Excel

MrsLettuce

Does anyone suspect they have been deliberately set up in any of these car parks. I recently parked in one and was approached by a pleasant man who offered me his ticket. I had not even got out of my car and having never used the car park before did not know you needed to input your registration number at the machine. I still have the ticket - the number on it was not the registration number of the mans car and I believe it is a scam used by excel employees to catch as many people out as possible. I will be ignoring the PCN!

Computersaysno

Oh yes this does happen.

Especially in the most notorious car park in the UK...Haworth.

IMO, there's a whiff of fraud about it.

MrsLettuce

Yes, heard about the Haworth one before.
I was going to ignore PCN but notice now that advice seems to be to appeal- what is the likelihood of getting it cancelled? I know it has happened to someone else recently too.

Computersaysno

3 choices

1. pay up - not recommended unless you are terrified by letters
2. Appeal and then POPLA - takes time and a bit of effort
3. Ignore, unless genuine court papers turn up [virtually no chance, and even then you will win] - easiest option.

Coupon-mad

MrsLettuce wrote: »

Yes, heard about the Haworth one before.
I was going to ignore PCN but notice now that advice seems to be to appeal- what is the likelihood of getting it cancelled? I know it has happened to someone else recently too.

I would say almost 100% likely to win at POPLA if you follow our advice and do a very strong legal challenge type POPLA appeal in due course.

But if that fake PCN was a windscreen one you do not do anything yet (as long as yours isn't a hire/lease/company car).

Just wait for the Notice to Keeper to arrive in the post then challenge it, as you have to 'appeal' to Excel before you can win at POPLA.

When you receive the postal 'Notice to Keeper' - AND ONLY THEN - do not ignore it. Instead, send an 'appeal' but not like you'd think, and not naming the driver. Your challenge should be carefully worded in the third person so as to give NO INFORMATION, not even 'I was given a ticket', nor 'I parked my car'.

You could just use a very simple challenge at first, short but sweet like this one mentioned in a Britannia thread:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=79309

If you prefer, you can start with a fairly strong generic 'legal challenge' to Excel (have some fun with it but do not talk about what happened to 'you' only about 'the driver' in the third person!!). You can adapt and use parts of this template from the Parking Cowboys' website which you will see has lots of points - and again, it's written in the third person from the perspective of the registered keeper only and without giving away any details at all:

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/appeal-letter/

This blog is worth a read as well, very funny and also informative in several ways:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/

Make sure you tell us when you get your rejection letter and whether they have given you a POPLA code at that stage.

We can help you to word that stage appeal to win. As part of your challenge you'd be looking for breaches of the BPA code of practice (probably such as the wording of that NTK letter so keep it and the envelope too when it arrives!).

We can show you examples of strong/winning POPLA appeals at that stage. We know how to beat these fake PCNs so trust us and DO NOT PAY.

MrsLettuce

I did not get a ticket on the windscreen but did get the Notice to Keeper through the post. I will send off an appeal as suggested and keep you posted.
Many Thanks.