EXCEL PARKING PCN What To Do?

fauji786

In the post yesterday I received a Parking Charge Notice from Excel Parking for their Pay and Display car Park at Iceland on Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath. The car par is off the main Brigstock Road and you have to drive down what can only be described as a Side Alley. The Car Park entrance is on the Right Hand Side and to the left of the Alley is space to Park which have no parking bays. I parked my car on this left hand side (and did not pay for parking as i thought this area is not in the Excel Car Park and went about my shopping in Iceland. I am surprised at receiving this PCN and was wondering what the best course of action is? I am unable to attach the copy of the PCN but would appreciate any advise. The general consensus I have read on these forums is to ignore but have my concerns as I have never had a private PCN before.

The_Slithy_Tove

The best course of action is to do absolutely nothing.

You are right, the consensus is to ignore. A private PCN is nothing more than an unenforceable invoice/request to be relieved of your money. Ignore all the threats of CCJs and bailiffs, it's all bluster. Have a further look around on these forums, and you'll see that you're safe to ignore the whole thing.

Don't bother attempting to appeal - there's no such thing. And don't even consider paying any money over.

JuneBow

In November I received a note from them when I was in a supermarket car park. The car is not registered in my name. The notice was for "not being in the bay" It was for excel.
When I looked, I would have been lucky if one of the wheels was "not in the bay", so I was mighty aggrieved about this, bearing in mind the car park was empty and I was obstructing no one. It was my husband's car.
Later that day I met with someone I knew who was a criminal lawyer and showed her it. She laughed and told me to ignore it. At that time I was only vaguely aware of the difference between private car parks and council run car parks. She said that they cannot suceed in court unless they have proof of the offence. She also said that clearly because my husband was at work at the time he could prove he did not do it.
Anyway, I was dubious about this as I clearly know better than her so did a letter in his name saying "It wasn't me who was driving. Prove it etc." Upshot is that I have now been arguing with them since November, and in the meantime I have researched this on both this forum and other similar forums and guess what .....She was right. I should have saved myself loads of hassle and ignored it.
They have threatened me with a Pharmacal order. Look it up on the internet. Its just hot air on their behalf. They have quoted other irrelevant case law. Again after researching it, again - hot air.
The top and bottom of it is that if they were going to take me to court they have had more than enough time to do it.
I wish I had just taken advice and ignored it.
If it puts your mind at rest, ask for proof of the offence ie CCTV etc. They will not have any.

ETA: oops cross posting with the above. hope mine helps also

fauji786

thanks to both of you for the above advice.....have decided to ignore (although it seems a hard thing to do!!!) but will see what happens next.....

pogofish

fauji786 wrote: »

The general consensus I have read on these forums is to ignore but have my concerns as I have never had a private PCN before.

Well, go read them again - the advice is exactly what you need to do! Any kind of contact will just prolong their atempts to get money out of you.

Also go and look at Excel in the letter chain sticky at the top of the forum - so you are prepared for what they will send next and to tick-off the letters till the end of the scam.

SodG24

fauji786 wrote: »

thanks to both of you for the above advice.....have decided to ignore (although it seems a hard thing to do!!!) but will see what happens next.....

I can assure you that once you ignore the first demand and then match the letters in the stickies on here as you get them it becomes easier and easier. In fact I feel somewhat lost no longer getting my ever hilarious and threatening letters from G24 !

give_them_FA

June's experience is very valuable. It proves, yet again, if any further proof were needed, that getting involved in appeal-type correspondence with them is very poor policy. It simply sends them the message that you have taken their worthless fake ticket seriously; they think they have a live one who can be browbeaten into paying, and redouble their efforts.

The only reason to get involved in any correspondence at all, is to get them to illegally harass you, so you can take the necessary; if you aren't going to do that, then just ignore them completely.

funkycoldribena

fauji786 wrote: »

thanks to both of you for the above advice.....have decided to ignore (although it seems a hard thing to do!!!) but will see what happens next.....

Yeah,its really hard doing nothing.Its worn me out ignoring mine.

bondy_lad

excel are first class scammers,, please read the stickies and what letters to expect,, you will recieve more threat o grams from roxburghe ( we have zero powers ) debt collectors and then the phoney solicitors graham white,,they are all part of the same scam,, you have a fake ticket,, so ignore, just like an african e mail telling you that you have won their lotto even though you did not enter,,,anyway nothing can/will be done as a result of this,, so in a word or two,,,,ignore everything on or behalf of excell you recieve,,do not contact them.

give_them_FA

bondy you forgot the most crucial bit of advice you usually give-

feet up, have a cup of tea/glass of wine!

JuneBow

Good post Bonny Lad. Have not got as far as debt collectors and solicitors yet. My husband will start panicing when that happens I am sure. Will try to keep my cool. It is very difficult to ignore.

give_them_FA wrote: »

June's experience is very valuable. It proves, yet again, if any further proof were needed, that getting involved in appeal-type correspondence with them is very poor policy.

Could not agree more. Luckily I did not mention the word appeal because I have now read that if you include the word "appeal" in your letter, it gives their letter a bit more credibility.
I really wish that I had followed the solicitor friend's advice and done nothing, but they seemed so real when I got the letters.
I think I have now decided just to ignore. I think that they will go away now.
However, looking at some advice elsewhere, I am considering writing to them and saying that if they contact me again I will consider this harrassment and report them to the police.