Excel Parking taking me to court, please help!!

nyswan71

Hi,
Am at my wits end with excel parking, they have harassed & bullied me to such an extent that i really don't know what to do next.
In short, joined a Pure gym in Ashton-under-lyne, with this i got 2hrs free parking. Recieved a parking fine, told to ignore on this website as it wasn't a real parking notice. Kept getting phone calls from a BW legal, explained that i wouldn't be paying anything as i had 2 free hrs parking, they asked me to discuss to which i told them again & again & again that i had free parking for 2 hrs. They gave photographic evidence to me, which actually proved my case as i was on camera going in & coming out within the 2 hrs. They started being abusive on the phone so told them i wouldn't be answering anymore, they then found out my work phone number & kept phoning my work. I'm a manager of a print department & had to have a sit down meet with the Directors of the company & explain myself (thankfully they were understanding). Got a letter from a small claims, got written proof from the gym, explained that if they listened to me in the first place it wouldn't of come to this, explained the bullying & harassment & told the court that they shouldn't be allowed to get away with this but was informed i'd need to get legal advice if i wanted to claim anything from them so did what most would do & sent off the form off with the proof & reply.
Got a letter from the court saying they'd recieved my documents & if i heard nothing else it would all be finished. I assumed wrongly that would be it, the court would tell excel to stop wasting the courts time & money & send them back to their grubby little hole to do it all again to someone else.
But got a letter yesterday from BW saying they're going to carry on with this claim & this morning i have now received a new court letter asking for mediation etc....
What the hell do i do now?? Really didn't think this would go this far & am now worried & very angry. If someone could give me any advice on this i would be truly grateful.
Thanks for listening to my rant.

Marktheshark

nyswan71 wrote: »

Hi,
Am at my wits end with excel parking, they have harassed & bullied me to such an extent that i really don't know what to do next.

In short, joined a Pure gym in Ashton-under-lyne, with this i got 2hrs free parking. Received a parking fine.

Told to ignore on this website as it wasn't a real parking notice. Kept getting phone calls from a BW legal, explained that i wouldn't be paying anything as i had 2 free hrs parking.

They asked me to discuss to which i told them again & again & again that i had free parking for 2 hrs. They gave photographic evidence to me, which actually proved my case as i was on camera going in & coming out within the 2 hrs.

They started being abusive on the phone so told them i wouldn't be answering anymore, they then found out my work phone number & kept phoning my work.

I'm a manager of a print department & had to have a sit down meet with the Directors of the company & explain myself (thankfully they were understanding).

Got a letter from a small claims, got written proof from the gym, explained that if they listened to me in the first place it wouldn't of come to this, explained the bullying & harassment & told the court that they shouldn't be allowed to get away with this but was informed i'd need to get legal advice if i wanted to claim anything from them so did what most would do & sent off the form off with the proof & reply.

Got a letter from the court saying they'd recieved my documents & if i heard nothing else it would all be finished. I assumed wrongly that would be it, the court would tell excel to stop wasting the courts time & money & send them back to their grubby little hole to do it all again to someone else.

But got a letter yesterday from BW saying they're going to carry on with this claim & this morning i have now received a new court letter asking for mediation etc....

What the hell do i do now?? Really didn't think this would go this far & am now worried & very angry. If someone could give me any advice on this i would be truly grateful.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Edited to help people read the post.

nyswan71

thanks Mark.

Marktheshark

OK first thing to do is call the gym and ask for the director of the business.
Inform them that you are getting sued by the parking firm and you need to know on what basis they have a relationship with them.

Are the parking firm contracted by the gym as you intend to counter claim the full amount directly from the gym if they employ the parking firm.

Try this first ASAP and see what the Gym say.

Next start preparing a robust defence by researching the parking firm .
Use the mitigation but make sure the defence covers all points that are generally used in parking cases as you can not trust the judge to be fair.

beamerguy

Marktheshark wrote: »

OK first thing to do is call the gym and ask for the director of the business.
Inform them that you are getting sued by the parking firm and you need to know on what basis they have a relationship with them.

Are the parking firm contracted by the gym as you intend to counter claim the full amount directly from the gym if they employ the parking firm.

Try this first ASAP and see what the Gym say.

Next start preparing a robust defence by researching the parking firm .
Use the mitigation but make sure the defence covers all points that are generally used in parking cases as you can not trust the judge to be fair.

Mark, agreed but are the mitigation that clued up, other reports suggest they are not

The_Deep

... you can not trust the judge to be fair.

Can you justify that scurrilous allegation?

Marktheshark

The_Deep wrote: »

... you can not trust the judge to be fair.

