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Letter of Claim - NTK sent 72 days after alleged offence
Good morning all,
My apologies, I know there is a lot of information on this forum, I suffer from over-thinking and anxiety and really need some help on what I should do next.
I received a Letter of Claim from DCBLegal about a PCN (NTK) that was issued 72 days after the alleged event in 2017.
There client is CPPlus Ltd and the clients property was the RoadChef, Clacket Lane South.
If they had issued and posted the PCN within 14 days of the event, it would have been dealt with by me as the keeper. But I left the country a month after the event and did not return until 4-months later at which point I found both the original NTK and a reminder. On the back it said I only had 28 days to appeal from the issue date on the first NTK and 14 days from the date of the reminder. Being out of the country I was totally unaware that they existed, so could not appeal them.
After looking on the forums the advice I took at the time was that the NTK was invalid, as being an ANPR PCN they should have sent me to me within 14 days. This is nothing to do with me being out of the country, this is the date of the alleged offence written on the PCN and the Date of Notice written on the PCN being 73 days apart.
I decided to ring CPPlus and explain that I had been out of the country and needed to reset the clock on the appeals clock as I had only just seen them. They told me that they could not do that and I only had 2 choices - pay the charge or go to court. At that point I ceased communication with CPPlus or any of the other Debt collection agencies. I received over a dozen letters over the years, including one from a so called solicitor / none of which I responded to.
I did respond to DCBLegal on receipt of the Letter of Claim sent last month asking for £170 - they say is the PCN and debt recovery costs. After getting some free legal advice from my car insurance and confirming the original PCN was invalid, I rang them and told them I was going to dispute it on that basis. They refused to acknowledge the PCN was invalid and said as they had no information because they were a Debt collection agency acting on instruction from CPPlus. They also said at the end of the call `we will make a note you have received the letter and acknowledged the balance` - which I quickly refuted and said the only thing I acknowledge is receiving your letter. I recorded the conversation with their permission.
So I disputed the Letter of Claim, both on their website and with a letter sent by recorded mail - stating the requirements laid down in Schedule 4 (4) (1) 0f the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 for the issue of a NTK PCN.
They responded to that letter, again did not mention the 72 days or invalid PCN but stated that under the act their client was entitled to recover any unpaid charges from the keeper. They also tried to imply that their client had 14 days to send the PCN after applying to DVLA and receiving my details. They also said their client was correct in refusing the appeal and also stating that I had exceeded all other appeal options. Fact is I have never appealed as they denied me that right. They say they will issue a claim through the court in 30 days unless I pay the. £170.
I received that letter last Saturday morning. I only work weekends at the moment collecting Covid tests for the Royal Mail, the impact is I am not sleeping and really getting anxious about the whole thing. Sunday I went to work with no sleep the night before and I am driving all day, so it is not sustainable, I sit here now at 3:30 writing this and think maybe I need to ask my doctor for some strong sleeping tablets but want to avoid it. I also asked DCBLegal to remove the slogan Cant Pay? We`ll Take it Away slogan, but they refused that too - saying it was embedded in their template.
So my apologies for the length of my post, but I wanted to put all the details out there.
My question is can I stop this and is my case really watertight? What is my next step? I would really like to stop this in its tracks if possible and prevent any further attempts like this.
Thanks in advance of any help and advice you can provide.
My apologies, I know there is a lot of information on this forum, I suffer from over-thinking and anxiety and really need some help on what I should do next.
I received a Letter of Claim from DCBLegal about a PCN (NTK) that was issued 72 days after the alleged event in 2017.
There client is CPPlus Ltd and the clients property was the RoadChef, Clacket Lane South.
If they had issued and posted the PCN within 14 days of the event, it would have been dealt with by me as the keeper. But I left the country a month after the event and did not return until 4-months later at which point I found both the original NTK and a reminder. On the back it said I only had 28 days to appeal from the issue date on the first NTK and 14 days from the date of the reminder. Being out of the country I was totally unaware that they existed, so could not appeal them.
After looking on the forums the advice I took at the time was that the NTK was invalid, as being an ANPR PCN they should have sent me to me within 14 days. This is nothing to do with me being out of the country, this is the date of the alleged offence written on the PCN and the Date of Notice written on the PCN being 73 days apart.
I decided to ring CPPlus and explain that I had been out of the country and needed to reset the clock on the appeals clock as I had only just seen them. They told me that they could not do that and I only had 2 choices - pay the charge or go to court. At that point I ceased communication with CPPlus or any of the other Debt collection agencies. I received over a dozen letters over the years, including one from a so called solicitor / none of which I responded to.
I did respond to DCBLegal on receipt of the Letter of Claim sent last month asking for £170 - they say is the PCN and debt recovery costs. After getting some free legal advice from my car insurance and confirming the original PCN was invalid, I rang them and told them I was going to dispute it on that basis. They refused to acknowledge the PCN was invalid and said as they had no information because they were a Debt collection agency acting on instruction from CPPlus. They also said at the end of the call `we will make a note you have received the letter and acknowledged the balance` - which I quickly refuted and said the only thing I acknowledge is receiving your letter. I recorded the conversation with their permission.
So I disputed the Letter of Claim, both on their website and with a letter sent by recorded mail - stating the requirements laid down in Schedule 4 (4) (1) 0f the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 for the issue of a NTK PCN.
They responded to that letter, again did not mention the 72 days or invalid PCN but stated that under the act their client was entitled to recover any unpaid charges from the keeper. They also tried to imply that their client had 14 days to send the PCN after applying to DVLA and receiving my details. They also said their client was correct in refusing the appeal and also stating that I had exceeded all other appeal options. Fact is I have never appealed as they denied me that right. They say they will issue a claim through the court in 30 days unless I pay the. £170.
I received that letter last Saturday morning. I only work weekends at the moment collecting Covid tests for the Royal Mail, the impact is I am not sleeping and really getting anxious about the whole thing. Sunday I went to work with no sleep the night before and I am driving all day, so it is not sustainable, I sit here now at 3:30 writing this and think maybe I need to ask my doctor for some strong sleeping tablets but want to avoid it. I also asked DCBLegal to remove the slogan Cant Pay? We`ll Take it Away slogan, but they refused that too - saying it was embedded in their template.
So my apologies for the length of my post, but I wanted to put all the details out there.
My question is can I stop this and is my case really watertight? What is my next step? I would really like to stop this in its tracks if possible and prevent any further attempts like this.
Thanks in advance of any help and advice you can provide.
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