Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,

Today I received a letter form a bailiff to collect £170 for a parking charge on private land.

This is the first notice that I've received (we're diligent with making sure we open post).

What's more is that on the date the contravention took place the driver did purchase a parking ticket on the app Just Park - the booking is still on the app.

The bailiffs letter does not mention the time of the contravention, only the date and location.

So the main issues are that I dont know if the driver did contravene (by booking wrong location or overstaying) as details aren't on the letter, and also I didnt receive the first notice so I had no chance to resolve at the lower price.

I dont live near the area so I cant get pictures of the parking signage but the driver did park right under the sign and would have got the location code from the sign.

Letter attached below.



Advice welcomed.

J

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Ignore all debt collector letters. DCBL are impotent in this matter. They have no standing to do anything and must be ignored. Use their letters as kindling or line the bottom of a litter tray.

This is what is going to happen with over 99% certainty... You will eventually receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) from their sister company, DCB Legal. When you do let us know and we will provide a suitable response.

Eventually, they are going to issue a claim in the county court which will arrive as an N1SDT form from the CNBC. Again, show us the claim form when it arrives and we will advise on deadlines and provide the defence to use. In due course, they will discontinue the claim. I say this with greater than 99% certainty.

So, for now, do nothing until you get the LoC. No one who is receiving advice on here pays a penny to ECPM.

An LoC will give you 30 days to pay. Normal debt collector letters only give you 14 days.

Have a read of the Pre Action Protocols for debt claims, section 3, to understand what has to be provided in an LoC:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/documents/debt-pap.pdf

DCBL are a debt collector. We do not need to see any debt collector correspondence and you need to ignore it. No debt collector can issue an LoC. In fact, no debt collector can do anything at all, which is why we tell you to ignore them.

A Letter of Claim (LoC) will be from either the unregulated private parking company themselves or, more likely, from one of several bulk litigation solicitors. As they are using DCBL for their useless debt collection threats, they will most likely use the sister company, DCB Legal to send you an LoC. The LoC will say "Letter of Claim" on it and has to follow some set rules known as the Pre Action Protocol (PAP).

So, if you're unsure whether a letter is a real LoC, have read of section 3 of the PAP for debt claims here:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/documents/debt-pap.pdf

Hi,

So almost a year later I have received a letter stating that I have a county court judgement against me (in April 2025) - I never received an LoC but after checking my credit report that shows the county court judgement.

I'm not sure what to do now - I have a mortgage up for renewal in 12 months so Im worried it will affect my credit score negatively especially as I havent paid it.

Yes i moved in Jan 2025 but updated my address on my licence and V5 right away.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13smOzZdDofSUyQTMyAdYtXWXVXFojs-C/view?usp=sharing

No i didnt - I was told to ignore all correspondance from DCBL.

The parking company is Elite Car Parking Management Ltd

You must apply for a mandatory set aside under CPR 13.2. The claimant is under an obligation to make sure that if they receive no response to anything that the person they are pursuing still resides at the last known address.

Updating your V5C and drivers licence after you have received the original PCN means nothing. They were only allowed a single bite when they refused your DVLA data at the time. They cannot go back for it again.

All they had to do was a soft credit search and they would have likely found your current address. They didn't. Of course, if you'd remembered to update your address for service with them, this could have been avoided. However, that is not really your fault if they had not yet initiated any proceedings.

It will cost £313 to apply for the set aside but you will ask for those costs to be paid back as the claimant has acted unreasonably because they did not make any effort to find your current address after they did not receive any response to the LoC.

It just means that this is now dragged on for much longer than it would have.

Your very first act must be to phone the CNBC, preferably very first thing in the morning to avoid very long hold times. You must ask for the Particulars of Claim (PoC) to be emailed to you, while you wait on the phone. Also, get confirmation which address they used for service and the date the claim was issued and who, if anyone, represented the claimant.

This is all very important information that is needed for the set aside application and will also firm that if the claim was not served within 4 months of issue, it must be struck out. You need to act promptly.

Once set aside, the CCJ will be totally expunged from the record. It will not affect any credit applications in future.

So, first thing is to get the information I explained above, from the CNBC. Once you have that, show us the PoC and tell us who the claimant is (original images have been deleted) and, I am going to presume that they were represented by DCB Legal, but please confirm.

Once I have that info, I will guide you through the set aside application and process.