DCB Legal - Claim Form - Defence

[Bob Dobalina]

DCB have sent a claim form to me about a parking charge from March 2020.
I have written the following defence.

Firstly, I would inform you that the driver of the vehicle (Reg
Number xxx xxx) on the date and time in question did not actually
park the vehicle at the location detailed on the claim form. The
driver of the vehicle entered the location detailed on the claim
form, however they did not actually stop to park the vehicle. I
would also add that if the driver of the vehicle did intend to
park the vehicle, they would not have been able to as the location
did not have a convenient car parking space for the driver of the
vehicle.

Secondly, I received the following letters in relation to the
claim. Dates given are dates on the letter and not the dates that
I received the letters.

Date: 16th June 2023 – Letter from ZZPS Ltd informing me that I
have a debt of £170 to be paid or an arrangement put in place
within 14 days or the debt will progress to GCTT certified
enforcement agent.

Date 26th June 2023 – Letter from GCTT informing me of a notice of
transfer to solicitors. I am advised that unless payment is
received in full within 14 days of the date of the letter, the
account will be sent to a solicitor.

Please note. The letter from GCTT (Dated 26th June 2023) was
received 10 days after the letter from ZZPS (dated 16th June
2023). They did not give me the allocated time of 14 days to agree
payment or a put an arrangement in place.

Date 07th July 2023 – Letter from QDR solicitors received asking
me to make payment of the debt within 14 days.

Please note. The letter from QDR solicitors (Dated 07th July 2023)
was received 11 days after the letter from GCTT (dated 26th June
2023). They did not give me the allocated time of 14 days to agree
payment.

I am therefore disputing this claim based on the details given
above.

My question is. Does anyone consider this a valid defence in court?

[des8]

it is a defence, bur whether or not a judge will find in your favour is another matter.

the first paragraph contains elements of a defence, the remainder is superfluous.

what is date of issue of claim?
have you acknowledged it?
when is your defence due in?
have you sent a CPR31.14 to the solicitors?
Have you sent a Subject Access Request to the parking company?

FYI . GCTT is just a trading name of Gary Osner's ZZPS,

If you could post up redacted copies of the claim form and the original notice to keeper, and also photos of the signs at the car park, we could perhaps assist you, but be aware that the outcome is always a bit of a lottery

[Bob Dobalina]

Hi. Thank you for your reply.
I can confirm the following
what is date of issue of claim? 28^th Aug 2024

have you acknowledged it? Yes on 09^th September requesting an additional 2 weeks to put my defence together.

when is your defence due in? I have already sent my defence in on 16^th September. I have since received the following reply.
Having reviewed the content of your defence, we write to inform you that our client intends to proceed with the claim.

In due course, the Court will direct both parties to each file a directions questionnaire. In preparation for that, please find attached a copy of the Claimant's, which we confirm has been filed with the Court.

Without Prejudice to the above, in order to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, our client may be prepared to settle this case - in the event you wish to discuss settlement, please call us on 0203 434 0433 within 7 days and make immediate reference to this correspondence.

If you have provided an email address within your Defence, we intend to use it for service of documents (usually in PDF format) hereon in pursuant to PD 6A (4.1)(2)(c). Please advise whether there are any limitations to this (for example, the format in which documents are to be sent and the maximum size of attachments that may be received). Unless you advise otherwise, we will assume not.

have you sent a CPR31.14 to the solicitors? No. I am not sure what this is.

Have you sent a Subject Access Request to the parking company? No. I am not familiar with this.

[des8]

As you have already served a defence you can't amend it without either the agreement of the claimant (unlikely to be given) or permission of the court (an application will cost £244 so probably not worth applying)

Assume the original parking charge notice showed how long the vehicle was in the car park, so in your witness statement you will need to indicate a reason for the fifteen minute stay. Car park operators are meant to operate a "consideration period" to allow motorists time to decide whether or not to park. That period is normally about 5 minutes.

At the end of the trial, if you have lost remind the judge (politely!) that the claim has been overinflated.

If you have lost as the registered keeper refer the judge to Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Sch 4 para 4 (5) which
provides that the maximum amount which may be recovered from the registered keeper is the total amount of the unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to the registered keeper.

If you have lost as the driver refer the judge to Parking Eye vs Beavis ([2015] UKSC 67. Case ID. UKSC 2015/0116. the Supreme Court found the parking charge (£85) was a genuine estimate of the costs of operating the parking scheme including losses suffered by the operator if its terms and conditions were not complied with (see paras 188 and 193 of the judgment).In other words they shouldn't add on recovery costs described on the signs (probably) as unspecified additional
charges.

Those points could have been made in your defence and might have had the court strike the claim in its entirety, but you ae where you ae.

[Bob Dobalina]

I now have a telephone mediation appointment scheduled for later this month.

[des8]

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes

[Bob Dobalina]

I recently had the mediation appointment. This took about 3 minutes. I advised the mediator that the fine would not be paid and if a court case is required then so be it. I was advised that additional costs may be incurred and the court case may be several months away. Watch this space!!!