Chances of winning at court

bonawho

Hi all.   In April 2021 I entered a Smart Parking car park, did not park, but proceeded to give my daughter some basic driving instruction.  It was a completely empty car park. I wasn't aware of any parking restrictions, I had never been there before, and just didn't see the signs.  I recd a PCN, foolishly told them I was the driver. (I know,right?).  I didn't pay the charge, appealed to Popla, lost, and still didn't pay up as I still considered it unfair.  I ignored all further correspondence from both SP and debt collectors.  These letters eventually dried up, and I thought that was the end of the matter. Four years later, I have started receiving DCBLegal letters with the usual threats. the last one being a Letter of Claim.  Why would they wait 4 years to reopen(?) the case?   Does this mean they intend to pursue it to court?  I still think that if I got a sypathetic judge, I could win my case, but what are the chances of that?  I found out later that if I had seen the signs and paid up for parking it would have cost me £! !!  That alone should convince the judge that I just made a mistake, but maybe not.   Smart Parking of course, are not interested in any mistake, and just want my money. Not sure what to do as I'm seriously sick of the whole thing.   Do I have any chance?  Smart parking will of course base their entire case on 'breach of contract'.   Will the judge?
Any replies much appreciated
Dave

Nellymoser

They have 6yrs to pursue you. DCB Legal are chasing payment and use court to scare you. They do often file court claims but are well known for discontinuing cases just before the hearing fees are due to be paid.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations#latest

Read and follow advice for LOC in NEWBIES Announcement thread 2nd post Small Claim 

Car1980

A letter of claim from who? DCB Legal?

99% of single ticket court claims are discontinued and never go in front of a judge.

Practising driving isn't parking anyway. 

Coupon-mad

bonawho said:

Hi all.   In April 2021 I entered a Smart Parking car park, did not park, but proceeded to give my daughter some basic driving instruction.  It was a completely empty car park. I wasn't aware of any parking restrictions, I had never been there before, and just didn't see the signs.  I recd a PCN, foolishly told them I was the driver. (I know,right?).  I didn't pay the charge, appealed to Popla, lost, and still didn't pay up as I still considered it unfair.  I ignored all further correspondence from both SP and debt collectors.  These letters eventually dried up, and I thought that was the end of the matter. Four years later, I have started receiving DCBLegal letters with the usual threats. the last one being a Letter of Claim.  

The second post of the NEWBIES thread already answers your headline question. We win. You won't even have a hearing; your case won't see any judge!

It has been quiet for 4 years because Smart have never sued anyone until this year for the first time, in bulk via DCB Legal. They've sent their entire back catalogue to DCB Legal. You are in a bulk batch and they are hoping that most scared victims pay out of fear.

Defending is done online and it's far far easier than the POPLA process was!

You'd have 100% won at POPLA, had you come here and not said who was driving... but I think you know that now! We used to laugh at how easy Smart cases were to kill with one email.

No worries. BUT - we do need you!  

Please read this message and do the vital,  current Public Consultation in August:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81552148/#Comment_81552148

It's important that the Government hears from people with unfair charges who are facing horrific, scary court claims and who have had their valid dispute rejected by POPLA..

The link shows the two vital points to concentrate on, IMHO:

- banning DRA fee add-ons completely

- making sure a new SINGLE appeals service replaces POPLA and the IAS which are seen as not fully independent and involved in a 'race to the bottom'.

Click through to the main thread about the Consultation, Do not be deterred by the fact that some questions are for the parking industry only.

We are currently discussing how to respond. The issues above are the main two IMPORTANT ones in my view. We need to be clever, pick our battles and as such - mainly because it means the Code will come in quicker (no signs will have to be changed) - I have no issue with PCs 'up to £100 cap'...

...AS LONG AS DRA FEES ARE BANNED OUTRIGHT BECAUSE THEY ENRICH THIRD PARTIES WHO USE THE MONEY TO FUND A TSUNAMI OF COURT CLAIMS & CCJs AND PROVIDE ZERO SERVICE THAT CONSUMERS SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO PAY FOR.

Please join us in doing this Consultation.

This is your one chance to make a difference re the proper regulation of private parking.

bonawho

Many thanks for the replies.   Appreciated.   In answer to a couple of points raised,  yes the Letter of Claim was sent by DCBLegal, and whilst I agree with the fact that 'practising driving isn't parking anyway', I said this to Popla and lost the appeal.
Anyway, if I've picked this up right,  and there's a good chance I might not have, I should proceed with the CNBC/MCOL route?

Car1980

Popla is a kangaroo court, funded by the parking industry. There are very limited grounds they are permitted to cancel. They don't like ruling on things like your situation because then everybody would argue it and parking companies would lose thousands. But with paperwork errors - easily rectified by the parking co.

Signage is a classic example. All signage is "supposedly" audited by the BPA. So they won't cancel any charge where signage is argued against. Because it's been audited by their paymasters, it must be fine!

Yet, in court, if you are in the minority who end up seeing a judge, what are most cases thrown out for? Inadequate signage.

bonawho

When I originally appealed to Popla, I naively thought I would get a fair assessment.  But I'm not even convinced they looked at my case in any detail.   i fully intend to join the consultation as mentioned in Coupon-mads post above.     Many thanks for your reply.

Le_Kirk

bonawho said:

Anyway, if I've picked this up right,  and there's a good chance I might not have, I should proceed with the CNBC/MCOL route?

At the moment, if my reading of your situation is correct, you have a LOC not an N1SDT claim form, if that is the case, just reply as per @Coupon-mad's post upthread.  If you have a N1SDT you do need to do the AoS and instructions are also in the NEWBIE sticky second post, via a dropbox link.