parking ticket from excel parking services limited

Stephen_Leak

In the lease/hire car scenario, and if the lease/hire car company are being unco-operative, then you can use the PPC's greed against them, by setting yourself up as a better target and getting them to write to you instead - and then ignoring them.

toughnedglass

Hi all,

I have received a PCN from excel 5 weeks ago. I ignored it and today a threatening letter was sent saying intent to issue court proceedings.

They say "Parked in a restricted area in a car park" claiming they have photographic evidence.

The car park is free for Leisure center users and there are no clear boundaries saying where the Leisure center ends, their claim is I have parked and walked outside the Leisure center which I may have done but I do not know where Leisure center boundaries are.

Firstly can they leave for 5 weeks and then do a follow up and can I ignore their threats.

Regards
T Glass

Stephen_Leak

toughnedglass wrote: »

Hi all,

I have received a PCN from excel 5 weeks ago. I ignored it and today a threatening letter was sent saying intent to issue court proceedings.

They say "Parked in a restricted area in a car park" claiming they have photographic evidence.

The car park is free for Leisure center users and there are no clear boundaries saying where the Leisure center ends, their claim is I have parked and walked outside the Leisure center which I may have done but I do not know where Leisure center boundaries are.

Firstly can they leave for 5 weeks and then do a follow up and can I ignore their threats.

Regards
T Glass

Firstly, the legal stuff.

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private company or individual can't. A private parking company (PPC) call their tickets “Parking Charge Notices”, not “Penalty Charge Notices”. In law, they’re called “speculative invoices”.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and a driver entering the car park in the first place. See The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011.

All the car park owner (CPO) can claim from a driver in damages for any alleged breach of contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If it’s in a free car park or the driver paid, this is £0.00. Demanding more has been judged to be unreasonable and therefore an unfair contract penalty under the terms of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997, which is not legally enforceable. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

There are also now two recent landmark court cases, VCS Parking Control vs. Ronald Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012 and VCS Parking Control vs. HM Revenue & Customs, Upper Tax Tribunal, 2012. In both cases, the judges ruled that only the car park owner can take drivers to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is a court of record, equivalent to the High Court, and therefore its judgement sets a legal precedent. VCS is part of Excel.

What should I do now?

We don’t condone not paying or overstaying in a pay car park. If you owe the CPO the original charge, then you ought to write to the CPO, offering this in “full and final settlement”. In any event, you should write to the CPO, advising them that they are "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their agents, the PPC, and that any further actions by either of them would be regarded as harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This ought to make the CPO call off the PPC and, hopefully, realise the potential cost of doing business with a PPC.

Don’t appeal to the PPC. They always reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off? Actually, there is something in it for them: information. They need to know the identity of the driver of the vehicle involved at the time, because that’s who the alleged contract was with. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to make do with harassing the registered keeper.

With windscreen notices, an appeal letter will tell them your name and address, and maybe who was driving at the time. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to buy the details of registered keeper from the DVLA. With postal notices, they’ve had to do this already. But they still need to know the identity of the driver.

They sometimes say that they have the right to ask for this information. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell them.

However, even if you’ve written and told them who the driver was, it doesn’t make their actions any less unlawful. It just means that instead of harassing the registered keeper, they can now harass the driver.

What will they do to me?

The PPC, then a debt collector and then a solicitor will send you a series of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable to intimidate you into paying.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that an e-mail scammer couldn't sue anyone who didn’t pay them.

What should I do then?

Continue to ignore everything you get from the PPC and their aliases. It does seem counter-intuitive to deal with something by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats, and stop throwing good money after bad.

Coupon-mad

toughnedglass wrote: »

Firstly can they leave for 5 weeks

They could leave it for 5 months if they wish because they are just running a scam. You question is like asking 'can a phishing emailer leave a gap of 5 weeks'? Same thing, only this is a mail scam with 'threatograms'.

toughnedglass wrote: »

...and can I ignore their threats.

Yep, definitely, in fact you MUST!

You should ALWAYS just ignore any fake PCN. It is NOT a fine at all. Forget it.

You are not liable to pay and you must not 'appeal' as that's a pretence. There is no appealing a scam. This is a private company with an unsolicited invoice, dressed up to impersonate a parking ticket.

It's NOTHING at all to spend any time worrying about! I got another one this week and laughed at it!

Tick off the threatening letters Here.

Watchdog clip with expert Solicitor's opinion here.

Barrister's opinion here.


HTH

Wozzy1956

Thank you for all this information - very interesting. I received a penalty notice from these cowboys 2 weeks ago in Prestwich. The machine was broken so I couldn't get a ticket - it's free for the first hour anyway. I returned 40 minutes later to find a penalty notice for £60, increasing to £100 if it's not paid within 14 days. I sent them a picture of the blank screen and appealed. My appeal was of course rejected, saying I should have read the notices which state that I should telephone the office. I've been really worried about it and was thinking of coughing up just to avoid being taken to court. Having read all this information, I won't be paying and will also inform the Office of Fair Trading. I wonder how many other innocent motorists have been scammed. What a bloody racket!!!

[Deleted User]

Wozzy1956 wrote: »

I received a penalty notice from these cowboys 2 weeks ago in Prestwich.

No you didn't.

You received a Parking Charge Notice.

Stephen_Leak

Wozzy1956 wrote: »

Thank you for all this information - very interesting. I received a penalty notice from these cowboys 2 weeks ago in Prestwich. The machine was broken so I couldn't get a ticket - it's free for the first hour anyway. I returned 40 minutes later to find a penalty notice for £60, increasing to £100 if it's not paid within 14 days. I sent them a picture of the blank screen and appealed. My appeal was of course rejected, saying I should have read the notices which state that I should telephone the office. I've been really worried about it and was thinking of coughing up just to avoid being taken to court. Having read all this information, I won't be paying and will also inform the Office of Fair Trading. I wonder how many other innocent motorists have been scammed. What a bloody racket!!!

What incentive is there for a PPC to have pay machines working? The revenue from them goes to the car park owner (CPO). The PPC gets its revenue, and the CPO gets a cut, from the ticketed victims who pay up. To the CPO, it looks like there's a real problem with motorists not paying, which the PPC is dealing with. In reality, the CPO is also being scammed by the PPC.

Was there a telephone number on the notices? If so, I'll bet that, if you ring it, you get the automated payment system.

GEMMA_MOSS_1985

Hi,

I was parked in a space where i had used another users ticket, i didn't realise that you had to put your registration in the pay n display machine.

I have received a parking fine in the post from EXCEL which i didn't read because i thought it was relating to a previous one that i had paid.

I have received now a debt collectors letter from ROXburghe stating they want £160. Which i phoned them and stated everything what had happend but told them i didn't receive the first letter.

I am a bit concerned now because after reading these post everybody has said just keep on ignoring but i have been in contact with the debt collectors and am worried if they can in fact still pursue with the fine and take me to court after they know i have received their letter and was the one who parked without a ticket.

please advise if i should still ignore or i should pay?

Stroma

This is a pre pofa 2012 thread, in other words ancient. Create a new thread below for advice
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

shazzza68

i have had 1 of theses tickets, which i did pay £2.50 but imput my post code instead of reg, i write them a letter to explain and got a letter back saying its gone up from £60 to £100, even when i admitted parking there, will i have to pay plz help very confused and scared