Free Traffic Legal Advice

That is a DCB Legal issued claim on behalf of Parking Eye. If PE thought they had a chance in court, they'd have issued the claim themselves, not through DCB Legal.

What is the issue date of the claim? Having submitted the Acknowledgement of Service within 14 days of service (5 days plus any non-working days from the date of issue), you then have 5 days plus 28 days plus any non-working days to submit your defence.

As it is a DCB Legal issued claim, as long as it is defended, I can say with greater than 99% certainty that they will eventually discontinue, some time early next year. Nobody who is here receiving advice and following it, will ever pay a penny to the operator for a claim under £600.

For the defence simply send the following plus the draft order and two transcripts. You only need to edit your name, the claim number and sign it by typing your full name for the signature. There is nothing to edit in the draft order. When ready, attach both documents as PDF files to an email addressed to claimresponses.cnbc@justice.gov.uk and CC in yourself. Make sure that the email subject contains the claim number. In the body of the email put "Please find attached the defence and draft order in the matter of ParkingEye Ltd v [your full name] Claim No.: [claim number]".

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No: [Claim Number]

BETWEEN:

[Claimant's Full Name]

Claimant

- and -

[Defendant's Full Name]

Defendant

---

DEFENCE

1. The Defendant denies any liability for this claim.

2. There is a lack of precise detail in the Particulars of Claim (PoC) in respect of the factual and legal allegations made against the Defendant such that the PoC do not comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a).

3. The Defendant is unable to plead properly to the PoC because:

(a) The Particulars of Claim fail to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a), lacking specific terms allegedly breached, the signage locations, or details of the breach. This prevents the Defendant from properly pleading a defence, and the claim should be struck out under CPR 3.4. The Defendant cites CEL v Chan 2023 [E7GM9W44] and CPMS v Akande 2024 [K0DP5J30], where similarly vague claims were struck out. Should the court not strike out the claim, the Defendant refers to the draft order in paragraph 4.

(b) The contract referred to is not detailed or attached to the PoC in accordance with CPR PD 16(7.5);

(c) The PoC do not state the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract (or contracts) which is/are relied on;

(d) The PoC do not set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts the defendant has breached the contract (or contracts);

(e) The PoC do not state with sufficient particularity exactly where the breach occurred, the exact time when the breach occurred and how long it is alleged that the vehicle was parked before the parking charge was allegedly incurred;

(f) The PoC do not state exactly how the claim for statutory interest is calculated;

(g) The PoC do not state what proportion of the claim is the parking charge and what proportion is damages;

(h) The PoC states that the Claimant is suing the defendant as the driver or the keeper. The claimant obviously knows whether the defendant is being sued as the driver or the keeper and should not be permitted to plead alternative causes of action.

4. The Defendant has attached to this defence a copy of an order made at another court which the allocating judge ought to make at this stage so that the Defendant can then know and understand the case which he/she/it faces and can then respond properly to the claim.

Statement of truth

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Signed:


Date:

Draft order for the defence

Transcript of CEL v Chan

Transcript of CPMS v Akande

Apart from submitting your AoS, you do not use the MCOL portal for anything else except to check your history. The defence and anything else is submitted as a PDF attachment to an email.

Eventually, the case will be transferred to your local county court and that will be the end of your need to refer to MCOL.

Your email in he sent folder is your proof of posting. The headers in that email and copy you CCd to yourself are evidence of having sent it and it being received by the recipient.

You'll receive a response from DCB Legal statin that after reviewing your defence their client intends to proceed. You'll also receive a copy of their N180 Directions Questionnaire (DQ) which you can just file.

Eventually, you will receive your own DQ from the CNBC. Having received your own N180 (make sure it is not simply a copy of the claimants N180), do not use the paper form. Ignore all the other forms that came with it. you can discard those. Download your own here and fill it in on your computer. You sign it by simply typing your full name in the signature box.



Here are the answers to some of the less obvious questions:

The name of the court is "Civil National Business Centre".
To be completed by "Your full name" and you are the "Defendant".
C1: "YES"
D1: "NO". Reason: "I wish to question the Claimant about their evidence at a hearing in person and to expose omissions and any misleading or incorrect evidence or assertions.
Given the Claimant is a firm who complete cut & paste parking case paperwork for a living, having this case heard solely on papers would appear to put the Claimant at an unfair advantage, especially as they would no doubt prefer the Defendant not to have the opportunity to expose the issues in the Claimants template submissions or speak as the only true witness to events in question."
F1: Whichever is your nearest county court. Use this to find it:
F3: "1".


When you have completed the form, attach it to a single email addressed to both dq.cnbc@justice.gov.uk and info@dcblegal.co.uk and CC in yourself. Make sure that the claim number is in the subject field of the email.

Eventually, the claim will be assigned to your local county court. In due course, DCB Legal will discontinue. Don't try to overthink it. They just do.

The portal limits you to 120 lines (roughly, can't remember the exact number), and removes any formatting you might input.

It's no good for anything longer than a few lines.

Hi guys. Once again thank you for all your help so far.

I have just emailed the N180 Directions Questionnaire. Does anyone know the next steps following this?

Thank you

Hi guys.

I have my mediation appointment next week. The email says, I should prepare a brief summary of the main points of my defence.

What exactly should I say during the appointment?

Thank you