Excel Parking - Parking charge Notice

shuttleworth96

My daughter received a Parking charge Notice from Excel Parking recently. She had parked at the Peel Centre Retail Park in Stockport to visit the HobbyCraft store.
As she drove into the car park she failed to see any signs that said she had to "Pay and Display" a ticket and, therefore, 10 minutes later when she returned to her car, she had a ticket. Having got the ticket she looked for the signs but found that they were very few and poorly indicated. Also, you don't have to actually pay for the first 2 hours of parking - just display the ticket. It would seem her only crime is failing to see the signs - this was her first visit to that particular retail park and, in fact, lives 30 miles away from the area so was not familiar with it at all. When she left the car park she noticed several other motorists being given tickets which would indicate the inadequacy of the pay and display signs.
She wrote a letter of appeal to Excel Parking but they say she has to pay £40 by Friday or it will increase to £100. They also state "Failure to comply could result in the issue of Court proceedings whereby further costs may be incurred"
HELP - she is currently unemployed and on Job Seekers Allowance and unable to pay £40

peter_the_piper

On the assumption this is a private parking ticket, Don't write, Don't contact any more, don't admit who was driving and above all don't PAY. At the very worst you owe them for the time parked and that's , err let me see, £0.00. You will get a few more letters chasing this up, each more threatening but each just hollow threats. See the stickies regarding PPC's and search for other posts about ppc's

bargepole

shuttleworth96 wrote: »

... She wrote a letter of appeal to Excel Parking but they say she has to pay £40 by Friday or it will increase to £100. They also state "Failure to comply could result in the issue of Court proceedings whereby further costs may be incurred"

You might as well have written a letter of appeal to a mugger holding a knife to your throat.

Excel Parking are well known con artists, this is what happens when they are foolish enough to try it on in court: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-542355/Judge-quashes-300-parking-fine--set-frighten-intimidate-driver.html

The only costs incurred will be Excel's, as they waste money on postage with their ridiculous threatening letters. Tell your daughter not to contact these people again, file all their letters in a drawer, and get on with her life.

Meepster

peter_the_piper wrote: »

On the assumption this is a private parking ticket, Don't write, Don't contact any more, don't admit who was driving and above all don't PAY. At the very worst you owe them for the time parked and that's , err let me see, £0.00. You will get a few more letters chasing this up, each more threatening but each just hollow threats. See the stickies regarding PPC's and search for other posts about ppc's

Yup, I agree. Just ignore them. They'll never take you to court, as they know they'll lose. They just threaten to hope you foolishly pay.

Honestly, don't lose any sleep over it.

grantley

peter_the_piper wrote: »

On the assumption this is a private parking ticket, Don't write, Don't contact any more, don't admit who was driving and above all don't PAY. At the very worst you owe them for the time parked and that's , err let me see, £0.00. You will get a few more letters chasing this up, each more threatening but each just hollow threats. See the stickies regarding PPC's and search for other posts about ppc's

Hi Peter, I am currently undergoing a debarcle with excel parking. Having received an alarming and intimidating parking notice for £60 some two months after I had been in Manchester. I mistakenly believed that I had been driving the vehicle at the time they took their pictures of my car entering and leaving a car park, and (hastily) sent them an email apologising and asking them to waive the 'fine'. After some calm reflection, and memory searching, I realised that I hadn't actually been in the car at the time shown in their letter to me. I emailed them, telling them this and they are refusing to believe me, saying that they will persue me for what is now £100. I have told them I will not let them know who the driver was, and explained that it was in fact a different car park I had been in at a different time of day, but that I had been alarmed and disarmed by their intimidating 'invoice'.

I just wish I'd stayed calm, and read the great advice on this forum before contacting them.

How do you think things stand for me?

Grantley

taxiphil

You don't owe them any explanation at all as the charge is an unenforceable invoice.

The law only allows one private party to claim actual losses from another private party, regardless of any 'penalty charge' or 'fine' written on a sign. And invariably their actual losses are nil in cases like these, which is why they can't and don't sue people.

