Client applied to the DVLA for the details of the Registered Keeper of the Vehicle. Your name and address ( xxxx ) were provided. Our Client therefore correctly issued correspondence to you at that address. Having not received payment, address verification was carried out prior to the Letter of Claim being sent. Your address was located and as such the Letter of Claim was issued to you at the traced address, which has remained unchanged. 

The parking charge was not affixed to the vehicle because our client utilises Automatic Number Plate Recognition (“ANPR”) technology on the land where the parking charge was issued in order to manage the parking. This means that cameras capable of accurately recognising the vehicle registration number of a vehicle are constantly monitoring the entrance and exit to the land.  A photograph is taken of each vehicle as it enters and exits the land. Any vehicle found to have breached the terms of parking will be issued with a parking charge via the post.

When parking on private land, the contractual terms of the site are set out on the signs. You are entering a contract and agreeing to the terms by parking and staying on the site. Parking in breach of the terms as stipulated on the signage means that you are then breaking the terms of the contract.

The terms and conditions on the signs stated 20 minutes maximum stay or otherwise a parking charge notice would be issued. The vehicle was recorded on the land for 48 minutes, at the material time and as such the parking charge was issued correctly.

 You should always be vigilant when entering any land that you are not familiar with or that you know is privately owned and there are parking terms in place. As the driver of the vehicle it is your responsibility at all material times to ensure you understand the terms and conditions operating on the land prior to exiting your vehicle. Furthermore, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have read and understood the terms operating prior to parking your vehicle.   

The Notice to Keeper was issued to you on 5th January 2024. You were afforded the opportunity to; appeal the parking charge, transfer liability to the driver (if it was not you) or make payment. Neither a successful appeal, nor an adequate nomination were received, yet payment remains outstanding.

The Reminder Notice was issued to you on 4th February 2024. This notice reiterated that payment was outstanding and confirmed that legal action may be taken and additional costs incurred if the parking charge was not paid.  

We are minded that you lodged an appeal with our client directly which was unsuccessful. To date our clients position remains the same and as such your appeal and their response is enclosed within this correspondence.

In regard to the debt recovery fee of £70.00 being claimed, you would have been made aware of this through the signs available on the car parks site as previously mentioned above. This does not include any VAT. The HMRC ‘VAT Supply and Consideration manual’ (VATSC06140), which was last updated on 02 September 2020, confirmed that parking charge notices falls out of the scope of VAT. There is no requirement for a VAT invoice to be issued to you.        

Further to the above, in accordance with the appeal decision made on 29th July 2020 in Britannia Parking Group Ltd v Semark-Julien [2020] EW Mis 12 (CC), it is not correct to propose this claim should be struck out as an ‘abuse of process’ due to the contractual costs claimed.          

With reference to the above, this parking charge is being pleaded as a breach of contract to which damages are payable in light of the matters raised in this correspondence.     

Pursuing a legally owed debt is not harassment. You may wish to seek independent legal advice in this regard. Our client pursuing this matter through the Small Claims Court is the correct course of action.

DCB Legal have been instructed to commence legal proceedings as all previous attempts to resolve the matter have been unsuccessful. 

 You have 30 days from the date of this letter to pay the outstanding balance of £170.00 or provide supporting evidence to the above effect. Failure to do so will result in us continuing to follow the claim process as normal.

 Payment can be made via our website www.dcblegal.co.uk, by calling our office on 0203 838 7038 or via bank transfer:　  

 Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account:- 　 

You must quote the correct case reference  when making payment. If you do not, we may be unable to correctly allocate the payment. If further action is taken by us as a result of an incorrect reference being quoted, you will be liable for any further fees or costs incurred.

We would ask that you kindly furnish us with your most up to date telephone number and email address, this can be emailed to us at info@dcblegal.co.uk. 

Alternatively, you can contact DCB Legal Ltd on 0203 838 7038 to make payment over the telephone or online at ..

Thanks all, any advise please?

Gr1pr

Same as in the hundreds of other cases 

Report them to HMRC with possible VAT concerns 

Then

Wait for the inevitable N1SDT court claim pack to arrive from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL 

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for the VAT acronym and you'll see immediately why we didn't need to see that template reply!

robmalik

Thanks.. been reading forum! Very helpful on MCOL etc.

For my sanity.. If court claim comes (likely it will), I have 99% chance to win. And even if I do loose, I won't get a CCJ (credit rating impact) as long as a pay within 30 days (meet deadlines)..

So I'm fighting these!

Gr1pr

robmalik said:

Thanks.. been reading forum! Very helpful on MCOL etc.

For my sanity.. If court claim comes (likely it will), I have 99% chance to win.

And even if I do loose, I won't get a CCJ (credit rating impact) as long as a pay within 30 days (meet deadlines)..

So I'm fighting these!

You seem to have understood the process