Excel - Car Park with Two Schemes- "Wrong" Ticket Displayed

YogaCat

If these markings indicate the Excel bays, I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to be able to tell.  This is Excel's photo of my car in an Excel bay.

beamerguy

This is typical of the way Excel operate, maybe they think everyone has ESP.

As the judge belongs to the same general public as all us, that is a fair question "how are you expected to know"

Excel would be stupid to open themselves up to such stupidity.   But, we see all the time the mistakes they make.  Even when a judge kicks them out, they fail to learn

Coupon-mad

YogaCat said:

If these markings indicate the Excel bays, I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to be able to tell.  This is Excel's photo of my car in an Excel bay.

Wow that is dreadful.  A JUdge will lap up your photo evidence, including you using this one against Excel.  Awful markings.

Snakes_Belly

YogaCat said:

If these markings indicate the Excel bays, I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to be able to tell.  This is Excel's photo of my car in an Excel bay.

That line of cars includes Excel spaces and the Railway car park spaces so the grey car on the right is in a Railway space (which is subject to bylaws) and the rest on the left are Excel. Excel are suppose to be marked in yellow but it is fading and needs re-painting. I think that the summer of 2018 bleached the yellow paint white. It is particularly apparent on the spaces at the right hand side of the Travelodge.



Did you enter the car park straight down Miller's Lane and down the left hand side of the Travelodge into the Railway car park.

I have to say that I could have easily done the same as the driver. I fell foul of this car park when their ticket machine was not working at the front of the Travelodge. I did not realise that there were Excel spaces at the rear as I thought that belonged to the Railway. It is so confusing.
 

Snakes_Belly

YogaCat said:

This is one of the two plans Excel provided to me - they say this is the correct one:

I think that this is the correct plan although I don't think that there is as much signage as shown on the plan. Some of their signage will be obscured by the building and other buildings. At the front of the Travelodge there is a micro brewery, taxi firm, sandwich, shop, pub and workshops so a lot of random signage.

The spaces are not clearly defined by the yellow markings as this has now faded and as such gives the same appearance as the Railway spaces which are white.

The cases that they will cite in their WS can very easily be argued as this car park cannot be compared to a car park that has a barrier. It is also long stay unlike the car park in the Beavis case which was a free short stay car park.

The driver acted in good faith and the car parking space had "all the hallmarks" of a space managed by the Railway Company. 

Another poster, who also fell foul of this car park, parked on the cobbles which appeared to be a space. They were ticketed by Excel and the case was heard at Derby court. The judge said that the space had "all the hallmarks" of a parking space.

This poster was also ticketed for parking not actually on their car park. That proved very expensive for them.  

 

YogaCat

Here is my draft defence - I'd be grateful for feedback.  I've personalised it for 2) and 3).  I've also removed the reference to debt recovery third parties in (7) (because I didn't receive any) and added text relating to dual operated car park in (13). 

Snakes_Belly

There are regulars that are more skilled at critiquing your defence than myself but as I know this car park I thought that I would take a look.

One thing that I did notice is that given that the demarcation (at best) is ambiguous, no attempt has been made to maintain the painting of the bays which appear have been bleached by the sun. There is good photographic evidence of this to support your argument in your WS. Even Excel cannot make their evidence look convincing.

The maintenance of these car parks by ex-clamping companies is dreadful and you would think that they want people to fall foul. Always useful to mention that they are ex clampers as this has been outlawed and only used in very specific circumstances.

I would also mention that it is a hot spot. Excel will say that this has not happened before. We know different and you have the newspaper article to back this up in your WS.

Snakes_Belly

The spaces that are visible are Excel spaces that were marked out in yellow and have been bleached white. The nearest ticket machine is the one near the steps (railway machine). The marking of the spaces, white for Railway and yellow for Excel is the only means of demarcation between the two operators so regular repainting of these spaces is crucial.

Snakes_Belly

There is an Excel machine at the rear of the Travelodge however this could be obliterated by the protrusions on the building and other vehicles so the most prominent machine would be the Railway ticket machine. 

Snakes_Belly

There is also the question of reasonableness. What would a reasonable person have done in this scenario?. See "Man on the Clapham Bus"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_the_Clapham_omnibus

I would have done the same as you and many have been caught out at this car park for various reasons. People who have stayed at the Travelodge have also fallen foul of Excel.