Parking Charge - Excel Parking - Stockport Peele Centre

ITGuy90

Hi,
I recently parked and went into KFC on a Saturday and (this was a few weeks ago) I am sure I paid for parking and as far as I am aware customers of KFC don't need to pay.
However, I just received a letter from "Excel Parking" stating I have parked without paying and must immediately pay a £60 parking charge or £100 if not before xyz amount of days or face debt collectors and court etc

What should I do?

Guys_Dad

ITGuy90 wrote: »

What should I do?

Search this forum for "Peel Stockport". Lots of threads already.

ITGuy90

Yes I've seen - but I need up to date advice

ITGuy90

Should I ignore or politely tell them to get lost?

Umkomaas

ITGuy90 wrote: »

Should I ignore or politely tell them to get lost?

Neither is recommended - surprised you didn't pick that up in the research you say you've done. You need to give us some details of dates of event, was it a windscreen ticket or ANPR camera capture. Date letters received - dates very important.

3 golden rules

1. No telephone contact with PPC
2. Do not indicate to PPC who might or might not have been the driver
3. Keep all paperwork, including envelopes if they have a date stamp, from the PPC

ITGuy90

Umkomaas wrote: »

Neither is recommended - surprised you didn't pick that up in the research you say you've done. You need to give us some details of dates of event, was it a windscreen ticket or ANPR camera capture. Date letters received - dates very important.

3 golden rules

1. No telephone contact with PPC
2. Do not indicate to PPC who might or might not have been the driver
3. Keep all paperwork, including envelopes if they have a date stamp, from the PPC

I never said I did any research, I said I’ve seen other threads here which are out of date.

Please can you define the term “PPC”?
I’ve kept the letter from Excel Parking (containing an image of my number plate), but I am not sure if I still have the envelope as I didn’t think it would be important.
The event supposedly happened on 20th July, the letter received on 1st August.

Guys_Dad

We are inundated with new threads at the moment and, to be honest, if you want my help and I suspect a few others will agree, then you need to sit down and read existing advice and show that you are prepared to put in some effort too.

I will give you the bullet points.

1. Go and see the KFC and ask the manager to intervene.

2. Write an appeal to the Private Parking Company (PPC) stating the facts, confirming you were a bona fide customer and ask for the charge to be set aside. 90% chance they will not, so in that letter, you say "If not, send me a POPLA code" (If you come back and ask what is a POPLA code, that's the last you will hear from me.)

3. Try to get a copule of photos of the signs, particularly at the entrance to the KFC area.
4 If you get a POPLA code, come back on this thread for help.

Note :- Excel are one of the PPCs who do take court action.

Umkomaas

Definition of PPC - Private Parking Company (generic term used on parking forums for any private issuer of parking tickets).

Envelope not important if it was not date stamped (PPCs date their letters sometimes much earlier than the greater 'proof' of date on the envelope) - as I said, dates can be important, so any future envelopes, hang on to them.

Was your letter headed (something like) 'Notice to Keeper' and references made to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012?

Now, I could have made some 'fly' comment back to your 'I never said I did any research', but please be aware, that is exactly what you're going to have to do to get any real understanding of what's going on here. It's your ticket, your problem to resolve, but we will help, provided you put in the legwork to help yourself.

I'm afraid no one on here is going to do this for you, but you're in the right place and there's a wealth of information and experience contained in the recent threads - 'Guy's Dad' gave you your first lead, not sure whether you did the search as suggested?

As I said we'll do what we can to help - but just look at the number of cases a small group of regulars are trying to help all at the same time.

ITGuy90

Was your letter headed (something like) 'Notice to Keeper' and references made to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012?

Something like that yes.

Guys_Dad wrote: »

We are inundated with new threads at the moment and, to be honest, if you want my help and I suspect a few others will agree, then you need to sit down and read existing advice and show that you are prepared to put in some effort too.

I will give you the bullet points.

1. Go and see the KFC and ask the manager to intervene.

2. Write an appeal to the Private Parking Company (PPC) stating the facts, confirming you were a bona fide customer and ask for the charge to be set aside. 90% chance they will not, so in that letter, you say "If not, send me a POPLA code" (If you come back and ask what is a POPLA code, that's the last you will hear from me.)

