Excel Parking ticket for disabled bay -can I get my money back?

taffy056

Also if you don't mind, can you come back and update us on this, we are very interested in a case being brought by someone who have a disability taking action against retailers and their agents. Also why not run the letter you write past us first just to refine anything in it for you.

Many thanks

give_them_FA

Well, from my experience I would say an ask of a thousand is about right for such a flagrant breach, and all that they put you through after with their SHAM appeal system. It would cost Sainsbury's a lot more to defend your claim if you take it to court.

taffy056

It would be worth naming the landowner as well, it's a fair bet the land is owned by someone other than the retailers.

robredz

Nicola7899 wrote: »

Thank you very much, I will contact them all. Do you think they could say that I'm admitting fault by paying the fine?

No you were tricked by a scam.

You are a wheelchair user, the tax disc should have been a warning to the parking muppet who wrote the ticket.

You cite Direct Diasbility Discrimination, contrary to the Equalities Act 2010, for failure to make a reasonable adjustment, vis pursuit of an unfair civil penalty, You were entitled to the adjustment, as proved in your appeal letter, and that should have been the end of the matter. But Excel carried on with demanding their unlawful penalty, and you paid under duress, you take action against the managing agents of the complex, and Excel.

notts_phil

I just hope the OP goes through with this and not let it drop.

Kite2010

Also contact the local/national press

"Wheelchair user charged for parking in disabled bay at "name retail area" would make an excellent head-line.

With a classic quote from an excel/BPA monkey saying something like "the terms of the car-park state that to park in a disable bay, a blue-badge must be displayed, the charge was correctly issued but as a matter of goodwill we will refund the OP's money"

give_them_FA

I think that would make a good prelim to suing for damages for harassment. Getting a refund is just the tip of the iceberg.

taffy056

I think getting a refund is besides the point here, the OP should go for the jugular with this

Nicola7899

Thanks again for your advice. I contacted Sainsburys today and they were actually really helpful - they said that they only rent their building and as such, only rent the carpark too. I explained briefly that I was going to pursue an issue with Excel breaching the DDA and I needed to know who was responsible for contracting Excel. They gave me a phone number of the 'landlord's agent' and said that Excel have to 'answer to these'.

When I called the number, I spoke to a man who sounded very shifty. I again explained that I was going to take forward a serious complaint against Excel for breaching DDA and I wanted to copy in the landlord so they were aware of what was going on. I didn't ellaborate any further as I didn't want to give them any pre-warning than I had to. The man gave the name and address of someone at GBR Phoenix Beard, which seem to be a property consultancy agency in Birmingham. It was actually quite funny because the man just muttered the name and address deliberately so I couldn't hear very well! Has anyone heard of this company? At first I got a bit suspicious as their website is quite similiar to Excel. I'm going to draft a letter and post on here for you all to amend where you feel necessary.

I've also spoken to my bank today to try to get the payment stopped but unfortunately it had already been authorised. They've suggested that I can contact their Retail Dispute department in a few days and they may be able to help me with proceedings.

Kite 2010, I've also thought about going to the local press about this, but I wonder if it may go against me if it went to court i.e. the press influencing a decision, etc?

Thanks again to you all. You've given me the confidence and determination to take this all the way to the court if needs be! :-)

give_them_FA

We are counting on you, Nicola. This case is crying out to be taken all the way.