Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,

While I've noticed they each post should be about a single claim these two are connected as the Letter of Claim received doesn't specify which it's for.

I've received notice of debt recovery letters from Direct Collection Bailiffs Limited (DCBL) for two alleged parking  contraventions, with parking charges of £170 each.

The most recent contravention is dated 11/11/2023 for parking while shopping for tiles. The letters state I should have entered my registration number when entering the tile store. I visited several times and received a letter for only one occasion. I also have evidence that I visited the store as I took photos of the tiles to send to my partner including for the date of the alleged contravention and I also left a Google review at the time, which provides evidence of my visit to the store.

The letters for the above alleged contravention are from 6th January 2025 to 24th March 2025.

The second alleged contravention is for parking at a retail park on 22/01/2022, that offers 45 minutes free parking plus a 10 minute grace period. I was parked for 57 minutes. I appealed this at the time as the first letter suggested that if I could prove I was shopping there could be a case for a successful appeal. In the appeal I sent a photo of a TK Maxx receipt, however, my appeal was unsuccessful through POPLA. For this, I've not heard anything else about it until a notice of debt recovery letter dated 22 May 2025.

I've now also received a Letter of Claim from Civil & Commercial Litigation Solicitors (DCB Legal), dated 27th May 2025, with an amount due of £170. However, the letter doesn't state the alleged contravention it's claiming for.

I took some advice from Just Answers and was advised to send the following message to DCB Legal, which I sent this morning:

I am writing to confirm I have received your Letter of Claim (reference: XXXXXXXX), although it does not state the alleged contravention. Please reply to clearly state the exact parking contravention you’re claiming, including the date, location, and vehicle registration. I shall only consider your claim once I have seen all the necessary details, such as photos of the signage, the keeper notice, and proof that they served me correctly. Please provide these details within 14 days of this letter.

Looking on this forum I've seen some longer more detailed letter templates I could adapt and use but I would like to know the best course of action to take next.

Thank you!

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Thanks for your reply.

The Letter of Claim photographed in my first post is from DCB Legal rather than DCBL Balliffs. I ignored the balliff's letters.

I've just noticed the LoC is on behalf of ParkingEye not Smart Parking, so although the letter doesn't state it, it's related to the photos linked below.

Hopefully, this link works:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13D3L_Y0ev_7HhK8vPGA4G-T81uBszO3I

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Please start a separate thread for each separate PCN if they are for different locations/parking operators. Do not confuse everything by combining it all into one thread!!!

As for the letters from DCBL, we really don't need to see Tham and you can safely ignore them and shred them into hamster bedding for all anyone cares. A debt collector is powerless to do anything except to try and scare the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear.

If ParkingEye are using DCB Legal to issue a claim, then they know they have zero chance of ever recovering this, even if it did go to court, otherwise they would have used their in-house team of legals to issue the Letter of Claim (LoC).

You can respond to the LoC for this claim with the following by email to info@dcblegal.co.uk and you also CC in yourself:

Dear Sirs,

Your Letter Before Claim contains insufficient detail of the claim and fails to provide copies of evidence your client places reliance upon and thus is in complete contravention of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims.

Because your letter lacks specificity and breaches the requirements of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (paragraphs 3.1(a)-(d), 5.1 and 5.2) as well as the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct (paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c)), you must treat this letter as a formal request for all of the documents/information that the protocol now requires your client to provide. Your client must not issue proceedings without complying with that protocol.

As solicitors you must surely be familiar with the requirements of both the Practice Direction and the Pre-Action Protocol for debt claims and your client, as a serial litigator of debt claims, should likewise be aware of them. As you (and your client) must know, the Practice Direction and Protocol bind all potential litigants, whatever the size or type of the claim. Its express purpose is to assist parties in understanding the claim and their respective positions in relation to it, to enable parties to take stock of their positions and to negotiate a settlement, or at least narrow the issues, without incurring the costs of court proceedings or using up valuable court time. It is embarrassing that a firm of Solicitors are sending a consumer a vague and un-evidenced 'Letter of Claim' in complete ignorance of the pre-existing Practice Direction and the Pre-Action Protocol.

I confirm that, once I am in receipt of a Letter Before Claim that complies with the requirements of para 3.1 (a) of the Pre-Action Protocol, I shall then seek advice and submit a formal response within 30 days, as required by the Protocol. Thus, I require your client to comply with its obligations by sending me the following information/documents:

1. An explanation of the cause of action
2. whether they are pursuing me as driver or keeper
3. whether they are relying on the provisions of Schedule 4 of POFA 2012
4. what the details of the claim are; for how long it is claimed the vehicle was parked, how the monies being claimed arose and have been calculated
5. Is the claim for a contractual breach? If so, what is the date of the agreement? The names of the parties to it and provide to me a copy of that contract.
6. If the claim is for a contractual breach, photographs showing the vehicle was parked in contravention of said contract.
7. Is the claim for trespass? If so, provide details.
8. Provide me a copy of the contract with the landowner under which they assert authority to bring the claim, as required by the BPA/IPC Private Parking Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP).
9. a plan showing where any signs were displayed
10. Photographs of the signs displayed (size of sign, size of font, height at which displayed) at the time of any alleged contravention.
11. Provide details of the original charge, and detail any interest and administrative or other charges added
12. Am I to understand that the additional £70 represents what is dressed up as a 'Debt Recovery' fee, and if so, is this nett or inclusive of VAT? If the latter, would you kindly explain why I am being asked to pay the operator’s VAT?
13. With regard to the principal alleged PCN sum: Is this damages, or will it be pleaded as consideration for parking?

I am clearly entitled to this information under paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction. I also need it in order to comply with my own obligations under paragraph 6(b).

If your client does not provide me with this information then I put you on notice that I will be relying on the cases of Webb Resolutions Ltd v Waller Needham & Green [2012] EWHC 3529 (Ch), Daejan Investments Limited v The Park West Club Limited (Part 20) Buxton Associates [2003] EWHC 2872, Charles Church Developments Ltd v Stent Foundations Limited & Peter Dann Limited [2007] EWHC 855 in asking the court to impose sanctions on your client and to order a stay of the proceedings, pursuant to paragraphs 13, 15(b) and (c) and 16 of the Practice Direction, as referred to in paragraph 7.2 of the Protocol.

Until your client has complied with its obligations and provided this information, I am unable to respond properly to the alleged claim and to consider my position in relation to it, and it is entirely premature (and a waste of costs and court time) for your client to issue proceedings. Should your client do so, then I will seek an immediate stay pursuant to paragraph 15(b) of the Practice Direction and an order that this information is provided.

Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

If you follow the advice, you will not be paying a penny to ParkingEye for this PCN ad the eventual claim will either be struck out or discontinued.

I assume I should include some dates and the reference number at the start too?

I assume I should include some dates and the reference number at the start too?

What do you think?

Hi,

A few months on and I've had this email.

Please advise whether to reply or ignore.

Thanks!