Advice for appealing PCN with IAS!

LennonBee

I am at the stage of appealing a PCN issued at Flora Street Car Park by VCS. The appeal has initially been rejected by VCS and I am now about to appeal with IAS. Looking for any advice on what the best grounds for appeal would be!

• PCN issued as I was not parked in marked bay however;
• other cars were parked in a large area of car park with no markings
• Car was parked alongside other cars that marked out a space to park
• There were no markings that indicated a restricted parking area
• There were hashed markings with "no parking - loading only" around the edge of this area but not where I had parked

PCN was received on the 29.10.18 and initially appealed it to VCS on 12.11.18. I received a confirmation of my appeal stating:

"A response will be sent to you within 28 days from the date of your submission (12th November 2018 15:55).

If we require longer than this, we will let you know within the 28 day period.

If you have not received a response to your submissions after 28 days, then please log back onto this portal to check for an update, otherwise you can email us at appeals@excelparking.co.uk"

1) I did not receive any communication on my appeal in that 28 day window - I contacted them for an update after 32 days and received an appeal rejection letter (email) at 35 days - would this be any grounds for appeal?

MistyZ

The advice on here is not to appeal to IAS (see Newbies' thread at bottom of 'POPLA' section).

However, Excel Parking Services Ltd. are members of the BPA which I thought meant you could appeal to POPLA rather than IAS, and POPLA is worth a punt. I may be missing something e.g. the VCS / Excel connection might have implications I'm not aware of re. second level appeals.

Edit: I looked up the connection and found that VCS is Excel's 'sister company' but is listed as a separate company in Companies House. So presumably VCS isn't registered with the BPA, hence the IAS so-called option. I realise that for now you want advice about what to do next and, on the face of it, that would be do nothing unless and until you receive court papers.

However if you want a break from Christmas madness / like to be prepared, I'd recommend searching VCS / Excel on here. A quick search found this rather interesting thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5889051/win-against-excel-parking-for-smyth-street-wakefield-in-court&highlight=vcs

Umkomaas

Never Excel nor VCS are members of the BPA AOS - they belong to the IPC, so no POPLA available. They are 'sister' companies owned by the same fat cat.

I don't think any regular will give any help with an IAS appeal as it would be effort expended with no prospect of success.