Excel and all private parking companies are operating a scam which frightens people into paying up by playing on their ignorance of the law.

Any purported 'appeal' procedure is a sham because there is no legal basis for the charge in the first place.

Nothing to be gained from corresponding with them. Ignore them completely and they'll give up after sending you a few silly letters.

Driver8

grantley wrote: »

Hi Peter, I am currently undergoing a debarcle with excel parking. Having received an alarming and intimidating parking notice for £60 some two months after I had been in Manchester. I mistakenly believed that I had been driving the vehicle at the time they took their pictures of my car entering and leaving a car park, and (hastily) sent them an email apologising and asking them to waive the 'fine'. After some calm reflection, and memory searching, I realised that I hadn't actually been in the car at the time shown in their letter to me. I emailed them, telling them this and they are refusing to believe me, saying that they will persue me for what is now £100. I have told them I will not let them know who the driver was, and explained that it was in fact a different car park I had been in at a different time of day, but that I had been alarmed and disarmed by their intimidating 'invoice'.

I just wish I'd stayed calm, and read the great advice on this forum before contacting them.

How do you think things stand for me?

Grantley

Sit back, relax and chill just waiting for another of their begging letter's and laugh at it and them when you get one, because Excel will not be going anywhere near a courtroom anytime soon.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-542355/Judge-quashes-300-parking-fine--set-frighten-intimidate-driver.html

Tell all your mates and get them to tell their mates and those mates too. Just show them this site, pepipoo and Cag.

The scamsters days are numbered.


On a side note this car park in Huddersfield are in the local paper every other month.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2010/02/18/son-slams-ill-mum-s-huddersfield-car-parking-fine-86081-25858464/

If anyone is interested in coming and helping me for an hour or two on Wednesday or Thursday to ticket every single car there with a flyer i will have made up informing driver's of the scam please let me know by pm.

eversleigh

Hi everyone

I received a ticket from excel 2 weeks ago. I did buy a ticket for the whole day, but when I got back to my car the ticket had fallen on the floor and I had received a fine.

The ticket I bought does the time bought th eitcket and my reg number so it proves I was not trying to evade the fine.

I appealed the fine and they said that since they clearly state that tickets need to be displayed very clearly, I am in the wrong.

I htink their position is totally unreasonable. I bought a ticket after all. Do I have a case though or should I pay?

Many thanks for any help

trisontana

This is not a "fine" and do not pay. Don't contact the company again and ignore any correspondence from them.

Coupon-mad

eversleigh wrote: »

Hi everyone

I received a ticket from excel 2 weeks ago. I did buy a ticket for the whole day, but when I got back to my car the ticket had fallen on the floor and I had received a fine.

The ticket I bought does the time bought th eitcket and my reg number so it proves I was not trying to evade the fine.

I appealed the fine and they said that since they clearly state that tickets need to be displayed very clearly, I am in the wrong.

I htink their position is totally unreasonable. I bought a ticket after all. Do I have a case though or should I pay?

Many thanks for any help

As trisontana rightly says, this is not a fine. Don't fall for Excel's attempt to extort money from you! There was no need to appeal because there IS NO appeal - that's just part of the scam to make you believe their ticket is somehow legitimate. It is NOT.

You have not committed any offence. Nothing will happen and your credit rating will not be affected - think of it as a Nigerian phishing email, which will be followed by letters telling you the debt has gone up, and threatening you with all sorts of rubbish that won't happen.

Read very carefully, the first thread on here to see what sort of letters the registered keeper will need to ignore, before the whole extortion attempt fizzles out:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...lay.html?f=163

Then read as many of the other threads as it takes for you to be confident that we are right when telling posters to ignore PPC letters and fake tickets. You should find the answers to your queries on other threads, and you'll get an idea of how common this rip-off is, bearing in mind that most people probably just blindly pay it without looking on the internet for advice.

Happy reading!