Can you justify that scurrilous allegation?

Yes, every lost parking case, unless you honestly believe that they lose £100+ if someone over stays a few minutes or whatever else they scam for, justified, yes very justified and every district judge that has bent the law to fit these paper clamping crooks needs to be stuck off.

Coupon-mad

They started being abusive on the phone so told them i wouldn't be answering anymore, they then found out my work phone number & kept phoning my work. I'm a manager of a print department & had to have a sit down meet with the Directors of the company & explain myself

That's terrible.

Make sure that goes into your witness statement to try to get the Judge on your side from the outset due to their unreasonable hounding of you to your workplace.

Have a look at bargepole's post linked under the heading 'Small Claim?' in the NEWBIES FAQS thread. Read bargepole's explanation of what happens when (including witness statements etc.,) now. Your 'new court letter' sounds like your DQ which you must complete and send to the court and the claimant/their solicitor.

This wasn't going to just die a death; if the hearing fee is paid by Excel then this will go to a hearing unless Excel discontinue before the hearing date (at your local court, not theirs). Excel at the moment are trying to intimidate you into folding - and it is almost working!

Say no to Mediation, by reason of this typical report:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70242827#Comment_70242827

and this one which is about an Excel claim like yours:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71245087#Comment_71245087

What the hell do i do now?? Really didn't think this would go this far & am now worried & very angry.

You complete and serve your DQ on the court and claimant, as per Bargepole's advice linked in the NEWBIES thread. Meanwhile BW Legal will be proceeding with completing Excel's DQ and of course, Excel are required to pay the fees as they are the Claimant.

And you should then be prepared for a hearing because that was always likely, and that will decide once and for all whether you pay nothing or about £175 (you are unlikely to be told to pay the full claim of over £230 as long as you object to the artificially escalated sum as part of your defence). And if you win you pay nothing AND can immediately hand a list of your own costs to the Judge - lost work time (up to £95) for attending the hearing, your travel, your parking costs(!) and an element you could try to ask for as punitive costs for your distress and wasted time on this matter, since you feel the claimant's conduct has been 'vexatious and unreasonable'.

You can certainly object to BW Legal's figure 'plucked out of thin air' adding random costs that cannot be claimed in the small claims track and were NOT specified in any 'contract' (i.e. transparently stated prominently on the signs) in your witness statement/full defence (the court will tell you when you MUST serve it on the claimant and the court). It's potentially scary in that you will need to go to your county court but it's not a criminal 'hearing'...think sort of 'Judge Rinder' discussion of evidence but more like a formal meeting and without the jokes and TV cameras!

Think of this as a meeting and your chance to put your evidence to a Judge who should listen. You will need evidence not just hearsay, so for example, your proof of being allowed to park free for 2 hours.

Expect Excel/BW Legal to counter that by saying (perhaps?) that you should have input your VRN to claim exemption for 2 hours. Have they been saying that? They might point to small print on their signs. How about getting a photo of the desk area inside the gym, to show the Judge the LACK of signs telling gym members about any such obligation?

And point out how wordy the Excel signs are and the £100 was only hidden in small print and was never agreed/known as it was not prominent.

At hearing stage, in your court bundle of your defence and exhibits, best taken with you in triplicate (to hand out to the Judge and the other side whilst always having a copy in front of you), I suggest you include a printout of the 'prominent and large lettering' sign that impressed the Supreme Court Judges in November 2015 in the ParkingEye v Beavis case:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYdphoIIDgE/VpbCpfSTaiI/AAAAAAAAE10/5uFjL528DgU/s640/Parking%2Bsign_001.jpg

Use that in your evidence bundle for the hearing in due course, as a comparison to show how unclear Excel signs are.

Try to get that proof, by way of a photo of the car park now and the desk at the gym to show no reminder signs, assuming Excel haven't been kicked out yet. You could even take a video and replicate your visit (without your car this time!) and walk in filming it on your phone, ask a question about joining (for example) of the desk person at the gym and see whether the person first of all says 'have you arrived by car sir? Can I have your VRN to input for 2 hours free parking?' If the DO NOT say anything like that and there is no sign up, that would be very good, simple proof to show a Judge that you genuinely had no chance to learn of the terms by which Excel are trying to bind you.

But you sound like you are at DQ stage so no panic, read Bargepole's advice.

DO NOT reply to or read any private message (pm) that any poster with less than 1000 posts might send you here, offering to 'help'. you never know who that person is/what their agenda is; could even be the parking firm...we do not contact you by pm.

beamerguy

I am unclear was it Excel or BWLegal who were making the threatening phone calls