Smart Parking claim via DCB Legal? Group info thread

Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad said:

As this is now the Smart Parking defence Group thread, please do not look at other drafts.

Everyone can put this into the Template Defence & re-number it to 11 paragraphs. Obviously you are not deleting any paragraphs of the template defence.

You're including it all, and renumbering.

Please DON'T post it on your thread and ask us check it (this group thread is designed to stop the flood of Smart threads and it DOESN'T need checking).

Cases will almost certainly be discontinued in 2026, no hearings except maybe in high multiple PCN claims.

Any comments welcome!

Let me know if this doesn't fit into the template defence here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs/p1

It will have 11 paragraphs not just the usual 10:

3. The Defendant is unable to recall who may have been driving on an unremarkable date and unspecified time and no evidence has been produced. There can be no 'keeper liability' in this case. Research has proved that this Claimant has never used the provisions of Schedule 4 of the POFA 2012 and they know, or should know, that they cannot hold registered keepers liable.

4.  The solicitor signatory of the statement of truth is knowingly or negligently misleading the court and Defendant by citing that law. Further, this claim includes fake (double recovery) 'damages' and pre-loaded interest. S69 of the County Courts Act 1984 grants courts a discretionary power to award simple interest but this POC assumes 8% interest (calculated on the whole enhanced quantum from an unspecified date) on the top line of the sum claimed, unjustly enriching them or DCB Legal in bulk, on every undefended claim. This conduct is an abuse of the court process. The Claimant has not applied for relief from sanctions to amend the POC.

4.1. The Defendant asks that, if this claim is not struck out for the various listed abuses, the allocating Judge may recognise this pattern as systemic wholly unreasonable conduct, and might issue special directions, stating that (in the event that this Claimant follows the usual course of abusing the court system then discontinuing to avoid hearings) the Defendant's costs be payable by the Claimant on the indemnity basis, without need for an application.

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AOS first (YOU WILL NOT GET A REPLY) then make sure you submit your defence, using the MoneyClaim Online system (MCOL).

Follow the first 8 steps in the link above. Bookmark it and this thread.

PLEASE don't post asking us about the fully expected court/DCB Legal letters, Mediation, etc. See the linked thread! 

No new Smart Parking claim threads please except for help months later, at Witness Statement stage (which is when DCB Legal discontinue to avoid hearing fees) but do come back & post in 2026 on @Umkomaas' DCB discontinuances thread with a screenshot of your NoD so we can count all your successes.

This is what to add and do.

NB: your defence is your own.

If you use suggested words from here, this doesn't mean that any poster here is conducting litigation. We have not assessed your case and we don't need to because they really are all the same.

ALL SMART PARKING CLAIMS FOR PCNS BEFORE 2025, ARE NON-POFA. ALL CASES ARE THE SAME.

Please, no more Smart Parking threads copying the wrong versions from earlier in this thread. This is very simple. This thread is meant to stop confusion.

sluzz

I've now had an email back from DCB Legal that Smart Parking intends to proceed with the claim, and there is the option to discuss a settlement and "In due course, the Court will direct both parties to each file a directions questionnaire."

We're not about to go to court over this, so have I reached the end here?

Le_Kirk

Go to the template defence thread and read again the 8-steps, especially "intends to proceed with the claim".

Gr1pr

The end is in about 6 to 12 months time,  near the hearing fee deadline date 

sluzz

So complete the Questionnaire, email it back and then wait for mediation?

To be honest, my wife is getting very stressed about this now, and the possibility of it eventually going to court. I'm not sure she will get to the mediation stage.

Gr1pr

Anyone can be nominated to take the mediation stage phone call,  so why don't you take it  ?

No offer,  goodbye 

Then carry on with the 12 steps,  ignoring them , waiting for the typical discontinuation by email near the hearing fee deadline date next summer 

If they don't pay the hearing fee,  nobody is going to court,  no fee,  no appointment. Judge,  no Judgment  !

What does she think might happen in the very rare cases that get to court  ?  If she lost she pays dcb legal around £212 , end of story,   no big finale, its only money at stake here, a couple of hundred pounds,  much less than what is on the claim form. No punishment,  no shame,  nothing but money going out

Nothing to stress about , because these cases don't see a courtroom 

It makes no sense not to continue 

This group thread is supposed to be an exemplar of the whole process,  start to finish,  claim form to the N279 discontinuance, there are over 742 reasons to continue in the following thread 

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

Coupon-mad

sluzz said:

So complete the Questionnaire, email it back and then wait for mediation?

To be honest, my wife is getting very stressed about this now, and the possibility of it eventually going to court. I'm not sure she will get to the mediation stage.

Errr... don't be silly, of course you will (and you can take that 5 minute call for her).

You have got the exact email that the Template Defence thread TELLS YOU TO LAUGH AT!

This is what the 8 easy steps are there for, to stop all the stress. Come on, this is a complete cinch of a tried & tested process.

We thought you knew the discontinuance comes before they have to pay the hearing fee in the Summer. Didn't you tell her that?

Over 740 links in Umkomaas' thread demonstrate this fact and they all show you the timeline (average ten months from arrival of claim form through to the discontinuance). As easy as pie. Nobody pays a penny nor breaks into a sweat.

I am astonished that the first fully expected daft email has spooked you/your wife and it suggests you just needed to have read the 8 steps & ensured that she is better prepared for the game of poker along the way.

Play the game.

It gets discontinued.

There's nothing stressful about any of it.

Trust us.