Thanks To This Forum

DellBwoy

Hello,

Long time reader, first time poster.

I would just like to thank the people who put all their time and effort into the sticky posts in this sub section with regards to Small Claims Court cases when dealing with companies like DCB Legal and their associated entities.

With the guidance and resources from the knowledgeable people in these forums, I have successfully defended myself and managed to get DCB Legal to discontinue their case against me for £840.

I can post the case details if people are interested but I just wanted to make this thread to give others the confidence to use the resources to fight these absolute oxygen thieves.

ChirpyChicken

yes please that would be great
This is what a lot of people on here really appreciate, that people come back and take the time let us know out comes , it helps a lot of other people by doing so and gives more people confidence to follow this forum

Gr1pr

A summary of the claim and a redacted picture of the N279 document would be good, for inclusion in the discontinuations thread by Umkomaas 

We know that it's DCB LEGAL,  but name the private parking company too

Also, please fill in the current government public survey consultation which ends next week 

Umkomaas

Well done. Yes please let us see a copy of your Notice of Discontinuance - suitably redacted and I'll get you counted in the DCB Legal Thread of Shame. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1 

Coupon-mad

Well done on your win!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Show us the Claim form (redacted) and the NoD so we can count this success in the disco thread.

Also, before the end of next week please please do the government's Public Consultation. We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline. I'm sure you have something to say about this scam that saw the PPC and DCB Legal add multiples of £70 which they split between them when duped victims pay. 

See this thread: -

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

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that. It doesn't matter; no knowledge is needed except re your own experiences so you can call out a scam industry and you'll protect millions of motorists and help change the law.

I've written some guidance on that thread. I have covered almost every question, providing ideas if you agree with our stance on things like DRFs, which we say must be banned.

Ordinary people like you are falling victim to this scam 15 million times per annum. Motorists need your voice added please.

DellBwoy

Thanks for your responses.

The company that issued the PCNs was Civil Enforcement Limited.

They were claiming that my car, which was borrowed by my cousin, was parked in a car park in Greenwich that they operate. The car park is the one where the Sainsbury's Local is as you go up towards the Cutty Sark from Greenwich Railway Station.

The dates are from 2022 and 2023. Unluckily for them, I kept one of the letters they sent me. The PCN from 2023.

The PCN from 2023 was issued to my vehicle in another car park that they operate in Butterfly Walk which is in Camberwell.

I double checked the PCN on Civil Enforcement's website from 2023 and bingo, it didn't match up with the address they were claiming in their court documents.

I noticed this discrepancy in their filing and went upon my search on how to argue my case, which is how I found this sub forum and all the details I needed to reply back to the court to start my defence.

How can my car have been parked in two different places at the same time? 

It's obvious they were using the legal framework loosely here to try and take my case to court and claim £840. This included all their original charges plus the court fees they expected me to pay.

I sent my defence off using the template in the top of this sub-forum and went through the mediation process with the court, DCB Legal were adamant they wanted to settle the case out of court and were happy to accept £480, to which I refused. 

The mediation process wasn't very helpful IMHO as it seemed the chap was on their side as he didn't believe that my car was borrowed by someone else on two different occasions. 

His tone was very sarcastic and if I was a lesser person that would have put me off continuing to fight them. I refused their offer and said I would see them in court.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the court stating that the claimant needed to fill in the paper work accordingly and pay the £80 otherwise the case would be thrown out of court if this wasn't done before September 2025.

The back and forth started from November 2024, a couple of weeks ago, a reminder came up on my phone that I needed to send off the evidence and funnily enough, DCB Legal started trying to contact me and sent me a "Without prejudice" email saying they would accept £480 to which I didn't respond.

They tried to ring me again and I told them politely that we will settle this case in court.

This week I sent the court and them (to their "no reply" email address that they used to contact me, my evidence and yesterday they tried to ring me again which I didn't respond to.

The evidence was a screenshot from Civil Enforcement's Website showing my vehicle parked in Butterfly Walk (how ironic).

This morning I received this:

They're basically a bunch of thieves hiding behind the law and abusing the court system.

Thanks once again to the insightful people on this forum who helped me navigate my way through dealing with this.

The court system is a joke and these companies use the inefficient system to bully people.

TL:DR: DCB Legal don't know how to file paper work and the court system seems to keep entertaining their nonsense until you try and get to the final boss (the judge).

Coupon-mad

DellBwoy said:

Thanks for your responses.

The company that issued the PCNs was Civil Enforcement Limited.

They were claiming that my car, which was borrowed by my cousin, was parked in a car park in Greenwich that they operate. The car park is the one where the Sainsbury's Local is as you go up towards the Cutty Sark from Greenwich Railway Station.

