Parking Ticket Hell!!

Tallulah_Chicken

Hello everybody,

I am not so much fuming as thoroughly frustrated with Excel Parking. I'm hoping that someone on here with a bit of legal know-how might be able to help me!!
I got a parking ticket from this company last November as they said that I was parked without displaying a valid ticket and have charged me £100 (the cost of parrking was only £2.50 all day!!). The thing is though that I had bought a ticket and I had displayed it, but it had dropped off the windscreen. It was a very cold day and I think it must have just have been the condensation on the windscreen that did it as the sun came up.

The thing is the the sign only says that I should buy a ticket and display it in the front window which I did - so surely I have done everything I was supposed to??? I have refused to pay but they are just saying now that they will take me to court so the question is, do I give in or fight them there? I assume they will take me to the County Court so I run the risk of getting a CCJ if I lose. Could I sue them for selling me a ticket that is not fit for purpose and has cost me £100?!?

What do I do?! Help!!

pulliptears

Have a look at this forum, they are experts at things like that

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-wardens/

Good luck!
Jane
x

advent1122

You need to pay AND display.

My wife is disabled and when we went shopping in the city I forgot to put the blue badge in the window whilst parked in a disabled bay - it cost me a £40 fine even though we were entitled to park there.
I tried to appeal but had no choice but to pay because I didnt display the badge.

hollydays

Surely if you produced the ticket they should drop the fine.Presumably its £100 or less if you pay sooner-many would say-just dont pay it -none of these cases have ever ended up in court-civil law.

sarahg1969

Is this a ticket on a private car park or a council-run one?

If it's private, don't worry. What they have given you is an invoice. They are highly unlikely to take you to Court, and if they do, you have evidence that you paid, ie fulfilled your part of the contract. In any event, their "fine" of £100 would be disproportionate to their loss and would not be allowed.

If it's a council-run car park, then the ticket MUST be worded in a very specific way. If it is wrong AT ALL, then it is not valid (although the council won't admit to that!).

What you need to do is take a look at the forums on https://www.pepipoo.com, where you will find some very useful information indeed.

In the meantime, do not pay a penny.

Sarah


ETA: Looking at pepipoo.com, it appears that Excel issue tickets for private car parks. You certainly have nothing to worry about.

Ignore it. They will not pursue you through the Courts. They may write to you, of course, having obtained your details from the DVLA, but they have no real cause of action against you.

Edited again: I found this paragraph on another site - I think it might be useful to drop a letter to Excel in the following terms:

"I see your charge as unlawful, uneforceable and I am not liable. I will not be providing any payment and your continued pursuit of this matter will constitute an offence under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997. I consider the matter closed and am explicitly instructing you not to contact me again for any reason, except to confirm that the matter is now closed."

moonrakerz

Also if it is a council car park you can appeal. There was an interesting article in the paper just last week about the adjudicator in one area.
Most people win appeals because the councils don't bother to contest it - they get the money from the poor saps that pay up !
One town uses "cheapo" tickets with poor quality glue and anyone who says their ticket fell off the windscreen is 100% certain to win !

I have heard that if you really "forgot" to buy a ticket and get a fine, hang around until someone comes back to their car to drive off, ask if you can have their ticket. You now have a ticket covering the period when the fine was issued - "it fell off the screen guv !"

Not that I would condone such an action !!!

Morglin

The same sort of thing happened to me. To avoid escalating charges and court action etc., I paid the fine, but then took it up with the council for a refund.

I did eventually get the money back.

Lin

hollydays

advent1122 wrote: »

You need to pay AND display.

My wife is disabled and when we went shopping in the city I forgot to put the blue badge in the window whilst parked in a disabled bay - it cost me a £40 fine even though we were entitled to park there.
I tried to appeal but had no choice but to pay because I didnt display the badge.

that is harsh

asharon

Just say it was displayed but on the back window and they should have looked there.

Poppy9

I wouldn't ignore it as they might sue you in the courts for £100. Whether they would win is another matter. Surely if a £25 bank charge is seen as excessive then £100 is daylight robbery.

sarahg1969

Poppy9 wrote: »

I wouldn't ignore it as they might sue you in the courts for £100. Whether they would win is another matter. Surely if a £25 bank charge is seen as excessive then £100 is daylight robbery.

Unlikely that they would sue. If you look at pepipoo, no-one can quote a case where one of these private parking companies has EVER sued. They would not win. They just would not.

Their invoice is based on a purported contract. First of all, they would have to prove that a contract existed. For that, they would need to find the driver, not the registered keeper - how are they going to do that? Remember, this is not a criminal matter; the registered keeper is under no obligation to say who the driver was.

Then, if they can prove that a contract existed, they can only recover what they have lost through the breach. In this case, it is nothing.