MET/DCB(L) PCN Claimform - ignored everything now default judgement - - occupants left carpark - (346) Southgate Park, Stansted, CM24 1PY

[M5AWX]

Hi

I have received a parking notice charge from DCB legal from Feb 2020.

They have issued me with a CCJ for not replying.

The initial demand was for parking in the wrong spot and then for not paying.

We did not stay for over an hour which means we should not pay and the parking in the wrong spot is rubbish.

They took one photo of us manoeuvring and said we were parked illegally.

Can you please advise us what to do. 

[dx100uk]

DCBL dont issue speculative invoices - a PPC does

and neither have they stated you parking illegally...

and neither do they issue CCJ's - a court does that.

so what have you got?

a claimform pack (N1) from northants bulk court

or a court Default judgement letter because you already totally ignored everything to date inc a court claim months ago.

private parking 

dx

 

 

 

[M5AWX]

I have a claim form from the county court at the civil national business centre.

sorry I did not introduce myself,

I’m Mark

[honeybee13]

Hi Mark, welcome. 

Please let us have the information when you can

HB

[dx100uk]

please complete this:

 

[M5AWX]

What information do you need as I can’t attach the picture of the letter?

[dx100uk]

yes you can read upload<<clickme

put everything bothsides of every letter in/out in one mass PDF after redacting as a jpg file.

but please copy and paste the court Q&A's here too.

dx

 

[M5AWX]

Which Court have you received the claim from ? MCOL Northampton N1 ? Civil  National Business Centre, NN1 2LH Northampton 

Name of the Claimant :  MET PARKING SERVICES LTD

Claimants Solicitors: DCB LEGAL LTD

Date of issue – 21st November 2023

Date for AOS - I did not send them anything as I ignored it.

Date to submit Defence - I did not do it.

What is the claim for – 

1. The Defendant is indebted to the Claimant for a Parking Charge(s) issued to vehicle xxxxx at (346) Southgate Park, Stansted CM24 1PY

2.the PCN were issued on 22/02/2020

3.The defendant is pursued  as the driver of the vehicle  for breach of the terms on the signs (the contract).Reason: vehicle left in Southgate Park Car Park without payment made for parking and occupants left Southgate Park premises.

4. In the alternative the defendant is pursued as the keeper pursuant to POFA 2012, Schedule 4.

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS

1.£170 bring the total of the PCN(s) and damages.

2. Interest at the rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the County Courts Act 1984from the date hereof at a daily rate of £0.2 until judgment or sooner payment.

3. Costs and court fees

What is the value of the claim? 

Amount Claimed £223.56

court fees £35.00

legal rep fees £50.00

Total Amount £308.56

Have you moved since the issuance of the PCN? (y/N - if Y state Date too) no

Did you receive a letter of Claim With A reply Pack wanting I&E etc about 1mth before the claimform? Y/N + date and did you reply? Yes on the 27/12/2023

I asked them for the evidence and they emailed me the pictures with the time and dates. Please notes that the original claim was for parking incorrectly and then they tried to claim for not making a payment. 
I can send you the scan of the document tomorrow.

I also have the emails from them with the photos if needed.

Many thanks,

Mark

[dx100uk]

so you didnt file a defence nor do AOS???

and you've not received a judgement in default from the court yet?

what is the status of the claim on MCOL under claim history?

you might need to act upon this very very very fast tonight.

please answer the above

dx

[FTMDave]

Thanks for starting your own thread.

It was utter insanity not to defend the claim.  It's clearly written on the claim form that if you don't defend you will lose by default.

Your only hope is that this disgusting company MET has so many of these claims floating about that they haven't got round to entering judgment yet.  As dx says, get on MCOL now and look at the status of the claim.  Please post here what you find.

[dx100uk]

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform

.register as an individual on the Gov't Gateway Site
Go to HMRC's login page.

Click the GREEN sign in button.
Click “Create sign in details”
Enter your email address where asked.
You will now be emailed a confirmation code. ...

You will now be issued with a User ID for your government gateway account.
 note down your details inc the long gateway number given, you might need it later.
then log in to the MCOL Website

.select claim history

highlight then and copy and paste all the text here

dx

 

[FTMDave]

So MCOL status please.

We want to see if you are still in time to file the defence this evening.

