DCB Ltd Parking Fine Conundrum

dan_makaveli

Help / advice would be greatly appreciated

I'll try and keep this succinct whilst not omitting important detail ...

In March ('25) I received a letter charging me with an inflated parking charge listed to an incident from October('24). It was linked to a car park I sometimes use BUT I never had any fine on my car at that time and knew nothing about it until the letter in March with the inflated charges.

I asked for any evidence of a fine being attached to my vehicle and said I would be ok to pay the initial fine as it was possible did forget to pay. They did then attach a photo. I have no idea what happened to the fine letter but it was not on my vehicle upon my return, so the first I'm hearing of this is 5 months later.

I offered to pay the original fine as I was not disputing that. My issue was that I had not been aware of it. Following this, their correspondence was dreadful saying someone would call me but they didn't and then when I chased it up they said:

'Our Client has referred the case for Legal action with our sister company, DCB Legal.'

That sounded 'interesting' and did not fill me with confidence. Since then they pretty much have ignored my attempts to resolve the situation and I end up with a Civil Claim from HM Courts and Tribunals Service, seeking a payment now standing at £222.29 inc. court fee and legal representation. I immediately went through the portal service to contest the claim and have most recently received the following - not form the Court, but from DCB Legal:

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.'

I do find it quite disgusting and almost funny that for all intents and purposes this is the same company talking in the third person about their client, telling me they intend to continue the claim ...

Ultimately if the fine was on my windshield when I returned to my car, I would have simply paid the fine. My issue is simply linked to the fact I knew nothing about it until 5 months later, and out of principle I did not want to pay the - out-of-the-blue- £125 fine. Slightly irrelevant, but reasonable to ask; why did that process take 5 months?

I feel I may be in a no win situation but I am unsure on the legalities.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. 

Car1980

Yes, DCB Legal are vultures. Welcome to the programme.

What did you put in your defence because it doesn't sound promising if you went rogue.

What parking company and what are the particulars?

DCB's modus operandi is to discontinue claims at the eleventh hour.

Gr1pr

See the 8 steps in the defence template thread in announcements near the top of the forum by coupon mad 

Wait for the CNBC to post the N180 DQ document to you

Which parking company   ?

ChirpyChicken

If your defence is based around not being able hopefully the judge will strike it out at allocation and give you chance to log a new one

Coupon-mad

This is all normal and already in the 8 steps in the Template Defence thread.

I immediately went through the portal service to contest the claim 

What exactly was that defence?