Letter of Claim - DCB Legal, Letter of Claim - DCB Legal Options

[Aubama]

Hi all,

Ive recently received a letter of claim from DCB legal for charges which were issued in 2019 and early 2020. At the time I appealed the charges with the standard letter which is below. Then ignored the rejection.

If possible can you please advise on what I should do next. Ive seen some posts flying around which are apparently dated and not good to use so just want to triple check on the method of appeal.

The original response letter:

Re PCN number:

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement. There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn.

Since your PCN is a vague template, I require all photos taken, a clear image of the signage and an explanation of the allegation (e.g. if you have identified a wrong VRN input at a machine, say so, and explain why your Data Protection Officer has not simply rectified it, rather than trying to punish a driver for a matter where there is nothing to deter).

I will be making a formal complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner and to my MP, appraising all parties of the debate where Parliament agreed: ''we need to crack down on these rogue companies. They are an absolute disgrace to this country. Ordinary motorists...should not have to put up with this''. Firms of your ilk were unanimously condemned as operating an 'outrageous scam' (Hansard 2.2.18). The BPA & IPC were heavily criticised; hardly surprising for an industry where so-called AOS members admit to letting victims 'futilely go through the motions' of appeal and that 'we make it up most of the time' (BBC Watchdog).

Formal note:
Should you later pursue this charge by way of litigation, note that service of any legal documents by email is expressly disallowed and you are not entitled to assume that the data in this dispute/appeal remains the current address for service.
Yours faithfully,

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[Aubama]

Ive found the MSE forum with various information. The fact is that I did initially respond to these parking fines with a standard response I got from elsewhere which were very poor. This was a while ago so now Im really unsure on what my actual defence could be?

In an earlier post it was suggested that poor signage was the direction to head in..should I be looking at adding anything else?

I can then extract the information from the MSE threads to include in points 2 and 3.

My AOS was filled on the 29/4 so I have potentially run out of time.

I appreciate the help, theres a lot of posts on this topic and I would just like some direction please

This post has been edited by Aubama: Mon, 31 May 2021 - 10:00

[Aubama]

Perhaps I can use this?

My defence:
The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.

3. The signage in the car park is of a “forbidding” nature. It is limited to cars displaying a valid permit only and therefore the terms cannot apply to cars without a permit because the signage does not offer an invitation to park on certain terms. The terms are forbidding. This means that there was never a contractual relationship. To state that a contract to park was created when it is expressly forbidden is perverse. I refer you to the following case law: PCM-UK v Bull et all B4GF26K6 [2016], UKPC v Masterson B4GF26K6[2016], Horizon Parking v Mr J C5GF17X2 [2016] – In all three of these cases the signage was found to be forbidding and thus only a trespass had occurred and would be a matter for the landowner.

[Sheffield Dave]

At it's a heart, a defence is a terse accept/deny/not-in-my-knowledge reply to every point in the claimant's claim. Anything not denied might be assumed accepted. So you need to challenge everything that is explicity or implicitly in the claim - standing, signage, entering into a contract, breaking the contact, being liable, spurious debt collection fees, interest etc etc.

[Aubama]

At it's a heart, a defence is a terse accept/deny/not-in-my-knowledge reply to every point in the claimant's claim. Anything not denied might be assumed accepted. So you need to challenge everything that is explicity or implicitly in the claim - standing, signage, entering into a contract, breaking the contact, being liable, spurious debt collection fees, interest etc etc.

This confuses me even more..I have denied liability and also entering into a contract therefore I cannot be breaking the contract. You are saying I need something for the extortionate collection fees and interest?

[Sheffield Dave]

[This confuses me even more..I have denied liability and also entering into a contract therefore I cannot be breaking the contract. You are saying I need something for the extortionate collection fees and interest?

A judge could in theory decide that you did enter into a contract, but then didn't break that contract. But if you haven't denied breaking the contract, then judge has to assume that you did break it.

If they've claimed an extra £60 in "debt collection costs" which you don't think they're entitled to, then of course you have to object. Otherwise if the judge finds you liable for the initial £100, then you've given them no reason not to find you liable for the extra £60 too.

A judge can (in general) only work with what they've been given by the two sides.

The claim and the defence are known as the two "statements of case". Put together, they allow a judge, without getting bogged down in detail, to understand what the case is about, what the areas of agreement are, and what the areas of disagreement are (i.e. the things which need deciding during the trial).

I don't really understand what you're trying to do here. Initially to you took a reasonably comprehensive defence template from MSE and made a couple of changes to it, which we pointed out weren't brilliant changes. You then seem to have thrown the whole thing away and written a new draft defence which covers almost none of the points in the original template.

[nosferatu1001]

Get a defence in. You're out of time. Use the template, alter para 2 and 3, and nothing. More.

[Aubama]

[This confuses me even more..I have denied liability and also entering into a contract therefore I cannot be breaking the contract. You are saying I need something for the extortionate collection fees and interest?

A judge could in theory decide that you did enter into a contract, but then didn't break that contract. But if you haven't denied breaking the contract, then judge has to assume that you did break it.

If they've claimed an extra £60 in "debt collection costs" which you don't think they're entitled to, then of course you have to object. Otherwise if the judge finds you liable for the initial £100, then you've given them no reason not to find you liable for the extra £60 too.

A judge can (in general) only work with what they've been given by the two sides.

The claim and the defence are known as the two "statements of case". Put together, they allow a judge, without getting bogged down in detail, to understand what the case is about, what the areas of agreement are, and what the areas of disagreement are (i.e. the things which need deciding during the trial).

I don't really understand what you're trying to do here. Initially to you took a reasonably comprehensive defence template from MSE and made a couple of changes to it, which we pointed out weren't brilliant changes. You then seem to have thrown the whole thing away and written a new draft defence which covers almost none of the points in the original template.

I see, I need to get up to speed with this all so at least I have time to read without panic. I sent the entire defence of the previous posts but I only altered points 2 and 3 so I didnt feel it was necessary to repost everything.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to defend myself at the witness statement stage.

Thank you for taking the time to explain things

[nosferatu1001]

At WS stage you set out the facts, not arguments.
Have a look at MSE for some example statements. Now. No delays. And make sure you know exactly what you are doing once the defence is emailed. DQ must not be missed, you lose.