Late Excel appeal, chances?

paulster

Hi, my other half received a £100/£60 windcreen ticket from Excel at Crown Point in Leeds for parking in a disabled bay. Stupid I know as she's not a blue badge holder but in her (limited) defence it was pre christmas, the car park was packed with no other spaces available, there were plenty of empty disabled bays and she was about to spend a good chunk of money on christmas presents, she was only parked for about 25 mins. This was back at the beginning of December and as we had successfully ignored a PPC a year or so before (staying 10 mins over time in a supermarket car park) we ignored it. Fast forward a few months and we received a letter from Roxburghe stating we are no longer able to appeal and the charge is now £160 (non specific as to where the additional £60 came from) - this was on the 3rd March. Today another letter was received from Gladstones solicitors saying that 'As all other attempts have failed, our client may now instruct us to take legal action in the county court' and asking we immediately call Roxburghe to pay up the £160.

It's only now I have realised the advice has changed and we should have appealed straight away. Having read around the stickies etc I'm having trouble deciding if it's now too late to appeal, considering we've had a solicitor's letter. Can anyone lend any advice? I've looked at the flow chart but that only covers recent PCNs.

Many thanks

ezerscrooge

It's all at the middle of this thread...scroll down to the heading 'too late to appeal you think!'

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

There is a section with examples of those who have won a late appeal. It also mentions how to reset the clock in case the driver at the time is not the keeper..

paulster

Thanks, the reset the clock does not apply though. I assume I contact Excel requesting POPLA? Should I also contact Roxburgh and Gladstones too?

Thanks

Redx

as its gone past the 28 day appeal window excel are unlikely to give you a popla code , they will say deal with the debt collectors

people should always appeal, no matter what, mainly so it can be brought up in any small claims MCOL etc

if you cannot reset the clock then if you appeal to excel and get nowhere there is nothing you can do but weather the storm and only deal with any LBC or MCOL

if any letters are an LBC, read the LBCCC thread in the crabman sticky thread

ps:- its worth stating that the only time ignoring a pcn has worked is after 6 years has elapsed, not one or two

Coupon-mad

Why not just search the forum for the keywords 'Roxburghe Gladstones' to read all the other threads about this rubbish letter chain?

paulster

Thanks, I did read around but there's conflicting advice for my situation, some saying to go ahead and appeal anyway, some saying to appeal to the retailer and some saying that now I'm at this stage it's best to carry on ignoring. I don't want this to go to court in any circumstances, I can't risk that being on my record. I'm hating myself for it but I'm toying with the idea of just paying up and having done with it, but I really don't want to considering the unfair nature of the charges. :mad:

Coupon-mad

Can't risk WHAT being on your record? You don't get a CCJ you know, if a person loses and then pays:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=24362

I did read around but there's conflicting advice for my situation, some saying to go ahead and appeal anyway, some saying to appeal to the retailer and some saying that now I'm at this stage it's best to carry on ignoring.

I don't call the above conflicting advice - all are valid answers. No-one says to 'appeal' to the retailer - major written complaints are the order of the day when a poxy car park agent is harassing a paying customer!