You are way overthinking this. You’re reading far too much into that complaint response.
Let me be absolutely clear: this case is not heading for a hearing. Not in any realistic universe. DCB Legal’s business model on single private parking claims is simple:
• Fire off bulk, low-quality claims with slurry template Particulars of Claim.
• Hoover up easy default judgments and scared people who pay when they see “court”.
• Where a defendant files a competent defence and follows the process, quietly discontinue before the trial fee is due.
That is what they do. Over and over again. We only scratch the very tip of the iceberg and we have sight of well over 700 discontinuances over the last couple of years.
On this forum, for properly defended single-PCN claims run by DCB Legal, the pattern is effectively 100%: they fold before a hearing. The statistical chance of your defended claim, with a CPR 16.4 defence and the
Mazur/Ensall issue flagged, actually reaching a final hearing is not just “low” – it is vanishingly small. I am talking well under 1 in 1,000 based on what we know and experience.
That’s why I say – and stand by – that if this ever gets as far as a hearing, I’ll eat my hat and help you with your witness statement. I am that confident it won’t happen.
A few specifics:
• Their line about “we intend to proceed” and “we are reviewing our processes” is pure face-saving. They cannot write “you’ve nailed us on
Mazur and we’re backing off”; they have to maintain the pretence that everything is fine and they’re marching resolutely towards trial.
•
Mazur and the Legal Services Act point are already doing their job by sitting on the court file and with the SRA. You’ve raised legitimate issues. Their boilerplate attempt to brush it off doesn’t make those issues disappear.
• The £100 you paid to DRP absolutely counts. DRP were acting as the client’s agent. Payment to an authorised agent is payment to the principal. At witness statement stage (if we even get that far) you will:
• Exhibit the DRP demand for £100 for this exact PCN; and
• Exhibit your bank statement showing £100 paid to DRP; and
• Explain that the principal sum was paid long before proceedings and what’s now being chased is made-up add-ons and duplication.
As for what you do now:
• You do not need to reply to that “complaint closed” email at all.
• You have already:
• Filed your defence focused on their defective Particulars of Claim, and
• Emailed the court about the Mazur/Ensall issue, and
• Reported the matter to the SRA.
Those boxes are ticked. Nothing you say to a “
Complaints and Compliance Associate” will alter the trajectory of the claim.
The next meaningful step will come from the court, not from DCB Legal. When the court sends you the Notice of Allocation and directions (naming your local court and giving a trial fee deadline), post that up.
But I repeat, so you don’t lose sleep over this: on a defended, single-ticket Euro Car Parks claim run by DCB Legal, with this defence on file and the
Mazur/SRA issues raised, the realistic probability of you ever sitting in front of a judge is effectively zero.
