Free Traffic Legal Advice

Chances of winning this if it goes to court?

Given that DCB Legal are involved, your chances of them discontinuing just before it reaches a hearing are very high.

However, you've given us almost no information upon which to base our advice. Please show us this letter.

Send the following email to DCB Legal at info@dcblegal.co.uk and CC yourself:

Subject: Response to your Letter of Claim Ref: [reference number]

Dear Sirs,

Your Letter Before Claim contains insufficient detail of the claim and fails to provide copies of the evidence your client places reliance upon, putting it in clear breach of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims.

As a supposed firm of solicitors, one would expect you to comply with paragraphs 3.1(a)–(d), 5.1 and 5.2 of the Protocol, and paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction. These provisions exist to facilitate informed discussion and proportionate resolution. You may wish to reacquaint yourselves with them.

The Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols (Part 3), require the exchange of sufficient information to understand each other’s position. Part 6 clarifies that this includes disclosure of key documents relevant to the issues in dispute.

Your template letter refers to a “contract” yet encloses none. That omission undermines the only foundation upon which your client’s claim allegedly rests. It is not possible to engage in meaningful pre-litigation dialogue while you decline to furnish the very document you purport to enforce.

I confirm that, once I am in receipt of a Letter Before Claim that complies with para 3.1(a), I shall seek advice and submit a formal response within 30 days, as required. Accordingly, please provide:

1. A copy of the original Notice to Keeper (NtK) and any notice chain relied upon to assert PoFA 2012 liability.

2. A copy of the contract you allege exists between your client and the driver, being an actual photograph of the sign(s) in place on the material date (not a stock image), together with a site plan showing the sign locations.

3. The precise wording of the clause(s) allegedly breached.

4. The written agreement between your client and the landowner evidencing standing/authority to enforce and to litigate.

5. A breakdown of the sums claimed, identifying whether the principal sum is claimed as consideration or damages, and whether the £70 “debt recovery” add-on includes VAT.


I am entitled to this information under paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction, and I require it to meet my own obligation under paragraph 6(b).

If you fail to provide the above, I will treat that as non-compliance with the PAPDC and Pre-Action Conduct and will raise a formal complaint to the SRA regarding your conduct. I reserve the right to place this correspondence before the Court and to seek appropriate sanctions and costs (including, where appropriate, a stay and/or other case management orders).

Until your client complies and provides the requested material, I am unable to respond properly to the alleged claim or to consider my position. It would be premature and a waste of costs and court time to issue proceedings. Should you do so, I will seek immediate case management relief pursuant to paragraph 15(b) of the Practice Direction and an order compelling provision of the above.

Please note, I will not engage with any web portal; I will only respond by email or post.

Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

If you follow all the advice you receive here, you will not be paying a penny to ECP. I suggest you also do a search of the forum and follow other similar ECP claims issued by DCb Legal to understand the process.

Also interestingly, the letter from dcblegal has a mis-spelling of my surname. Looking at the v5c, it looks like the dvla has mis read my writing when I filled in the ownership form and misread ni for m. So this has transferred to the letter dcblegal have sent to me.

Obviously I will contact dvla to correct the v5c. But the question is, should I correct dcblegal when I sign off the reply letter above?

They will issue a claim. Their LoC is a boilerplate template. It does not comply with the PAPDC and this can be used against them when they eventually discontinue.

DCB Legal have no intention to litigate all their way to a trial. They will issue an N279 Notice of Discontinuance just before they are required to pay the trial fee.

You are many months away from that point. For now, just go through the advised process.

I have now received the email response below from DCB legal.

They have included the evidence as attachment

https://ibb.co/Cq3Sz9y (please click on load full resolution to see the file properly)

Any advice on best way to proceed? Should I respond? Or wait it out until the letter of claim? Or settle with them?


-----------------------------------

We write in response to your correspondence received in our office dated 23/11/2025.
We now respond to the same as follows.

Please find evidence requested attached. If there are any documents that you have requested, but that are not attached, it is because we have deemed the request to be disproportionate and/or not relevant to the substantive issues in dispute. We respectfully draw your attention to paragraph 2.1(c) of the Protocol and remind you that both parties are expected to act reasonably and proportionately.

The amount owed is a genuine pre-estimate of the losses incurred in managing the parking location to ensure compliance with the clearly displayed terms and conditions. However, in Parking Eye Ltd v Beavis, it was found, both at County Court and Court of Appeal level, that appealing a Parking Charge on the basis that the amount is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss is, in fact, not a successful legal defence.

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO COSTS
 
To assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective, our Client may be prepared to settle this case. I can confirm our Client would be agreeable to your offer of  £200.00 in full and final settlement of this Claim. The current outstanding balance is £340.00
 
Should you be agreeable to this offer, please confirm the same within 30 days. Failure to make payment may result in the matter progressing to the next stage. 

If further action is taken by us as a result of an incorrect reference being quoted, you will be liable for any further fees or costs incurred.

We would ask that you kindly furnish us with your most up to date telephone number and email address, this can be emailed to us at info@dcblegal.co.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact DCB Legal Ltd on 0203 838 7038 to make payment over the telephone or online at https://dcblegal.co.uk/response/pay-online/.

 

Kind Regards,

Litigation Support Team

DCB Legal Ltd

Unless you're looking to pay £200, I'd be minded to leave them to it and let them issue a claim.