 

Edited January 4 by FTMDave
Typo

[M5AWX]

I’m trying but I don’t know what my defence pack password is. I can’t see it on the letter.

[dx100uk]

its on the claimform at the end of the information box

dx

[M5AWX]

Claim History

-a claim was issued against you on 21/11/3023

-a judgment was issued against you on 13/12/2023 at 19:09:00

[FTMDave]

Damn.

[dx100uk]

what prompted you to come here today then?

dx

[FTMDave]

You unpalatable choices are:

1.  Pay by 13 January.  It's a lot of money.  But no CCJ.

2.  Defy the court and not pay.  I've been on this site for eight years and have never seen a PPC enforce judgement for a single invoice.  it's just not worth their while.  But you would get a CCJ and a knackered credit file for six years.

Above all learn from this mistake for the future.  MET's claim was rubbish and you would have won had you defended.  If you're in legal dispute you need to read paperwork carefully - the claim form was clear that there was a deadline you needed to defend by otherwise you would lose by default. 

[M5AWX]

Up until this point I thought and still do that the claims are totally fraudulent.

I have had these before and ignored them because they was also fraudulent and I heard no more.

I googled this car park and I found your website with similar stories. 

Thank you for your help

[dx100uk]

thread title updated

[honeybee13]

8 hours ago, M5AWX said:

Up until this point I thought and still do that the claims are totally fraudulent.

I have had these before and ignored them because they was also fraudulent and I heard no more.

I googled this car park and I found your website with similar stories. 

Thank you for your help

They're chancing their arm but it's for the judge to decide on the day on the merits or otherwise of the claim..

As we say, anyone can issue a claim against anyone. MCOL doesn't decide if the claim is reasonable or not, that's for the judge.

HB

 

[lookinforinfo]

You must understand that these claims are not fraudulent. Had you responded to this one you would not be looking at a CCJ.  The fact of the matter is that you did park in the wrong car park. Had you properly read the signs in the car park you would have found that you either parked in the Starbucks car park and went to McDonalds or you parked in the Mc Donalds car park and went to Starbucks.

I admit that it is an easy mistake to make judging by the number of motorists we are seeing on the Forum. But all the others are likely not going to pay a penny. The two sites are undoubtedly highly unfair but there comes a time when you receive a letter from the Court that you must respond as the Court appears not to believe that their claim was fraudulent.

It is a harsh lesson and I wish that more could be done to put and end to the scam there. But until that happens we must all take care with private parking companies since they do have the Law behind them if not challenged.

 

[Nicky Boy]

Hi M5,

These PPC's are aware how weak any court claim is.

The only reason you've been caught out is ignoring EVERYTHING.

The old tactic of ignore everything, changed a number of years ago with the advent of POFA 2012 Schedule 4, allowing the they to transfer liability from the driver (who's details they didn't have), to the registered keeper (who's details they can obtain from the DVLA).

It's how they play the game... send correspondence... if no reply at all, there's a good chance the victim has moved without updating their V5c details at DVLA, so the know a court claim would win by default.

If you'd come here earlier, our advice is to ignore everything until they send a "letter of claim", then reply with a "snotty letter" ridiculing them and letting them know there's no chance of a default judgment... often makes them back off.

Of those that do court, CAG users have an 85% win rate with our help. (The 15% losses is made up mainly of users who didn't engage with CAG properly, or made their own mistakes).

You've learnt a hard lesson. Remember it for the future and come here as soon as you get a ticket.

Oh, and pass the word around to anyone you know who gets into this situation.

All the best,

Nicky Boy.

 

[dx100uk]

just to clarify something..

in a default judgement situation like this case, no human sees or looks at anything. it's why we call northants bulk - the robocourt.

 

a procedural error by the defendant, be it:

by not filing AOS

or if they filed AOS but latterly failed to file a defence..

this automatically grants a default judgement - no human looks at anything.

 

the ONLY time any human looks at anything is the judge at any eventual hearing but the above both have to be done for that to happen.

dx

 

[FTMDave]

This thread is a huge shame.

We have three other claim form threads for this site.  In one case the judge just threw out their rubbish at allocation stage because the Particulars of Claim were nonsense.  In the other two cases MET gave in and discontinued (the latest case being today). 

All that was needed was to file a defence.