Morning All. Kindly find below a quick update on this case and as I want to paint a full picture on events to provide better clarity, apologies in advance if I repeat anything that's already common knowledge to all and sundry. Following on from our mediation appointment in December and towards the end of last month, DCB Legal sent me a letter on behalf of their client (Spring Parking), agreeing to withdraw their original claim against me, on condition that I also withdrew my SAR claim against them. This letter however arrived too late, as the court had by then awarded judgement and costs in my favour for a total sum of £235. I however responded to DCB Legal's offer letter by accepting their proposal, but with the caveat that they confirm in writing the PCN's that were related to their withdrawal offer. By this stage, I'd chosen not to cash Spring Parking's settlement cheque as I awaited DCB's reply. That response from DCB Legal finally came through on Wednesday 22nd Feb and as a result of that, I went ahead to cash the cheque from Spring, wait for it to clear and then provide MCOL with a settlement update. All of these actions have now been completed. The main body of the DCB Legal email reply (including an attached N279 - Notice of Dicontinuance), was as below: ************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Dear xxxxxxxx, We act for the Claimant. Without Prejudice Save as to Costs We acknowledge your offer to settle the Judgment, however, updating the Court that the matter has been settled will not remove the CCJ from our Client's credit file. We do note, that you have received payment in full from our Client, and therefore request that you do update the Court that our Client has made payment in full within the calendar month of Judgment being entered. Our Client has instructed us to discontinue their Claim against you, and notice of the same is attached by way of service. We confirm the Court has been updated of the discontinuance and we will therefore proceed to close our file. Kind Regards, xxxxx ************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Having probably made a sound assessment of their position, including incorrect claim form details, SAR compliance breaches and subsequent penalties, etc, it appears both DCB and Spring came to the conclusion it would be best to simply cut their losses and bring the entire messy saga to an end. As things therefore stand at this minute, I can report that we have vigorously succeeded in fighting back against this particular court claim and for that, I can only offer my biggest gratitude to everyone here for all your wonderful advice and contribution. There's every chance that this may not be the last we hear from those vampires as they seek to enact 'revenge' at a later date, but that will be another battle for another day...............which we'll be well prepared for and leave no stone unturned in our fight back!!

And that's only because they were first to offer an olive branch and went on to propose dropping their claim entirely, if I did so with mine. Under those circumstances, I just thought it would be completely counter-productive rubbing them the wrong way or even appearing to be contemptuous, hence my suggestion we adopt a slightly more cordial approach. As far as negotiation is concerned, well the ball is currently well and truly in their court. I replied to DCB Legal's offer letter last Friday with some additional conditions, but they're yet to respond.

@Nicky Boythat's absolutely one of the ridiculous things they tend to depict on all of their PCNs. It only ever shows the vehicle on a public road.........not parked in the car park they claim to manage.

Well, below are edited copies of the attachment response to my SAR request received earlier today from Spring Parking. SAR Return.pdf

So what's next? We completely turn our backs on DCB Legal's compromise deal and await a new court date?

Most definitely. Just need to tidy them up a bit after work to remove any personal data and then will upload.

Absolutely!! And as per my previous thoughts on this subject, I think that with them now putting forward that offer of a compromise, we should play our cards carefully by adopting a more accommodating and slightly cordial approach, rather than antagonise them and jeopardise the entire purpose of what we set out to do, i.e. get their claim killed off entirely. And so, how about we include as part of our compromise terms that: 1. Yes, we'll apply for judgement to be set aside (if it's not too late and they agree to pay the required fee).......................and/or refund their cheque. 2. We will withdraw any further pending or proposed SAR claims, as stated in yesterday's letter. 3. They withdraw their claim, but crucially, will initially have to confirm all PCNs the claim relates to. Any thoughts on this?

Well, you'll all be interested to know that within the last couple of minutes, I've just received a letter from Spring Parking responding to my SAR request with some PDFs of multiple PCNs and rendering an apology for the delay. I doubt it's just a coincidence that this email came just shortly after they most likely checked the Royal Mail tracking number to confirm my receipt of their cheque.

