Excel parking- advice on their reply please

Nick1001_2

[FONT=&quot]Advice anyone please? A member of my family dizzily misread the huge sign and thought it was free after 1800- instead of paying 50p x 2 hours to park in a huge empty car park I now have a £60 fine. So having read the advice on here I sent the following letter. whether wise or not I dont know but it seemed the right thing to do.
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[FONT=&quot]I received notification of a parking ticket ...but I will not be paying your demand for payment as I was not the driver of the vehicle at the time in question. I am also under no obligation to disclose who was driving the car so please do not contact me again with regards this matter. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However I note the photographs you have provided and can only summise that another driver of the vehicle was on your land on the day in question. Whether or not they had a valid ticket I am unable to say. However I am prepared to make a payment to you to bring this matter to a swift conclusion. The payment I am prepared to make is one which I judge to be more than a fair recompense to your organization, for what may or may not have been another driver’s error. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I will not be paying £60 as I believe this amount is d[/FONT][FONT=&quot]isproportionate: according to the Unfair Consumer Contract Regulations, parking fines on private land must not exceed the cost to the landowner during the period the motorist is parked there. In this case, the [/FONT][FONT=&quot]£60[/FONT][FONT=&quot] charge you are asking for far exceeds your cost as the landowner of just 50p an hour.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I enclose a cheque for the amount of £25 which is in line with Council car-parking fines. I am of course aware that your ticket does not have the same authority as a Council issued document and that you would be unable to follow this up further not knowing who the driver was but feel that this amount should be sufficient to enable all correspondence to cease.
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[FONT=&quot]I hoped it would go away but the reply says they will pursue settlement, if I dont disclose the driver, from the vehicle owner as registered under DVLA....Failure to comply by sending the outstanding £35 will result in "charge increasing and court action".[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My questions are 3x:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]can they pursue the owner if not knowing the driver- I thought they could not do this?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I do not own the car, it is a lease car. Will they pursue the lease company who in turn will pursue me?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If it goes to court I cannot argue any other reason other than disproportionate amount- the driver was likely guilty as charged. Could I be forced to disclose the driver in court and given no mitigating circumstances would I be best settling now?[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Many thanks folks in advance for any advice
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vax2002

A scam that impersonates Authority.

give_them_FA

Indeed. In answer to your three questions:

1. As it was the driver who failed to obey their diktat, it is only the driver who could be pursued for payment. Unlike a Council, they cannot take any action whatsoever against the owner or keeper of the vehicle. (Though do not expect them to tell you that as they are liars).

2. As it is a lease car it is a little more complex. Is the registered keeper you or the company? If it is the company come back for further advice as it is potentially problematical.

3. Despite what they will tell you in their efforts to scare you into paying their unlawful charge, this will never go to court. The few companies that tried it received a bloody nose, judges saw right through their tricks. So they don't do it as threats are the only weapons in their arsenal. The only person they could even think about taking to court is the driver, and you don't have to tell them who that was though there are companies who try to bullsh*t you with phoney "court rules" that don't actually apply.

The correspondence will come to the registered keeper as supplied by DVLA. If that's you, then just ignore it. If it's the lease company get back to us for further instructions.
Unfortunately, you have already given them £25 more than they were entitled to, had you read more closely on here you would have given them nothing. Like all good scammers, they want more.

Whatever you do, don't pay them another penny and never contact them again.

They will write again because they hooked a live one; but if you ignore they will give up and disappear.

Alternatively if you want your £25 back with interest, it sounds like they are setting themselves up for a harassment claim with their unlawful threat to pursue the registered keeper. Interested? I recovered a very healthy sum when a firm did that to me!

give_them_FA

By the way if you are still in time to do so stop payment of the cheque!!

Kite2010

Wave bye bye to the 25 quid, you might have well had flushed it down the toilet.

A true estimate of the landowners lost would be 50p.

Nick1001_2

THis is really helpful, thanks for the replies and reassurance.
I sent the £25 because it seemed right- probably very stupid but it seemed fair as the driver had seemingly made an error, and the notices are very obvious; it seemed different to when they seek money for blatant cheating, scams and abuse.
Regarding the leasse arrangement, the car is registered in the lease company's name. They traced me through the lease company, who gave Excel the details of my employer - the first parking charge notice was addressed 'To whom it may concern' at my employer. I have the added frustration of paying £10 to the lease company for their role in passing the notice on.
Can you give me further advice given I am not the registered keeper?
I was thinking to send them the second template letter about not harassing me, but you suggest I do nothing? Too late to stop the cheque.
Thanks again

Coupon-mad

Kite2010 wrote: »

Wave bye bye to the 25 quid, you might have well had flushed it down the toilet.

A true estimate of the landowners lost would be 50p.

This.

And, Nick1001, if you weren't driving you should not have offered a penny. Please stop throwing money at a scam. Do you offer phishing emails a settlement as well? Please stop biting, your letter started off fine before the 'however'!

Just ignore the letters and stop the cheque if you can.

taffy056

They should contact you directly as any alleged contract is with the driver only, not the lease company or your employers, you should be pro-active with this with both parties, there are links to previous cases on pepipoo and fleetnews that are relevant, can't link to them but somebody will as I am on my phone.

Nick1001_2

Coupon-mad, I wouldnt dream of responding to phishing, I just didnt see it as a scam because the signs in the car park were there for all to see with the consequence laid out and the driver did not buy a ticket. I took this off the driver who is a younger member of the family because she was worrying and I sought to get rid of it by making the payment. Oh well.
I will ignore the letters now but it concerns me about the lease car company.
Thanks for the time in replying

Nick1001_2

Thanks Taffy, their letter definitely states they will pursue settlement from the vehicle owner (the lease company) if I wont tell them the driver, I assume the lease company will simply forward on any correspondence to my employer. I dont want further £10 charges from the lease car company for each time they have to forward on a letter.....

give_them_FA

You should reclaim the money from the lease company as it will almost certainly be contrary to the contract as this is, in law, not a "fine or penalty" which is what is usually specified in their terms.

You have two options, Nick. You can either write the entire episode off to experience (and make a mental note never again to pay them) or- you could think about suing them if they unlawfully harass you. Their reply to you suggests they are going to try that.

If you want to give it a try, send them a letter stating briefly:

1. You paid the £25 in the mistaken belief that you were liable to meet their charge.
2. You were not the driver of the vehicle at the time and therefore you do not believe you are indebted to them in any way. Nor do you propose to tell them who was driving as there is no obligation upon you to do so.
3. You therefore do not propose to pay them any further money.
4. You find their demands distressing and therefore you are asking them not to contact you any further, or make any demands for money which you don't owe them.

Then see what happens. Either they will go away or they won't; you win either way.