The dates are from 2022 and 2023. Unluckily for them, I kept one of the letters they sent me. The PCN from 2023.

The PCN from 2023 was issued to my vehicle in another car park that they operate in Butterfly Walk which is in Camberwell.

I double checked the PCN on Civil Enforcement's website from 2023 and bingo, it didn't match up with the address they were claiming in their court documents.

I noticed this discrepancy in their filing and went upon my search on how to argue my case, which is how I found this sub forum and all the details I needed to reply back to the court to start my defence.

How can my car have been parked in two different places at the same time? 

It's obvious they were using the legal framework loosely here to try and take my case to court and claim £840. This included all their original charges plus the court fees they expected me to pay.

I sent my defence off using the template in the top of this sub-forum and went through the mediation process with the court, DCB Legal were adamant they wanted to settle the case out of court and were happy to accept £480, to which I refused. 

The mediation process wasn't very helpful IMHO as it seemed the chap was on their side as he didn't believe that my car was borrowed by someone else on two different occasions. 

His tone was very sarcastic and if I was a lesser person that would have put me off continuing to fight them. I refused their offer and said I would see them in court.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the court stating that the claimant needed to fill in the paper work accordingly and pay the £80 otherwise the case would be thrown out of court if this wasn't done before September 2025.

The back and forth started from November 2024, a couple of weeks ago, a reminder came up on my phone that I needed to send off the evidence and funnily enough, DCB Legal started trying to contact me and sent me a "Without prejudice" email saying they would accept £480 to which I didn't respond.

They tried to ring me again and I told them politely that we will settle this case in court.

This week I sent the court and them (to their "no reply" email address that they used to contact me, my evidence and yesterday they tried to ring me again which I didn't respond to.

The evidence was a screenshot from Civil Enforcement's Website showing my vehicle parked in Butterfly Walk (how ironic).

This morning I received this:

They're basically a bunch of thieves hiding behind the law and abusing the court system.

Thanks once again to the insightful people on this forum who helped me navigate my way through dealing with this.

The court system is a joke and these companies use the inefficient system to bully people.

TL:DR: DCB Legal don't know how to file paper work and the court system seems to keep entertaining their nonsense until you try and get to the final boss (the judge).

Yay many thanks!

Can we see the Claim Form and the Butterfly Walk NTK please, for completeness as I'd like to see how they pleaded the claim for a car park near Sainsburys when in fact your car was at Butterfly Walk.

I 'd like to use these pics in my reply to the MHCLG as I linked above. They have to read my stuff because I'm on their Code Steering Group but I need actual case evidence (redacted pics of the NTK and Claim form please, in your case).

I hope you'll also manage to do the survey by the deadline too!

Umkomaas

Thank you @DellBwoy for the copy of your NoD. I can now get this counted in the DCBL Legal thread of shame. 👍 

DellBwoy

Coupon-mad said:

Yay many thanks!

Can we see the Claim Form and the Butterfly Walk NTK please, for completeness as I'd like to see how they pleaded the claim for a car park near Sainsburys when in fact your car was at Butterfly Walk.

I 'd like to use these pics in my reply to the MHCLG as I linked above. They have to read my stuff because I'm on their Code Steering Group but I need actual case evidence (redacted pics of the NTK and Claim form please, in your case).

I hope you'll also manage to do the survey by the deadline too!

I've done the survey and here is a copy of the items you asked for.

Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad said:

Can we see the Claim Form and the Butterfly Walk NTK please, for completeness as I'd like to see how they pleaded the claim for a car park near Sainsburys when in fact your car was at Butterfly Walk.

I 'd like to use these pics in my reply to the MHCLG as I linked above. They have to read my stuff because I'm on their Code Steering Group but I need actual case evidence (redacted pics of the NTK and Claim form please, in your case).

I hope you'll also manage to do the survey by the deadline too!

DellBwoy said

I've done the survey and here is a copy of the items you asked for.

Thankyou.

Documentary proof that DCB Legal lumped three PCNs from different years and locations together and chose one of the sites to put into their template POC.

Abject scammery IMHO: looks vexatious, lazy, greedy and IMHO probably champertous.

Johnersh

@Coupon-mad not sure I agree with those adjectives, but it's certainly negligent.

If CEL had multiple events actually worth £100 a pop, then DCB have just cost them, plus court fees etc as they are unlikely to issue fresh proceedings for each.

Personally, I think a really simple solution would be to permit longer particulars on the e-form and then routinely crucify parties where claims have been inadequately pleaded or, in the alternative, to make the online PoC a facility for litigants in person only