Advice on DCB Legal Letter of Claim (Smart Parking) – Oakland Quay, London

QoreNuba

Hi team,

So I got a response to my email from DCB Legal, what are your thoughts on this? What should I do and how should I respond?

Again thanks in advance for all your help!

“We write in response to your correspondence received in our office.
We now respond to the same as follows.

 

It is our position that the Letter of Claim ("LOC") is compliant with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims ("the Protocol"). The LOC provides adequate information for you to identify the debt that our client is seeking to recover. We respectfully draw your attention to paragraph 2.1(c) of the Protocol and remind you that both parties are expected to act reasonably and proportionately.

 

When parking on private land, the contractual terms of the site are set out on the signs. You are entering a contract and agreeing to the terms by parking and staying on the site. Parking in breach of the terms as stipulated on the signage means that you are then breaking the terms of the contract.

 

In order to identify the Registered Keeper of the vehicle, our client submitted a request for details to the DVLA. Your details were provided and thereafter notices were sent to you by our client at your serviceable address. Those notices asked you to either make payment or, if you were not driving, nominate a driver by providing their name and full address. You did neither and as such you are now pursued on the basis that you were driving. On the balance of probabilities, if you were not the driver, you would have nominated. Having not received payment, address verification was carried out prior to the Letter of Claim being sent. Your new address was located and as such the Letter of Claim was issued to you at the traced address.

 

In accordance with the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice, where the Parking Charge (PC) becomes overdue and before Court proceedings have commenced, a reasonable sum may be added for the debt recovery fees. The correct recovery fees have been added and will not be removed. As such, the outstanding balance of £170.00 remains payable to prevent further action.

 

As payment was not made, either within 14 or 28 days, the creditor was entitled to instruct debt recovery agents / Solicitors to pursue payment and is entitled to recover the costs of doing so. It would have been made clear in the terms and conditions set out in the signs that additional enforcement costs may be incurred in the event of non-payment.

 

Our client utilises Automatic Number Plate Recognition (“ANPR”) technology on the land where the parking charge was issued in order to manage the parking. This means that cameras capable of accurately recognising the vehicle registration number of a vehicle are constantly monitoring the entrance and exit to the land. A photograph is taken of each vehicle as it enters and exits the land. Any vehicle found to have breached the terms of parking will be issued with a parking charge via the post.

 

If there are any documents that you have requested, but that are not attached, it is because we have deemed the request to be disproportionate and/or not relevant to the substantive issues in dispute. We respectfully draw your attention to paragraph 2.1(c) of the Protocol and remind you that both parties are expected to act reasonably and proportionately.

 

 

You now have 30 days from the date of this email to make payment of £170.00. Failure to make payment may result in a Claim being issued against you without any further reference.
Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account: -

 

• Account Name: DCB Legal Ltd Client Account
• Sort Code: 20-24-09
• Account Number: 60964441

 

You must quote the correct case reference when making payment. If you do not, we may be unable to correctly allocate the payment. If further action is taken by us as a result of an incorrect reference being quoted, you will be liable for any further fees or costs incurred.

 

We would ask that you kindly furnish us with your most up to date telephone number, this can be emailed to us at info@dcblegal.co.uk. 

 

Alternatively, you can contact DCB Legal Ltd on 0203 838 7038 to make payment over the telephone or online at  https://dcblegal.co.uk/response/pay-online/ .

Kind Regards,”

Gr1pr

Standard response template, everyone gets it, ignore it and wait for the Money Claim pack to arrive in the post in due course

Coupon-mad

We never need to see their template replies. Spare us! Search the forum for words from that drivel. You'll see…

QoreNuba

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81984498#Comment_81984498

Okay thank you for the reassurance, and what is the money claim pack? I hope I wont be expected to actually go to court as I'd rather not

QoreNuba

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81984679#Comment_81984679

My apologies, just making sure nothing key they have pointed out is being missed that might actually catch me out!

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987133#Comment_81987133

Obviously not, it's Smart Parking!

Read a few Smart DCB Legal claim threads and read @Umkomaas' DCB Legal discontinuances thread.

kordanwalker

Don’t ignore it, but don’t rush to pay either. A 15-minute stop with the car occupied isn’t always clear parking, and ANPR photos only show entry/exit times, not what actually happened in between.

Coupon-mad

Don't pay AT ALL. Nobody has to pay.