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?

dan_makaveli

Hi all

Thank you for the replies on this. My page must have been unresponsive as it looked like I had not had a reply and now I see them all!

The location was the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. JustPark operate via app and machine. The fine came from DCL Ltd (Collections) before the passed to DCB Legal.

In terms of the particulars, it's that the first I was even aware of the fine was 5 months later as there had not been a notice on my car when I returned to it on the alleged day I did not pay. My dispute was not about the original fine. I can accept that I may have forgotten to pay as I'd usually do so on app whilst walking, after parking but could have been distracted. My dispute is due to the amplification of the fine, given I was unaware of it.

Given they have a photo of a fine sticker on my vehicle, I can only assume someone ripped it off ;for a laugh' or it came of one way or another; either way it was not there when I got back in my car that day. 

In this scenario, is that just 'tough luck' and I'll have to pay the fine, which is now £222.29 inc. fees?

The last correspondence to me was August 21st. N.B. I appreciate I am now also on the 8th day:

Good afternoon

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,  

 

Kye Horabin 

Collections Associate 

DCB Legal Ltd  

 

Gr1pr

The case will proceed in the usual manner,  as described in the 8 steps in the defence template thread 

You are waiting for the N180 DQ document to arrive from the CNBC in Northampton 

If you were to owe money,  it's usually quite a bit less than on the claim form 

dan_makaveli

Gr1pr said:

The case will proceed in the usual manner,  as described in the 8 steps in the defence template thread 

You are waiting for the N180 DQ document to arrive from the CNBC in Northampton 

If you were to owe money,  it's usually quite a bit less than on the claim form 

Thanks for this @Gr1pr. I'll keep an eye out for further correspondence from them.

Re. 8 steps, I'm not sure I've found the right page, but I'm currently referring to this:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou

Car1980

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.

As you admitted to owe the charge and your defence also appears to back that up, your best option is probably to offer the original £60 on the mediation phone call. You would also avoid the risk of the judge just striking out your defence.

Your evidence and their procedural failings would probably see them struggle at a hearing though on anything over £60, especially as their hired gun wouldn't have much knowledge about their client's internal processes.

But it depends how risk averse you are and how desperate you are or not to avoid a hearing. You could still offer them zero and there is a high chance they'll just discontinue as usual.

Gr1pr

Not the newbies sticky thread,  but the Template Defence sticky thread,  in announcements 

dan_makaveli

Car1980 said:

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.

As you admitted to owe the charge and your defence also appears to back that up, your best option is probably to offer the original £60 on the mediation phone call. You would also avoid the risk of the judge just striking out your defence.

Your evidence and their procedural failings would probably see them struggle at a hearing though on anything over £60, especially as their hired gun wouldn't have much knowledge about their client's internal processes.

But it depends how risk averse you are and how desperate you are or not to avoid a hearing. You could still offer them zero and there is a high chance they'll just discontinue as usual.

I'm happy to call / email and offer £60 and if they refuse, just tell them to proceed however they wish. 

Would you say that's a reasonable approach?