Claim Form from Excel - perfectly timed for Christmas - help welcomed

flylight

Coupon-mad said:

The local authority statutory guidance only applies to local authorities. Not private firms.  But your defence should mention the obstructed and unclear entrance sign.  Obviously no evidence is submitted, no photos at this early stage.

Thanks for clarifying - I won't reference the clause in that case but have added details about the entrance and signage. Yes, photos more to illustrate the situation ATM, will be used at later stages.  

flylight

I did my AoS via the money claims website portal. I see that we are directed to use the email address for defence submission and will use this route, but do I need to do anything further via the website too? 

KeithP

flylight said:

...do I need to do anything further via the website too? 

No. If that were necessary it would be in the guidance notes.

nosferatu1001

flylight said:

I did my AoS via the money claims website portal. I see that we are directed to use the email address for defence submission and will use this route, but do I need to do anything further via the website too? 

The newbies thread is complete. Follow it as directed.  The process is well known. No need to question the process

Snakes_Belly

The driver would have entered this car park from the ring road and if they had gone straight down Millers lane and turned right at the Travelodge they would not have seen that entrance sign.

 Vision could have also been blocked by cars exiting the car park as they are merging into two lanes of traffic. When you produce the WS some arrows of the way that the driver may have entered would be useful as the judge will not understand the layout. It's a hot spot and well known on this forum. Good news is that there has been a lot of success against Excel on this car park.

BTW this car park can be accessed via Lidl in which case the driver would not pass an entry sign. As the keeper you do not know which entry the driver used. The image below shows the entry from Lidl on the left. No signage on entry at all. Those blue and yellow signs are not parking signs they are advertising that the workshops are to let.  

Snakes_Belly

There are a lot of bad reviews on trip advisor about this car park in relation to the hotel. There is an element of entrapment. The car park is free to the visitors to the hotel between 6pm and 8am and visitors have to obtain a permit for the free period and then ensure that they have a ticket if they stay beyond the free period. The driver may not have been made aware of this. 

Did some guests stay overnight? That is how visitors to the Travelodge get caught out mainly. At 8.00 am there is someone from Excel checking the cars.  There has been that many bad reviews I doubt that Excel will get their lease renewed.

Snakes_Belly

When I was fighting my corner with Excel there was a case regarding a bus lane.  The case was won on the basis of there being too much clutter making it impossible to process all the information. You may find it useful as the Derby Street car park is littered with numerous random signs some of them in similar colours to the Excel signs. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77646599/#Comment_77646599

Snakes_Belly

Keep Calm and Carry on made a video of the car park. She was taken to court twice and won both times. She was awarded costs for unreasonable behaviour at the second hearing. She was however not actually parked on the car park in the hearing for the second claim. In the hearing for the first claim she had parked on the car park and paid but Excel said that she was not parked in a parking bay. Judge disagreed and said that the space had "all the hallmarks of a parking bay"


Upstanding's hearing was discontinued at the last minute. (Expect that they may do this).

I lost my case but it was more of a drop hands after Excel had spent a fortune hiring a barrister for two hours. I had to pay the actual cost of the parking which was £3.00 so I was definitely not the biggest loser. It was also the second hearing so there was about £500 in reps fees.   

There is an ongoing case regarding a visitor to the Travelodge and another recent one regarding the issues with the lack of demarcation between the two car parks. 

Snakes_Belly

karen1967 wrote a review Dec 2019

Chorley, United Kingdom

Parking arrangements ruins this hotel

Firstly, this hotel is OK. Typical Travelodge with nothing great and nothing dreadful about the room. It was cold on arrival but soon warmed up once I cranked up the heating. I didn’t eat breakfast so can’t comment on that. The building is an old warehouse and the landings and stairwells are cold and draughty. The sheets were clean, as were the pillows and towels.

Booked for one night to attend a meeting the following morning in Burton town centre. I experienced a 4 hour delay on the motorway and arrived at around 2am.

Having driven once around the block because the entrance to the hotel wasn’t particularly well signed, the first thing I noticed when I arrived was the poor state of the car park. There were pot holes filled with water and on a wet and dark night it was difficult to navigate from the car to the hotel without getting dirty.

I was greeted by a rather surly lady on reception on arrival and I asked about the parking arrangements. She gave me a pass which allowed me to park free of charge only until 8.00am the following morning. She said that if I needed to park any later than 8am I would have to go back outside to the machine and purchase a ticket.

I was tired and I was laden down with my belongings with nowhere to put them down other than the floor so I decided to put the permit in my car then go to bed. I would get up early in the morning rather than trying to find the ticket machine in the dark, the rain and the mud.

My room was at the front of the hotel and overlooked the car park. I have to say that in the daylight the next day it was even worse than I had thought it was the night before. The spaces were very tight and a car had parked beside me so I could hardly open my door. It was very muddy and full of puddles. However, what really shocked me was that at exactly 3 minutes past 8 the parking warden appeared and started taking photos of all cars that had a red Travelodge pass in the window.

It is clear that Travelodge guests are easy pickings and at £100 fine for staying longer than 8am I think there should be a warning stated very clearly on the hotel booking page. It is for this reason that I will not use this particular hotel again.

Date of stay: December 2019 Trip type: Travelled on business

flylight

Snakes_Belly said:

The driver would have entered this car park from the ring road and if they had gone straight down Millers lane and turned right at the Travelodge they would not have seen that entrance sign.

 Vision could have also been blocked by cars exiting the car park as they are merging into two lanes of traffic. When you produce the WS some arrows of the way that the driver may have entered would be useful as the judge will not understand the layout. It's a hot spot and well known on this forum. Good news is that there has been a lot of success against Excel on this car park.

BTW this car park can be accessed via Lidl in which case the driver would not pass an entry sign. As the keeper you do not know which entry the driver used. The image below shows the entry from Lidl on the left. No signage on entry at all. Those blue and yellow signs are not parking signs they are advertising that the workshops are to let.  

It does seem difficult for one to actually get into the car park and to the Hotel - @Snakes_Belly, your knowledge and familiarity with the car park is super helpful, thank you. Great to know we are not alone in terms of other cases on here, reviews and your own experience (an overall win in my book!). Hopefully we will be able to add to the forum successes as our situation falls in line well with others. 

Now for the next stages we are taking additional photos and video of all routes/entrances/signs & the general disrepair of the car park and will look to annotate our submissions to clearly illustrate the ambiguities and absences as relevant. With COVID-19 & hearings as they are, hopefully we can get as much clarity for the layout and state of the car park within our submissions and the videos will be an added level of assurance on our part, even if we are not able to use them in a telephone hearing!