Excel Parking - County Court Letter

n4im

Hi fadeinout,


Apologies for the late reply. I will send you the details tomorrow.


Kind regards


n4im

unguiri

Hi n4im,

Would it be possible to have the case name / number. I'm preparing a defence for a similar wrong entry of registration number and would like to refer to it.

Thanks

trife88

Hey

Please could you inbox me the details too please? I too have a similar case. I inputted the last digit of my registration incorrectly on their website. Despite providing Excel with the email receipt they have proceeded issue proceedings.

Thanks in advance.

Coupon-mad

n4im wrote: »

Good evening,

DATE OF HEARING: The date of the hearing had finally arrived. The hearing was at 11am in Skipton. We (me and my better half) arrived at 10:35am intrinsically feeling nervous but externally trying to portray an element of confidence. A part of us was hoping the Excel representative would not show up and the case would get thrown out.

At around 10:45am a tall-ish, smart gentleman entered the waiting area. My first thoughts were "oh !!!!!!!". I instantly remembered a post from the forum which explained that don't engage with the claimants representatives. The gentleman came over to us and said hello, I smiled and replied with a hi and tried not to engage much. The gentleman introduced himself using his full name, then said "I am also known as *Lamilad* on MSE and many other forums". I was gobsmacked, Wow, the legend. One of the people whose own defence I plagiarised and sought a lot of help from has actually shown up to sit in as an observer at the hearing. This was a game changer!

The usher informed us that the hearing had been delayed by 15 minutes. The tide was turning as this gave us a bit more time for Lamilad to read through the witness statements and advise. We had a discussion as to what role Lamilad would play and it was agreed 3 minutes before entering the court that Lamilad would be the Lay representative. Surely, the last 45 minutes could not have been predicted by anyone.

THE CASE: We entered the room and greeted the Judge who welcomed us all in. It felt formal, however it was nothing like a court I had seen on TV. The judge was on one side of the room and there was a square table with 4 chairs around it which had Excels solicitor, Lamilad, my better half and me.

In a nutshell, the judge initially talked about her understanding that a car entered the car park and a ticket was purchased but the incorrect registration mark was entered. The claimant then sent a PCN to the defendant to which the defendant replied with a copy of the purchased ticket and explained that the registration mark is of another car in the household and this was accidental. The claimant then wanted proof of ownership of the other car.

The judge also mentioned that there are a few points in my witness statement about signage, however she is dismissing this as there was another point in my defence where I mentioned about agreeing to the conditions in the signs. (Lesson learnt).

Excels solicitor then commented that the claimant gave ample notice and sent many letters to me which were all ignored and I did not send proof of ownership which caused more work for them. The judge then destroyed his argument by saying the ticket was purchased to park in that car park and both parties accept a ticket was purchased and was valid (i.e. it is a genuine ticket and it covered the time the vehicle was in the car park). The purpose of entering a registration plate on a ticket is to link a payment against a car, the fact a wrong registration was entered and subsequently the matter was clarified when the defendant sent the parking ticket. The claimant still wanted the defendant to prove ownership (to prove that other vehicle wasnt in the car park and this is not a borrowed ticket) yet the judge highlighted that the gift is with the claimant to make the necessary checks. The claimant has access to all the tickets purchased that day as well as all the cars that were captured on the ANPR camera. The claimant can easily verify if a ticket has been used twice and onus shouldnt be on the defendant to provide this.

The legend (Lamilad) had been answering points throughout the session and when it was his turn to talk, he made a few sweet and succinct points about the Beavis case, the consumer act 2015, unproportionate charges and so forth.

The judge then made her decision and said based on the fact the gift is with the claimant (to check vehicles entering and leaving) and the de minimis limit (the charges are disproportionate considering a ticket was purchased which was at the value other customers of the car park paid), the case is dismissed
The judge awarded us with the costs that we had submitted in our schedule of costs, however we had about £20 deducted.

Lessons learnt
1) This has been a long ride. We had often wanted to give up and make a payment as I thought I dont need the hassle nor have I got the time. Other times I had thought this is too technical for me. Many times reading threads online and interacting with some amazing individuals, encouraged us to keep going out of principle. As a minimum we would rather lose and make Excel work for their £260.

2) After the hearing, Lamilad mentioned that parking companies have a business model which is that 9 out of every 10 people who get court summons give up at some point before the court date. Parking companies expect the odd one to reach court and are willing to take the loss on that as long as theyre making money from the other 9. Just like we have been helped by others, it is our duty to help those 9 individuals through their journey and encourage them not to give up before the court date. This is the only way we can beat these cowboys.

3) There are some diamonds out there. My faith in humanity has increased once again. Many people have advised me and gone out of their way to help where they didnt have to. Lamilad showed up at the hearing without us giving any information other than what was available on this thread. We are absolutely humbled by his selflessness and his compassion towards others. Lamilads knowledge was excellent and brought comfort and ease.

4) We were very lucky to have Lamilad, however others may not be as fortunate. There is a lot of help and encouragement online, please do not go to court overconfident, unprepared or without any research. You need to know your defence points, the claimants defences and the relevant laws. The parking companies are beatable, however preparation is an absolute must.

5) Ensure a clear defence and witness statement is submitted to the county court. This was very beneficial in our case as the judge had the facts available in advance and didnt need to prod either party for much more facts. Take all documents with you to the court and familiarise yourself with these before hand.

6) This post is not a boast, but just written as an encouragement for others who may not be sure about their next steps.

CONCLUSION: Thank you to every single person who has helped in any way big or small. I intend to visit the forum more often and try help with my amateur-ish knowledge where possible and relevant.

Lamilad, if there is anything beneficial I may have missed please do feel free to add.

I wonder if Lamilad or n4im can add the claim number to this thread now please?

Nosy

@n4im
Hi i have a hearing in 2 weeks for entering wrong registration against Excel.  Your case could help me.  I would appreciate it if you could share the case details, case number or direct me to where i can find details to use please.

Le_Kirk

@Nosy, you will see that the last post from @n4im was in August 2018.  You might be better sending a PM.  Use the envelope symbol at the top right of the forum.

n4im

Hi all, 
Sorry about my disappearance.
Case was  E5DP1917 Excel Parking vs Yakub.

The court ruled that the gift is with the parking company to be able to identify which cars were at the car park that day and which parking tickets were bought. If a car did exist with your incorrectly typed plate then you would be at fault, but if no such car entered the car park that day they can deduce that it was in fact a typo/incorrectly entered plate. 

Nosy

Thanks. Do you know where i can find the courts decision transcripts? Is it possible to use what you have mentioned with your case number in a WS,. 

Umkomaas

Hardly any county court case carries a transcript. It is only provided to a defendant (or claimant) provided they pay for it. Think 3 figures for anything other than the most basic and straightforward cases. 

Coupon-mad

Most do these days and you can tell by the photos.   They are either taken by a person on foot at car level, or they aren't.