East Midlands airport and VCS threat of CCJ

hedgwedgy

Just looking for some advice before paying £160 through ELMS Legal.

I flew from EMA in March 2020 on a Sunday and arrived back a week later on a Sunday. When I left I was dropped off at the Long Stay car park because I didn't want to pay the drop off fee and saw it was free to park here online for an hour and get a free shuttle bus.

The EMA website states today (29/01/21) :

If you’re dropping-off or picking-up at East Midlands Airport, there are a number of options available:

• Short Stay 1 car park: Prices starting from £5 for 30 minutes stay.

  Blue Badge parking is available at Short Stay 1 car park (Free for first 30 minutes), where blue badge parking bays are clearly identifiable. Short Stay 1 can only be accessed by walking to/from the terminal, but should you require a wheelchair or further assistance, help points are located in all car parks.

• Free parking for up to 1 hour: Park free of charge in our Long Stay 2 car park, for up to 1 hour. Long Stay 2 is a 15 to 20 minute walk from the terminal. Please press for a token at entry, which provides up to 1 hour free parking, overstay is charged at £1 per minute thereafter. Payment at the exit is card only. (Note: there will be no shuttle bus service for the foreseeable).

• Rapid drop-off: £4.00 for 15 minutes and £1.00 for every minute thereafter.

However, when I arrived at the Long stay car park, there were no signs saying the buses had been cancelled I waited for 30 minutes before walking the 30 minutes to departures. Obviously this was when lock down was just announced and I was flying to Scotland for work. I assumed this was a temporary thing and would and would resume after sorting whatever health and safety requirements they needed to. There was no information about buses being cancelled on the website or in the airport. 

Because of this, when I arrived back at the airport a week later, the buses were still not running. There was still no information on the website or bus stops. Because of this I told the person picking me up to just come to the petrol station and collect me as it was 8:30pm and I didn't want to walk all the way to the Long Stay car park or pay the pick up fee.

I waited at the petrol station and got picked up. The mobile camera car came within 30 seconds of my pickup and took the photos. There were no other cars or vehicles around. The mobile car even blocked the road to access the drop off car park to take the photos. On reflection I looked up the photos on Goolge maps to see if there were any sign around. There are but are tiny and on a A4 sized notice. There are more signs up now.

I ignored all the fine letters and now have a letter from ELMS Legal asking for £160 before issuing a CCJ. I can pay but just want to know if the airport has to have a free option for parking. Or if they should have advertised the buses not running more. Is it even worth going to court. i just feel I have been scammed, especially as the free option wasn't even running.

Thanks

Le_Kirk

Did you see the NEWBIE sticky just below where you clicked on New Thread?  Answers are in there.  Also you could search the forum the the plethora of threads about EMA and that particular petrol station - see what others did.  Plan A in the NEWBIE is to complain t the landowner/retail unit.  How did you get on when you did this?

beamerguy

I ignored all the fine letters and now have a letter from ELMS Legal asking for £160 before issuing a CCJ.

So Elms think they can issue a CCJ ..... that would please a judge who is the only person that can do that. Elms really do come out with rubbish but, they are part of VCS who also suffer from sending out rubbish

Last year in one case for VCS, it had not yet been to court, Elms wrote to the person telling her she HAD a CCJ and demanded money or bailiffs would be instructed 
When it came to the hearing and the lady showed the judge the letter, the judge hit the roof, dismissed the case instantly and the Elms rep was last heard screaming at someone on the phone, probably Simon who owns VCS ..... off she went running down the street screaming down the phone with the public thinking there is a nutter about

So if ELMS are up to their old tricks and indicated they would give you a CCJ, that is the letter you show a judge.  

This is game worth playing to get this lot spanked in court

HERE IS AN AMUSING ONE.
Excel and VCS are sister companies both using Elms.  This is the story that proved to everyone that Elms are probably a liability and certainly not for the courtroom ....

EXCEL with the help of Elms Legal got spanked for 3 failures
Caspar7 was in Nottingham CC today in front of Judge Lam.    IT' WAS A WIN
Again EXCEL added the fake £60 and again Judge Lam said it was unlawful
A 3 POINT FAILURE BY EXCEL and the spanking included the fake £60
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5995545/county-court-claim-form-from-excel-parking-services/p12

Umkomaas

I ignored all the fine letters and now have a letter from ELMS Legal asking for £160 before issuing a CCJ.

Now you're entering the legal process please read everything you receive carefully, word for word, and if posting for advice, please do not paraphrase, otherwise we have to unravel wording before giving advice, which chocks up the works. 

Can you show us the letter where Elms Legal have stated they will be 'issuing a CCJ'; it might have serious implications for them?

Coupon-mad

advice before paying £160

Do what now?  No-one pays them.  You simply have a bog standard letter about a bog standard Excel or VCS parking charge.  

Sounds like you haven't read the 2nd post of NEWBIES please read these FAQs first, an announcement advice thread at the top of this forum.  No link given.

D_P_Dance

Sounds like you haven't read the 2nd post of NEWBIES 

Probably not read any of it.  Probably not done any research at all.

KeithP

@hedgwedgy, what happened next?