As you are past any appeal stage, you must ignore all debt collector letters. DCBL and any other debt collector have no powers to do anything. They cannot take you to court or send bailiffs around. It simply does not work like that.
DCBL et al operate on a no-win, no-fee basis and rely on you being low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree and will capitulate and pay up out of ignorance of your rights and the law. Never, ever, ever, ever, eve, ever, communicate with a debt collector. They are powerless and are not a party to any alleged contract breach by the driver. I cannot emphasise enough, never, ever communicate with them and you can safely ignore them.
If you follow the advice, you will not be paying a penny to CEL. For the time being, ignore everything until you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) issued by one of the bottom-dwelling bulk litigators, most likely DCB Legal.
Besides the fact that it will say "Letter of Claim" on it, you can tell it is real because it will give you 30 days, not 14 to pay before a claim is issued in the county court. Do not go into panic mode because litigation is threatened and imminent. This is a good thing.
Not that it will ever get as far as a hearing in court, but the county court small claims track is the ultimate dispute resolution service. Only a judge can decide whether you owe CEL a debt to not.
But, as I mentioned, this is 99.9% unlikely to ever get as far as a hearing. Any claim that is defended using the provided defence template, will end up being discontinued before there claimant has to pay the hearing fee. This is not supposition. It is a fact.
So, for now, sit back and use the debt collector letters as lining for the bottom of a cat litter tray or some other suitable and appropriate use. When (possibly "if") you receive an LoC, come back and we will provide the advice on how to respond and then, once the N1SDT Claim form arrives from the CNBC, we will provide the advice on how to acknowledge service and the defence for it.