All, well things have now taken a rather surprising turn and perhaps it's just as well that email/letter to DCB Legal hasn't yet gone out. This is because, in the last few minutes, a recorded letter from Spring Parking was delivered to me at home. Enclosed was a cheque for the sum of £235 which was the judgement sum for the SAR distress claim. Now then, any suggestions how we firstly proceed with this pending DCB Letter and secondly, this cheque settlement? Is this some sort of trap by Spring Parking/DCB Legal?

Morning All. Quick update before the pressures of work take center stage once again. Unfortunately, due to work commitments which led to me traveling out of town to the midlands all day Tuesday, I was unable to send out the SAR letters to Spring Parking until yesterday. All letters though were sent as first class mail and I'm hoping that this week's ongoing strikes won't cause any major delay to their delivery. Later this afternoon, I intend to follow that up by sending out the response letter to DCB Legal.

@FTMDavethanks for the feedback. Will apply the necessary changes to the SAR letter and also yes, the draft letter to DCB looks perfect. I’ll adapt it.

No worries. Will hold fire on those letters and email till we reconvene tonight. Will be out of town all day tomorrow, so if we're able to finalise everything this evening, I'm sure I can get the letter printed and sent out in the post tomorrow. On the back of that, the email to DCB can also be drafted tonight and then sent out later in the day tomorrow.

*********** BELOW, SOME MINOR UPDATES MADE TO THE EARLIER DRAFT FOR REVIEW AND FEEDBACK PLEASE ************ Letter Before Claim To Whom It May Concern Re: VRN XXXXX, Claim No. XXXXX On 26th September 2022, I sent you a Subject Access Request (letter dated 25th September 2022) for a statutory disclosure of my personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. You have failed to comply and are therefore in breach of your statutory duty and obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This dereliction of duty has caused me a great deal of distress, exacerbated by your failure to provide me with the requested information to enable me understand the issues at hand and further compounded by the necessity for me to pursue you to obtain this disclosure. I already hold a County Court Judgement against you for distress caused until 15th November 2022 for £200. You now have 14 days to pay me the sum of £200 for distress caused for the period from 16th November 2022 until 30th January 2023. In case of no payment I shall begin a County Court claim against you. These court claims will go on and on until you satisfy my Subject Access Request. Although you have no defence to the distress caused by your failure from 16th November 2022 until 30th January 2023, I undertake to not proceed with the claim if you satisfy my Subject Access Request by 13th February 2023 - i.e. that is the date by which I expect your letter to be delivered through my letter box. You have already had umpteen chances. Yours sincerely,

So below is the second SAR letter I plan sending out this morning. Would greatly appreciate some feedback, especially as the original draft stated a response deadline of 30th January which also happens to be today and requires a new date stated. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Letter Before Claim To Whom It May Concern Re: VRN XXXXX, Claim No. XXXXX On 26th September 2022, I sent you a Subject Access Request for a statutory disclosure of my personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. You have failed to comply and are therefore in breach of your statutory duty and obligation under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This dereliction of duty has caused me a great deal of distress, exacerbated by your failure to provide me with the requested information to enable me to understand the issue at hand and further compounded by the necessity for me to pursue you to obtain this disclosure. I already hold a County Court Judgement against you for distress caused until 15th November 2022 for £200. You now have 14 days to pay the me the sum of £200 for distress caused for the period from 16th November 2022 until 23rd January 2023. In case of no payment I shall begin a County Court claim against you. These court claims will go on and on until you satisfy my Subject Access Request. Although you have no defence to the distress caused by your failure from 16th November 2022 until 23rd January 2023, I undertake to not proceed with the claim if you satisfy my Subject Access Request by dd-mmm-2023 - i.e. that is the date by which I expect your letter to be delivered through my letter box. You have already had umpteen chances. Yours,

@FTMDave, yes I agree entirely with that view. Let's not antagonise and torment the cornered cat any further or who knows, it could fight back. Let's build on what we've achieved here so far and save the rest of our ammo for another battle on another day, which is sure to come round in future in another PCN fightback case. And on that note, demanding SARs from parking companies (and pursuing them vigorously to the bitter end) should most definitely become one such ammunition in future.