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

flylight

Snakes_Belly said:

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.

Most guests arrived after midnight, certainly after 6pm. We've noted the signs are not individually lit so there visibility is in high doubt, on top of the other issues. They all stayed overnight as hotel guests and no one has mentioned being advised by staff about parking requirements upon check-in.

Yes entrapment/easy pickings/targeting all come to mind with this! They are obviously routinely going after the Land Owners customers and I'm sure it's creating a lot unnecessary customer displeasure that no business needs. The photos Excel have provided are from 06:30-07:00 AM, so would have been within the permitted free parking times anyway! 

flylight

Further update to paragraph 3 - I've signed & scanned back in the last page and will submit today. 

3. The Defendant cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 ('the POFA'). There was no 'relevant contract or relevant obligation' upon a driver whose use of the car park was undoubtedly permitted by the Hotel as part of the Wedding arrangements on the material date. Further, there was a lack of 'adequate notice' of the parking charge. The signage at the entrance to the Hotel directs customers to it's car park and this is what would have been primarily considered by guests. There are multiple entrances to the car park, as well as a clutter of competing signs, one of which even states 'Public Car Park'. Signage, if any, representing the Claimant would have been obscure and confusing, indicating no clear connection with the Hotel. Any present must have been poorly lit, as guests who arrived at night would not have been able to see the signs or relate them to their stay at the Hotel. They would have been busy trying to locate the difficult to access car park and upon doing so would have had to deal with its state of disrepair. Drivers would have easily been unable to process any ambiguous and inconspicuous signs. No driver at a Wedding venue would have agreed to pay £100 or inflict the registered keeper bride with the enormous distress of a CCJ risk or a later court claim.

Coupon-mad

Add this if true (surely other guests got PCNs too if you've shared your story with family and friends?):

3.  The Defendant cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 ('the POFA'). There was no 'relevant contract or relevant obligation' upon a driver whose use of the car park was undoubtedly permitted by the Hotel as part of the Wedding arrangements on the material date. Further, there was a lack of 'adequate notice' of the parking charge. The signage at the entrance to the Hotel directs customers to it's car park and this is what would have been primarily considered by guests. There are multiple entrances to the car park, as well as a clutter of competing signs, one of which even states 'Public Car Park'. Signage, if any, representing the Claimant would have been obscure and confusing, indicating no clear connection with the Hotel. Any present must have been poorly lit, as guests who arrived at night would not have been able to see the signs or relate them to their stay at the Hotel. They would have been busy trying to locate the difficult to access car park and upon doing so would have had to deal with its state of disrepair. Drivers would have easily been unable to process any ambiguous and inconspicuous signs. No driver at a Wedding venue would have agreed to pay £100 or inflict the registered keeper bride with the enormous distress of a CCJ risk or a later court claim.  They all stayed overnight as hotel guests, some other vehicles also received unfair parking charges and the family are aghast to hear about this claim.  Not one was advised by staff about parking requirements upon check-in, which appears to be a pattern, given the adverse online reviews all saying the same.

D_P_Dance

Have you written bad stuff on tripadvisor, trivago, booking.com, hotels, com et al, have you complained to your MP.  

flylight

Coupon-mad said:

Add this if true (surely other guests got PCNs too if you've shared your story with family and friends?):
 They all stayed overnight as hotel guests, some other vehicles also received unfair parking charges and the family are aghast to hear about this claim.  Not one was advised by staff about parking requirements upon check-in, which appears to be a pattern, given the adverse online reviews all saying the same.

Yes this is true, and I have added, thank you.

I have learned that at least 2/3 other family members have CCJs currently against their name because of this exact situation. They didn't know/pay/fight the CCJ claims so it onto their records. I will ask them & others (it was a big wedding, so may take a while!) for more info to see if we can get them removed.  

flylight

D_P_Dance said:

Have you written bad stuff on tripadvisor, trivago, booking.com, hotels, com et al, have you complained to your MP.  

I am currently in contact with the business and have not written anything negative online. I will definitely use the guidance on here to write to my MP, who will be hearing from me not for the first time :]   

Coupon-mad

Send your guests here to learn how to set aside a CCJ, unless they actually received but ignored court claims.  Idiotic when people do that.

But make sure they know that can't just phone up the parking scammer and pay the sum.  That doesn't remove the CCJ damage.

Redx

To get CCJ s it's likely that they ignored all letters including court claims , judgment for claimant letters etc , very foolish if they ignored court letters from the CCBC in Northampton. Nobody should be ignoring official letters from a government office

beamerguy

flylight said:

Coupon-mad said:

Add this if true (surely other guests got PCNs too if you've shared your story with family and friends?):
 They all stayed overnight as hotel guests, some other vehicles also received unfair parking charges and the family are aghast to hear about this claim.  Not one was advised by staff about parking requirements upon check-in, which appears to be a pattern, given the adverse online reviews all saying the same.

Yes this is true, and I have added, thank you.

I have learned that at least 2/3 other family members have CCJs currently against their name because of this exact situation. They didn't know/pay/fight the CCJ claims so it onto their records. I will ask them & others (it was a big wedding, so may take a while!) for more info to see if we can get them removed.  

Personally, if you can find a lot of people who have CCJ's from this venue, do your research for a solicitor who is a specialist in removing CCJ's.   A good one will not be cheap but if you all split the costs, it could be affordable
I am not talking the legals you see on here attacking people, they are 100% useless.

Given the way judges are dismissing cases for dodgy signs or no signs, I think you will win. 
The claims that Excel bring are mainly up with the fairies

Snakes_Belly

"They all stayed overnight as hotel guests, some other vehicles also received unfair parking charges and the family are aghast to hear about this claim.  Not one was advised by staff about parking requirements upon check-in, which appears to be a pattern, given the adverse online reviews all saying the same."

I have learned that at least 2/3 other family members have CCJs currently against their name because of this exact situation. They didn't know/pay/fight the CCJ claims so it onto their records. I will ask them & others (it was a big wedding, so may take a while!) for more info to see if we can get them removed."

I knew this company were low (hence my forum name) but this takes it to another level.  The papers would love this but writing to the papers has little effect on the parking company. It may have an effect on the Travelodge and I doubt that Excel's lease will be renewed.

The guests at your wedding must have fallen foul of the man in the van who waits to check the cars at 3 minutes past eight in the morning. The fact that they were not told makes it worse. There is a suggestion on trip advisor by one poster that there is a scam going on between the hotel staff and the person that works for Excel. That would be difficult to prove however these people that ticket cars are targeted on results.  

I do think that the Travelodge could have been more helpful given the amount of business that you gave them and the fact that they did not give you correct information about the parking arrangements. They could have tried to get the tickets cancelled.

If any of your relatives/guests have moved house and/or were not aware of their CCJ until they applied for finance, etc then there is a process and they should come to the forum as CM says. The relatives that were aware of the claims but did not challenge them may find it more difficult to obtain set aside but like Beamer says could collectively take some legal advice such as a free hour with a solicitor.

Come on here first before parting with cash. It may be best to come on here for advice before any action and the regulars can look at the circumstances.

I hate to say this but not all these claims may have surfaced yet as Excel are digging up old claims. If any more do surface please tell them to come to the forum. We can fight this. There is so much wrong with this car park and the set up that it is not difficult to challenge these claims in court.

I wonder how JB would feel if his wedding day had been marred. He has been quiet lately.