I have received a money claim from DCB Legal on behalf of UK Parking Control Ltd. My wife parked the car at Brent Cross shopping centre without realising it was a disabled parking bay. I received the notice to owner and letters from DCB but continued to ignore and throw away as this has worked with previous ones.
I have a digital copy of the NtO that was initially sent to the leasing company which I have attached along with the money claim.
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Any help truly appreciated!
Please check your terminology.
You show us the original Notice to Keeper which was sent to the registered keeper, the lease company.
There are instructions “if the vehicle has been hired…” which should have been followed by the lease company.
Did you, in due course, receive a Notice to Hirer in your own name from UKPC?
Given that you threw them away, you should send a Subject Access Request to UKPC for all the personal data it holds on you to get them back again. Do not identify the driver in any correspondence, this may be very important. The claim says that “the defendant is being pursued as the driver” but they will not know who the driver was unless you tell them.
If you file an Acknowledgment of Service by 5 August, you have until 19 August to file a defence.
You are also advised to obscure the password on the N1SDT form you have posted.
yes I did receive a Notice to Hirer in my own name from UKPC.
I have removed the picture of the claim form for now.
I will submit a SAR to UKPC, however they're allowed to take up to a month to reply - by which time the deadline for my defence will have passed?
If you received a NtH, did it also come with the required documents?
See paragraph 13 of
An Act to provide for the destruction, retention, use and other regulation of certain evidential material; to impose consent and other requirements in relation to certain processing of biometric in...
(a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement;
(b)a copy of the hire agreement; and
(c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement.
They won’t have done this, so you will have a defence based on no liability because of their failure to comply with the requirements of PoFA 2012 to transfer liability to the hirer.
The forum contains a number of similar cases in which UKPC has not complied with PoFA to transfer liability, and indeed many parking companies do not, just sending something called a "Notice to Hirer" without the supporting documentation is usually enough to persuade the majority of recipients to pay but there is no legal reason without complying with PoFA 2012. Now that you've passed the appeal stage, you will have to file a defence and will have to stay on top of the paperwork, but it's normal for DCB Legal to discontinue cases before having to pay the court fee. You will get advice from here on the process but you will have to stay on top of your deadlines. Even if you don't get your SAR response in time, you're on pretty firm ground with the PoFA 2012 argument anyway.
When you come to write a defence, I would advise starting by disputing the Particulars of Claim on the N1SDT form, stating that the driver of the car has never been identified and that you are being pursued as the hirer of the car. Then go on to say that, as hirer, you can not be liable for the actions of the unknown driver because UKPC has not complied with the requirements of PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 Paragraph 13 with its Notice to Hirer sent to you to transfer the liability to you, because .....
Sorry not sure if you meant to finish with 'because.....' ?!
Yes.
You should work it out and post here for comment.
I think I’ve given you enough clues! I’m not going to write it for you.
The “F” in the name of the forum should be a hint. If you want to find and pay or a competent solicitor who will do your work for you, that’s fine.
You have to write and understand your own defence. We’ll help you write it, but we won’t write it for you.
I’m sorry if that sounded a bit too negative, but essentially please come up with something and post it here for comment, I think I’ve given you the information you need to be able to construct something.
Haha thats quite ok.
I'm sorry if I sounded like I was asking you to do all the work for me because I definitely wasn't expecting it and I'm very grateful for the help that you and others on here provide in your own free time. It was just the ... at the end that threw me!
I will draft a response - is it ok to respond on the moneyclaim website or is by post/email best?
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