Court defence DCB Legal for parking charge at my residential car park

Dodgeviper76

Hi all, new here.
im looking to see if i can get some advice for my court defence for a parking charge I received from dcb legal. I was parked at my home address in visitor space with my permit on show in windscreen. The reason they gave was Vehicle not parked in allocated bay. I have parked here for 3 years without issue until now. I have read threads on here but a bit confused.
Issue date 07 aug 25, I have filed an AOS for which I believe gives me a deadline of 09 September 25 I think. 

Amount claimed 179.84
court fee 35
legal rep cost 50
total amount 264.84
any help or template would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks

Gr1pr

Name the private parking company who issued the claim via DCB Legal on MCOL 

Post a redacted picture of the POC from the lower left of the claim form below after hiding the VRM details first 

4pm on the 9th is your defence submission deadline 

The template defence is in announcements near the top of the forum,  please use it

h2g2

The Newbies Thread has a template defence which you can customise.

We can help customise it as well. These residential cases are somewhat different to supermarket parking ones.

Can you share the particulars of claim, redacting your VRM, the claim number, your address, and the MCOL password? It will help us guide you.

Also, what is your relationship to the actual land the car was parked on? Do you own it or have a leasehold on it, or is it owned by the landlord still?

Dodgeviper76

here is the particulars of claim.
the car park is for residents only of 4 sets of apartments. I’m a tennant, the permit I used was what the landlord issued me with. I think with it being apartments only, the land is leasehold.

Gr1pr

Gr1pr said:

Name the private parking company who issued the claim via DCB Legal on MCOL 

The template defence is in announcements near the top of the forum,  please use it

And the answer is  ?

Ps, you didn't hide the VRM details either,  so not good so far

Car1980

The contract states "Vehicles must park in the correct marked bay and clearly display an authorised permit in the windscreen"

This clearly means flat owner 1 can't park in flat owner 2's space. Or flat owner 1 must display a permit if they park in their own bay.

Whether the lessees have rights over those spaces is a separate issue, but find out what your lease says anyway. Or find it from another owner-occupier. Because despite this, you'll probably want to see if they can be kicked off site.

But an owner's vehicle parked in a visitors space isn't a breach of the contract. It doesn't say "Flat owners must not park in the visitors spaces."

"Correct marked bay" means a numbered bay. 

Even if they were arguing otherwise:

Consumer Rights Act 2015

Contract terms that may have different meanings

(1)If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

Dodgeviper76

Car1980 said:

The contract states "Vehicles must park in the correct marked bay and clearly display an authorised permit in the windscreen"

This clearly means flat owner 1 can't park in flat owner 2's space. Or flat owner 1 must display a permit if they park in their own bay.

Whether the lessees have rights over those spaces is a separate issue, but find out what your lease says anyway. Or find it from another owner-occupier. Because despite this, you'll probably want to see if they can be kicked off site.

But an owner's vehicle parked in a visitors space isn't a breach of the contract. It doesn't say "Flat owners must not park in the visitors spaces."

"Correct marked bay" means a numbered bay. 

Even if they were arguing otherwise:

Consumer Rights Act 2015

Contract terms that may have different meanings

(1)If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

Thank you for your reply. I will try find my tenancy agreement to see what it says. Just to add, my sister who lives with me has a permit that says the flat number and she parks in that space, the landlord gave me another permit with an A after the number of the flat and said I can park in visitor bays with that

Dodgeviper76

Gr1pr said:

Gr1pr said:

Name the private parking company who issued the claim via DCB Legal on MCOL 

The template defence is in announcements near the top of the forum,  please use it

And the answer is  ?

Ps, you didn't hide the VRM details either,  so not good so far

Thank you and apologies do you mean the registration number to be taken off? If so can I edit it? 

The claimant is Baysentry solutions Ltd 

Gr1pr

You cannot edit posts until your status changes from newbie to forumite 

So its Bay Sentry via DCB Legal , issue date 7th August,  deadline date is 4pm on 9th September 

Car1980

Dodgeviper76 said:

Car1980 said:

The contract states "Vehicles must park in the correct marked bay and clearly display an authorised permit in the windscreen"

This clearly means flat owner 1 can't park in flat owner 2's space. Or flat owner 1 must display a permit if they park in their own bay.

Whether the lessees have rights over those spaces is a separate issue, but find out what your lease says anyway. Or find it from another owner-occupier. Because despite this, you'll probably want to see if they can be kicked off site.

But an owner's vehicle parked in a visitors space isn't a breach of the contract. It doesn't say "Flat owners must not park in the visitors spaces."

"Correct marked bay" means a numbered bay. 

Even if they were arguing otherwise:

Consumer Rights Act 2015

Contract terms that may have different meanings

(1)If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

Thank you for your reply. I will try find my tenancy agreement to see what it says. Just to add, my sister who lives with me has a permit that says the flat number and she parks in that space, the landlord gave me another permit with an A after the number of the flat and said I can park in visitor bays with that

Not the tenancy, the lease. Sounds like you are renting, so get it off your landlord or another owner-occupier in the development.

Coupon-mad

Gr1pr said:

So its Bay Sentry via DCB Legal , issue date 7th August,  deadline date is 4pm on 9th September 

The claim will likely be discontinued by the new year, as long as you defend it & follow the process.