DCB Legal query

mactheknife26

DCB Legal has wrote tp me asking for £170.00 we parked a restaurant car which was managed by Smart Parking back in July 2025. we accidentally mistyped the reg in and received a letter in post from smart parking, we contacted the boss at the venue and explained the situ and she in return advised dont worry about it she will sort. we have now received a letter from DCB on behalf of Smart Parking. My wife called DCB explaining the situ and they was not interested, They have now issued a formal claim. I spoke to the Manager who in turn spoke to Smart Parking and in response she said that should be3 the end of it. we also responded to DCB in an email explaining we had paid and provided a photo of our ticket and its clear there is a slight error. Low and below we received an email from DCB advising as follows

We note your points raised; however, it is our Clients position that the Parking Charge was issued correctly. 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. As stipulated on the signage, your full vehicle registration mark needs to be entered when obtaining a ticket. Parking in breach of the terms as stipulated on the signage means that you are then breaking the terms of the contract. Even though you made payment, the full correct vehicle registration mark was not entered, therefore, our Client would not have been able to allocate this payment to your vehicle. 

However, to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, I can confirm our Client would be agreeable to a full and final settlement of £60.00. We would need to receive your payment by 24/04/2026 if you are agreeable to this offer. The current outstanding balance is £170.00. 

You now have 30 days from the date of this email to make payment of £60.00. Failure to make payment will result in a Claim being issued against you without any further reference.
Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account: -

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.

in response I have reiterated my arguments that smart parking suffered no loss but on a WOP basis I would be happy to pay £30 to draw the matter to a conclusion. I have not heard back from DCB and I have until the 24.04.26 to pay?

any advice? this is really frustrating its clear these is a slight error

Jame4ters

Have a read of the “Newbies” thread.

Search the forum for other similar cases.

Don’t pay the £60 or the £170

fatbelly

You say 'they have issued a formal claim' but the letter you quote says 'failure to pay will result in a claim being issued'

What's the issue date of the claim?

Ps. Don't pay £30 either

Car1980

Why are you engaging with them? You've highlighted yourself as a sucker and they're thinking they can get an easy £60 here. Smart won't even get the money - it goes straight into DCB Legal's coffers.

Just ignore - you want a court claim. Smart Parking ones always get discontinued!

Nellymoser

Check out their Code of Practice Smart and DCB Legal clearly haven't.

Annex F.3 Appeals where the charge should be reduced to £20 for a period of 14 days

https://www.britishparking.co.uk/code-of-practice-and-compliance-monitoring

But as Car1980 says above Smart cases always get discontinued.