DCBLegal N180 Directions Questionnaire and Court Claims

lozli

LZH85 said:

lozli said:

Hi All,

The parking fine from DCBLegal all started near the beginning of the year for allegedly over-staying in the Meadowhall Retail Park on 28/10/2019. Other than that and a demand of payment, no other information is provided. I personally have not received any of the original parking fines from G24 Ltd. The first time I have known of this is beginning of this year, over 5yrs of the Date of contravention. 

I have moved around Nov 2019 so that can explain the reason I didn't receive their fine letters. 

They have clearly found where I am living now and started to send me letters. I have ignored their letters as its ludricious to even think about someone writing to me demanding for payment for something that happened before the pandemic. No evidence was given to me and any additional details other than:

Reason for Contravention: Exceding The Maximum Duration Of Stay Permitted At

I later received a letter from DCB Legal stating a letter of claim on the 20th March 2025 stating they will file a letter of claim within 30 days if its not paid. 

Received the Claims forms and thanks to your forum followed up with an AOS and later submitted my defense via the MCol website. 

On the 18th June 2025, I recevied an email from an Alison Hughes at DCBLegal which looks very generic. Attached to my email is the N180 Directions Questionnaire document

It says :

Good morning

Having reviewed the content of your defence, we write to inform you that our client intends to proceed with the claim.

In due course, the Court will direct both parties to each file a directions questionnaire. In preparation for that, please find attached a copy of the Claimant's, which we confirm has been filed with the Court.

Without Prejudice to the above, in order to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, our client may be prepared to settle this case - in the event you wish to discuss settlement, please call us on 0203 434 0433 within 7 days and make immediate reference to this correspondence.

If you have provided an email address within your Defence, we intend to use it for service of documents (usually in PDF format) hereon in pursuant to PD 6A (4.1)(2)(c). Please advise whether there are any limitations to this (for example, the format in which documents are to be sent and the maximum size of attachments that may be received). Unless you advise otherwise, we will assume not.

Kind Regards,  

Alison Hughes

Litigation Support Associate 

DCB Legal Ltd 

NOW
So I am at the Directions Questionnaire phase, where they have submitted theirs and I guess I will have to submit mine when I get a letter through the door. At no point did they provide any evidence of it happening. I am thinking of emailing her back requesting for evidence or is it too late at this point? And the reason for contravention is not very detailed. It doesn't state how long the parking duration is. 

Question
Is the next step to file in my Directions Questionnaire and wait?
From the images of the parking site, it states the fine is £50 but 40% off if paid within 14days. Is it worth emailing them offering £30 which is the original fine if paid early as I didn;t get the original fine letters.

Just want to say a big thanks to this forum and everything here for the help. I found a lot of info here that helped me till now (e.g. the AOS and defence instructions etc). Also to know its not only me in this position and others are affected too. 

Thank you

I'm in exactly the same position as you - received a letter a couple months ago for the first time with a car parking charge from Dec 2019 Christmas day, no recollection of it at all and moved house since then. Just received my Directions Questionnaire so about to fill it in 

@LZH85 Sending my Directions Questionnaire today. Did you do yours already? If so, have you heard anything back? I keep getting automated phone calls from them. Think they ask you to confirm your identity and then pass you on to a person to talk to? Are you getting phone calls from DCBLegal?

Let me know how you get in, and good luck!

Gr1pr

Ignore the phone calls,  block them 

Stick to the process please,  including the 12 steps 

lozli

Just thinking of worse case scenario.. if it does go to court, and I do lose, is the total charge the figure on the claims form (which is £264ish) or will do there additional charges incurred?

Coupon-mad

lozli said:

Just thinking of worse case scenario.. if it does go to court, and I do lose, is the total charge the figure on the claims form (which is £264ish) or will do there additional charges incurred?

No it's LESS.

The Template Defence first post already tells you this.

ICEcreamUscream

Just joining to say I am in the same position for a date in 2019. I think these guys are basically trying their luck with their stack of old claims before this whole (very lucrative) parking debacle gets shut down. Any news on when we can expect legislation change? I heard it would be during 2025, or has that shifted?

Gr1pr

ICEcreamUscream said:

Just joining to say I am in the same position for a date in 2019. I think these guys are basically trying their luck with their stack of old claims before this whole (very lucrative) parking debacle gets shut down.

Any news on when we can expect legislation change? I heard it would be during 2025, or has that shifted?

They are,  definitely   !

The MHCLG consultation was published on Friday so there were a couple of threads that were about the topic, have a read of the 2 main ones

lozli

Quick update regarding my case. I have submitted my Directions Questionnaire via email about 3 weeks ago.. Got an email today for a Mediation appointment on the 2nd Sept 2025.

The date of contavention for my case is on 28/10/2019. Am I correct in thinking that if a court date does happen but it is passed 28/10/2025, that my case will be dismissed as its passed 6yrs? 

Coupon-mad

No, you're incorrect. Once a claim is filed, then the clock stops ... and they were in time.

Come back in August to do the Public Consultation first! Don't miss it.

lozli

@Coupon-mad
not sure what you mean regarding this "Come back in August to do the Public Consultation first! Don't miss it."
What public consultation in August?

ChirpyChicken

lozli said:

@Coupon-mad
not sure what you mean regarding this "Come back in August to do the Public Consultation first! Don't miss it."
What public consultation in August?

The consultation into the new code of practice. Things like fees etc.
Please look it up and engage in it