Excel PCN Advice Please

From_The_Mad_House

Hi, this is the first time I have posted - sorry it is asking for help!

My husband received a parking charge notice for £60 2 days ago from Excel. The notice includes two photographs of his car, one entering and one leaving the car park 41 minutes later according to Excel.

My husband had gone in to the car park but had not 'parked' the car, in fact he never left the car as he was waiting for me and my daughter. He is disabled and wasn't well that day so didn't leave the car or even enter a parking bay - it is for this reason he didn't buy a ticket. He knows that although he has a blue badge he still has to pay when he parks.

Anyway, I emailed Excel for him (before reading here foolishly) this:

I have today (19/4/12) received a parking charge notice for Name of car park PCN Number xxxxxxx for 6/4/12

I believe that I have not contravened the rules of the car park as I believe that on this occasion I did not park the car or leave the vehicle unattended. Your photographic evidence currently supplied shows my car entering and leaving the car park only and not parked.

I will of course consider and respond to any further information but at this time I will not pay this charge as I don’t believe I am liable.

Yours sincerely
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Name not kisses!!!!!)

Excel emailed back an automated email asking for the following:

Please be advised that we acknowledge receipt of your email, and will be responding directly to you in due course. However, prior to doing so we require the following information in advance to enable us to process your APPEAL/CHALLENGE. If you have not already done so, please forward the following information as a matter of urgency, as we are unable to process your APPEAL/CHALLENGE without it:

1) The PARKING NOTICE SERIAL NUMBER This can be found in the top right hand corner of the Notice and will be prefixed, SERIAL No. XL/____________.

2) A FULL POSTAL ADDRESS that we can correspond with, as all decisions are conveyed in a letter to the motorist.

3) The FULL NAME of the motorist.

What should we do now? Having read the various stickies and threads I guess the answer would be to either pay up or ignore... would that still be your advice given the fact that I have already contacted them on my husband's behalf.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

JournalGirl

IGNORE, don't have any more communication with them

angel_islington

Simon Renshaw Smith, owner of Excel and board member of the British Parking Association old boys club, paid himself nearly half a million pounds last year. There are a few photos of him floating about, you'll know it's him from the smug look on his face.

Help us remove it. Ignore.

Oopsadaisy

Ignore everything from these wXXXers.

esmerobbo

Ignore them, its a sneaky way of gaining information, that's all an appeal to these companies is they are never allowed!
All the time I have been here I don't think I have ever seen a successful Excel/VCS appeal!
By supplying what they have asked for you would save them £2.50 DVLA fee, and give them the drivers details.

Even given that you have contacted them you will almost certainly only receive the usual letter chain, file them and ignore them!

taffy056

Excel are not going to take you to court, the only time they go there they lose, here is the latest from BBC Watchdog about them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2012/04/excel_parking.html

give_them_FA

You were lucky you didn't give them any details with your first "appeal". Like any honest person, you assumed you were also dealing with honest people.

You are not. You are dealing with people whose only interest in you is to take money from you under any pretext. So all you will get is a standard rejection letter- like they send to EVERYONE who appeals- and they will redouble their harassment programme because by appealing you told them you took the fake ticket seriously... and if you tell them your husband is disabled they will try even harder as they think disabled people are easier to bully...

So just correct your initial error by having nothing more to do with this ghastly firm. You will receive a series of nasty letters which will show you their true colours, after which, when they decide you weren't so stupid after all, they will cut their losses and disappear.

As Taffy says, do not be browbeaten by the threats of court and dire consequences. It is just part of the scamming process and does not actually happen. Why would they send you several threats to take you to court if they could actually do it? All they do is talk about it.

Just ignore from now on and do not offer a contribution to Mr Renshaw-Smith's yacht.

Stephen_Leak

angel_islington wrote: »

Simon Renshaw Smith, owner of Excel and board member of the British Parking Association old boys club, paid himself nearly half a million pounds last year. There are a few photos of him floating about, you'll know it's him from the smug look on his face.

Help us remove it. Ignore.

Know your enemy.

From_The_Mad_House

Thank you all for your replies and words of wisdom.

We now plan to ignore everything that comes from Excel but will compare what we receive to the exemplar letters posted on the sticky. I just hope my nerve holds out!

I'll post again as and when the paperwork comes through just in case there is anything different. See, I am already panicking!!!!!

Stephen_Leak

Think of it as playing "Snap!"

If they have amended their standard letter (I was always fine tuning mine, when I worked for BT), let us know.

If you need any re-assurance at any time, we are always here for you.

give_them_FA

From_The_Mad_House wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies and words of wisdom.

We now plan to ignore everything that comes from Excel but will compare what we receive to the exemplar letters posted on the sticky. I just hope my nerve holds out!

I'll post again as and when the paperwork comes through just in case there is anything different. See, I am already panicking!!!!!

Fair enough. When I ignored my first PPC letters I wondered if I was doing the right thing.

After I had ignored 10 tickets I felt much more confident.

Now I have got to over 80, I do not even give them a second thought.