3. Try to get a copule of photos of the signs, particularly at the entrance to the KFC area.
4 If you get a POPLA code, come back on this thread for help.

Note :- Excel are one of the PPCs who do take court action.

I am not sure if you have read the thing on the left hand side saying be nice to new comers? I don't have time to read every thread and each case is different regardless, so please be patient with me.

Now, I could have made some 'fly' comment back to your 'I never said I did any research', but please be aware, that is exactly what you're going to have to do to get any real understanding of what's going on here. It's your ticket, your problem to resolve, but we will help, provided you put in the legwork to help yourself.

I googled the company name and location to see if it was a real thing I received and then found this website, so thought it best to ask for people who have had this happen before to help rather than having to try and understand all the legal jargon, work out which is relevant etc it's not always obvious which websites to trust also.

1. Go and see the KFC and ask the manager to intervene.

2. Write an appeal to the Private Parking Company (PPC) stating the facts, confirming you were a bona fide customer and ask for the charge to be set aside. 90% chance they will not, so in that letter, you say "If not, send me a POPLA code" (If you come back and ask what is a POPLA code, that's the last you will hear from me.)

What would be the best way to "ask kfc's manager to intervene"?
What is the purpose of getting photographs of the signs?

I am also confused as to how being a customer would negate the charge? I have no proof I paid to park as it was a while back and I have since thrown the ticket away.

Umkomaas

As the PPC is pursuing you as the Registered Keeper under PoFA 2012 schedule 4 there are many hurdles they have to get over perfectly. Some of these are dates, some are signs, whether there is a contract with the landowner, whether the PPC is claiming trespass, breach of contract, an agreed contractual charge, whether the creditor has been identified to you. All of these are important and you will have to challenge them on some or all of these (and others). Now, if you want the link to PoFA let me know, but I suspect you won't have the time to read that.

However, what you MUST get the time to read is how to put together a POPLA appeal, which will require you having an understanding of what it is you are going to put into it.

But first off you need to obtain a POPLA verification code, and you can only get that from your PPC, by sending them an initial appeal (soft appeal as it is known on parking forums, designed to elicit your POPLA code).

So, I'm going to help you with that by giving you a draft. See how it fits your circumstances and get it off to your PPC:

I am writing to you regarding parking charge xxxxxxxxxx !issued to vehicle xxxx xxx on xxxxx at xxxxx.

The Registered Keeper of the above vehicle denies any liability for the unenforceable charge detailed in the above Parking Charge Notice.

The charge does not represent any form of loss and as such it is punitive and therefore a PENALTY.

Confirm acceptance of this challenge and cancel the charge, or provide a POPLA verification code where a vigorous and robust challenge will be mounted.

No further correspondence will be entered into with you on this matter. If nothing further from you is received within 35 days of the date of this letter it will be assumed the challenge is accepted and the charge cancelled.

Failure to send a POPLA code would be a breach of the BPA Code of Practice. Be advised that failure to comply with a code of conduct to which you have committed is a prohibited practice under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and I would not hesitate to report such a breach to the BPA, DVLA and Trading Standards.

You could mention that you paid for a ticket somewhere in the soft appeal.

Now, in terms of POPLA here's a few links to start you off:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=61808935&postcount=2

Check your paperwork against the Parking Cowboys' checklist to ensure it is compliant, it is linked within the above link.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=81819&st=0&gopid=852593&#entry852593

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62472201&postcount=32

No one has said this is going to be easy, but honestly, the more you read and understand the easier it will become.

The POPLA examples shown can all be used to copy and paste from (the appropriate and relevant parts) so you don't have to construct this from scratch, but you do need to have a basic understanding about what it is you are putting in.

When you've eventually put together your POPLA draft let us see it and we will help you fine tune it. But, first things first, you need to get your initial appeal in and POPLA code back from the PPC - meantime, a bit of homework, sorry!

ITGuy90

Thank you for this, I'll give it a go once I get home