Excel Parking and Lower Loveday Street, Birmingham

geitungur_akureyrar

I was looking around the internet to see what extra points I might pick up for my defence against Excel, as I too was caught in Lower Loveday Street (see another thread) early last year and my case has now progressed beyond the mediation by a county court stage and I am expecting a date in court.
My case was that the ticket flipped over when I closed the car door causing the validity of the ticket to become obscured, something one never thinks about usually and I walked away from the car, hence the issuing of a PCN, which was appealed unsuccessfully through Excel's own system, obvious really they will never find against themselves.
Further to this I have been pursued by two different debt collectors (both subsidiaries of Excel), served notice of claim through Leicester Small Claims Court and was offered a pre-hearing/mediation service by Northampton Magistrates Court, odd for a Leeds based company. Their request for court time is made with a view to using Sheffield County Court, again not local to their operations base. I opted for Warwick, which I now believe was an error as Leeds would have probably been a better option – they will know what Excel are like as a business.
Anyhow the case has been moved to Warwick Court, actually in Leamington Spa Justice Centre and I have already suffered at their hands, the transfer of documents was done unsuccessfully and I have had to resubmit all my documents.

It should also be noted that the ticket was truly unfit for purpose, very flimsy paper and no adhesive strip – like a lot of tickets are – and Excel are now no longer looking after the parking in Lower Loveday Street, no-one is as the site was closed.

In the original thread I posted in some interesting points were made; some of which I borrowed and adapted to my situation, the Jolley v Carmel paragraph especially.

I will let you know how I get on, when I get to court.

Also Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999, especially S.11 of the former may be of use for future problems

Bigmatt0811

I successfully won against Excel with regards to parking at Lower Love Day Street at Birmingham County Court in December - mine was connected to parking in a restricted zone which on the basis of Excels own evidence, the judge threw out in 15 minutes and then tore a few strips off the solicitor representing Excel.

If they do decide to send representation it will be from a local solicitor that they will appoint in the days prior to the hearing and he or she will potentially turn up at Warwick County Court.

We did not get to say anything at the court hearing as the judge looked at the evidence provided by Excel and decided this was not sufficient so it was on these grounds that he did throw the case out.

You have mentioned that Excel are not managing the Lower Loveday Street carpark any more and you are correct in that as it is now being run by Euro carparks and has been since July 2018. One of the documents that Excel provided in the witness statement was a leaseholders agreement which stated and they were still managing Lower Loveday Street site which was wholly incorrect. The judge did pick up on this document and was going to interrogate this with the solicitor but never got round to it after throwing the case out.

I did have confirmation from Euro carparks that they have been managing the site since July 2018 and they were very happy to send this over in an email within 24 hours of me requesting it, so if a witness statement does contain a leaseholders statement that confirms they are still running the site, then I would contact Euro carparks and ask them to confirm when they took over the running of the Lower Loveday Street carpark.

When you get the witness statement (I got mine about 1-2 weeks in advance of when they had to be submitted to the court) go through it line by line as they do have a habit to copy and paste previous witness statement text, which at times is completely incorrect and pointing this out may not on it's own get the case thrown out what would give the judge something to think about. Then also only drop your statement off the day it is due in (send a copy to Excel the day before via Special Delivery so you are guaranteed they will have this and you have proof they have it).

Hope this helps in any small way!!!

Coupon-mad

Also Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999, especially S.11 of the former may be of use for future problems

Nope, the latter statute was dismissed as not relevant in the Beavis case, despite the Consumers Association arguing that point well, I thought, and the UTCCRs are now replaced (have been for nearly 4 years) by the Consumer Rights Act.

I hope you know about the Beavis case & not to argue about pre-estimate of loss?

geitungur_akureyrar

I know the Beavis case. I would argue that the Beavis case was from a free to park for a period car park so does not apply in my case - being that Lower Loveday Street was pay and display.

nosferatu1001

And the Court of Appeal backed up that assessment, and the Supreme Court did not disagree with it.

Coupon-mad

OK but no relying upon the UTCCRs!

geitungur_akureyrar

Court date: 17th June.

The_Deep

Nope, the latter statute was dismissed as not relevant in the Beavis case, despite the Consumers Association arguing that point well,

Are you sure about this CM. What about those leaving site and no return T&Cs?
Suppose you left your wallet at the check out, do you legally have to pay a PCN collect it. What about if they overcharged you? What about if you leave the site, but you passenger goes shopping?

geitungur_akureyrar

This was extraordinary. In the post yesterday I received a Notice Of Discontinuance from Excel Parking, the only worry is it hasn't been countersigned by a judge even if Excel's paralegal has.

Coupon-mad

Yay, you won then!

You might want to phone your local court to check they too got it.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!