Excel Parking Charge Advice

Jefferzzz1470

Hi all, 

Just after a bit of advice, really not looking for anything lengthy or to take up people's time on this! 

Received a parking charge from Excel Parking back in June for an incident that occurred in March at Copeland street in Derby. This being my first ever time, I appealed without realising that they can assume liability from me appealing as I implied I was the driver. I would have thrown PoFA 2012 in their face had I known! The NTK stated that the contravention was not paying for a tariff, however I definitley did pay as I have screenshots of the online payment portal showing confirmation and a VAT receipt. 

Lost the appeal (shock), however they stated this was because I entered the car park at 20:04 and my parking didn't start until 20:20 (their T/Cs state 5 minutes to pay). However, my screenshots show that I paid at 20:14 and the online portal stated at the start that parking would start from now (as in when I first got to the portal). Seems it somehow got changed to a later time without me knowing. I didn't appeal via IAS as I've seem on these forums there's no point. 

Just received the LBC, and have sent them a SAR and a response saying that their LBC is not compliant with PD. 

The advice I'm after is if/when this goes to court, do I have a chance by saying that 5 minutes to pay online is unreasonable? The payment machine was cash only, so they are basically giving me 5 minutes to park, walk to the machine and read their very large sign with all their T/Cs on, realise there's no card payments, walk back to grab my phone to pay online, register for the parking portal (enter personal details, car details and payment details) and pay. Seems very unreasonable.

Happy to provide any additional info should I have it, or the NTK/letters they've sent me if needed. 

Thank you! 

Jefferzzz1470

I shoukd also say, I did not over stay and left with 22 minutes left on the tariff so there was no advantage to waiting to pay. I was also trying to go for a meal so did not want to waste anymore time than I needed to

Coupon-mad

Yes you have a good case.

LBC from Elms Legal?

Jefferzzz1470

That's a relief to hear! I am fully ready to go to court for this so was hoping I wasn't setting myself up to fail. 

The LBC was directly from Excel themselves, there was no mention of any other company or firm on the pages. 

Coupon-mad

Does it give you 14 days or 30 dsys?

Jefferzzz1470

Gives me 30 days and stated 23/09/2023 as the last day. I have sent off a letter (delivered and signed for with photo proof they have it) to acknowledge the LBA but that it's not compliant with PD and won't engage until they provide a compliant letter. Also requested a SAR to see what info they have on me. 

B789

What have they failed to provide in their LBC that breaches the PAP or PD?

Posting a signed-for letter is not advised. If they refuse to sign for it, all you have is proof of non-delivery. You are always much better off sending your letter as a PDF attachment by email and CCing yourself as proof of delivery.

Jefferzzz1470

Hi B789! 

So I'd much prefer to talk to them via email, but I haven't been able to find one for them. I assume this is to make it more effort to try and reason with them and to make you pay. 

As they've sent me an LBC, I'd assume they have a responsibility to accept any response from me as I have to respond by law. They've advised me to post my response which is what I have done - if they refused it, I'd like to think I can use this against them in court for not being willing to engage constructively. 

They omitted a few things which the PD says they have to include - ADR, evidence to support claim, direction to the PD and article 4 etc. 

B789

Jefferzzz1470 said:

They've advised me to post my response which is what I have done - if they refused it, I'd like to think I can use this against them in court for not being willing to engage constructively. 

But if they refused it, you wouldn't know. All you could be sure of is that it was never delivered.

Use litigation@excelparking.co.uk as the email address to contact them. If you want to be sure your email was delivered, make sure you CC yourself on every message.

Coupon-mad

Wasn't there an email address at the bottom of the PCN or any letter? They used to.

Do they not have a Complaints page?

mig970

@Jefferzzz1470 - Did the EPS take the matter to court following the LBC or went silent? I have similar case- "ticket not purchased within 5 mins" so keen to hear what happened. I received an LBC with a deadline of 27 Jan to pay up, responded to the litigation and ignored everything. So far it has been silence, nothing heard further so wondering if they have decided to stop harassing me or just taking their time.