Defending parking fine against ParkingEye/DCBLegal

Coupon-mad

keithneil99 said:

Coupon-mad said:

If it's an in-house ParkingEye claim for £130 plus court fees, they won't rush to get judgment on MCOL. Their own team aren't that quick out of the traps.

But if it's a DCB Legal claim for ParkingEye, they WILL go for judgment by Tuesday.

This is why we stopped advising emailing defences (advice changed 3 weeks ago to a shorter template defence and submitting it on MCOL). The CNBC is too slow and disorganised and last minute emailed defences are missed. If you have the latter, it will save you a headache (possible CCJ having to be unpicked) to just put the new defence in on MCOL this weekend. That will be your defence instead of the emailed one. Make sure you submit it.

Hi Coupon-mad,

 I submitted my defence on MCOL on Monday as I didn't see this message due to travelling at the weekend, may be i have missed the deadline :-( 

You were in time.

DCB Legal claim, or not?

keithneil99

Coupon-mad said:

keithneil99 said:

Coupon-mad said:

If it's an in-house ParkingEye claim for £130 plus court fees, they won't rush to get judgment on MCOL. Their own team aren't that quick out of the traps.

But if it's a DCB Legal claim for ParkingEye, they WILL go for judgment by Tuesday.

This is why we stopped advising emailing defences (advice changed 3 weeks ago to a shorter template defence and submitting it on MCOL). The CNBC is too slow and disorganised and last minute emailed defences are missed. If you have the latter, it will save you a headache (possible CCJ having to be unpicked) to just put the new defence in on MCOL this weekend. That will be your defence instead of the emailed one. Make sure you submit it.

Hi Coupon-mad,

 I submitted my defence on MCOL on Monday as I didn't see this message due to travelling at the weekend, may be i have missed the deadline :-( 

You were in time.

DCB Legal claim, or not?

it is DCB Legal claim that filed the claim and no, not heard anything from them this week.  I did receive a letter in the post today from HM Courts & Tribunals Services today acknowledging my defence, where they state that the claimant may contact me directly to attempt to resolve any dispute informally and should the dispute not be resolved they may inform the court they wish to proceed.  

Guess that's standard protocol? 

Coupon-mad

Yep. Read the first 8 steps. All is explained in the Template Defence thread.

But it is a national disgrace and a drain on Society, in terms of money and anxiety.

keithneil99

Coupon-mad said:

Yep. Read the first 8 steps. All is explained in the Template Defence thread.

But it is a national disgrace and a drain on Society, in terms of money and anxiety.

If you want to be part of the push to change things in future, it's very important that people like you tell the Government that:

a) you have no faith in POPLA or the IAS and that there must be the SINGLE APPEALS SERVICE that the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 *almost* promised. As long as it is independent and impartial (and only ONE appeals service, not two involved in a race to the bottom) that will give a real option to resolve disputed cases out of court.

b).  THAT THE ENRICHMENT OF 'DEBT RECOVERY FEES' MUST BE COMPLETELY BANNED. DISPUTED CASES ARE NOT SOLVED BY DEMANDING MORE MONEY AND OFFERING A 'PAYMENT PLAN' THAT ONLY DUPED VICTIMS PAY. DRAS LIKE DCB LEGAL MAKE NO MONEY IF THEY HANDLE DISPUTES IN THE SPIRIT OF THE APPEALS CHARTER, WHICH IS WHY THEY ALWAYS PLOUGH ON TO COURT CLAIMS AND CCJs, RATHER THAN OFFERING REAL RESOLUTION AT PRE-ACTION STAGE.

c). Tell them about your experience and the complete and utter waste of court resources caused on a grand scale by DCB Legal,

Responses are invited to the Consultation now:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

Do it this month pleeease! We will discuss it further next week on that thread if you want ideas.

more than happy to participate, everyone here has been helpful, therefore more than willing to give back :-

keithneil99

Good Afternoon

I received further communication from DCB legal, advising that the client intends to proceed with the claim and  how in due course the Court will direct both parties to file a directions questionnaire.  The claimant shared theirs.  Yes- they proposed discussing settlement and for me to contact them.  Any advice on next steps? do I just now wait for the court to write to me requesting I submit a directions questionnaire?
Thank you

keithneil99

keithneil99 said:

Good Afternoon

I received further communication from DCB legal, advising that the client intends to proceed with the claim and  how in due course the Court will direct both parties to file a directions questionnaire.  The claimant shared theirs.  Yes- they proposed discussing settlement and for me to contact them.  Any advice on next steps? do I just now wait for the court to write to me requesting I submit a directions questionnaire?
Thank you

further to my last post, I will await the CNBC to send me my own questionnaire to complete and email to them.  I have yet to receive it, although i have downloaded the N180 questionnaire from the .gov site and drafted it in readiness for when I do receive the questionnaire (guessing it will be the same version).   

keithneil99

Good Afternoon

I have received a General Form of Judgement or Order.

The hearing is set for mid-march via telephone and I understand it's a dispute resolution hearing .

Couple of questions:

1. The paperwork advises that if I'm unable to attend on the scheduled date, I should notify them 5 days prior to the hearing, it's unlikely I will be attending as I'm going to be abroad and can't guarantee I will have telephonic access. Will non attendance despite notification scupper my success rate of winning?

2. Directions for the hearing are exchange of documents and evidence. I have very little evidence to supply as the location I parked is over 2 hours away and I have no photographic evidence of the signage being insufficiently small.

Can you advise what I can supply in the absence of photographic evidence to ensure my defence is strong?

Att. Document received

Coupon-mad

Oh no! Just wondering why didn't your N180 include that week as 'unavailable'? I am guessing it was booked after the N180 and you only plotted a few months ahead on that form.

Oh well. Massive free hit for the Claimant as these short preliminary hearings cost no fee, so the Clamant won't discontinue. These really favour claimants IMHO. Why let them have a free assessment hearing? Madness but you are stuck with it EXCEPT if you quickly email which that Order obviously tells you to do within 5 days. i.e. before 4pm tomorrow.

The Order says what you MUST say if you cannot attend, so follow it to the letter and cc in DCB Legal.

Do that immediately and ask for a new DR hearing date and tell them about all unavailability for the next six months.

I have very little evidence to supply.

That's disappointing to read, given I provide more than ten pieces of advice about typical exhibits to supply. In the second post of the NEWBIES thread.

And given the place is probably on Google Streetview? Or there might be photos of the location on a thread on here already?

Have you looked for all of the above?

Plus, if you've been following the forum in the past 6 months you'll have read about Mazur v Speechlys…

And you also have Chan and Akande because the POC didn't plead the breach (presumably you said that in defence because the Template Defence provides the wording for DCB Legal Parking Eye cases. You used that version of Defence with Chan & Akande, we hope?).

There are loads of things to include with your WS if the court refuses to change the date.

Which site is it?

keithneil99

From what I gather from your response my chances of defending the claim are small?

I've emailed them this morning, copying in the claimant, advising them of my non availability on that date.

Regarding evidence, I have looked at the site through Google street view, there is signage there, albeit rather small and easily missed, which of course is subjective.

I haven't read the aforementioned cases, will read through those.

I am good with preparing the WS, just concerned I'm unable to defend the claim against me and lose.

The site in question is Holiday Inn Stoke on Trent, Jc15 M6.

Coupon-mad

"From what I gather from your response my chances of defending the claim are small?"

What?…quite the opposite.

Show me where I said that?