DCB Legal Representing Excel Parking - ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Coupon-mad

Sounds good.

alicebarbz

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone on here who provided guidance.

I had two PCNs from Excel Parking (the third originally states was discontinued prior to the hearing) and both were dismissed in court.

21/10 case:
The judge accepted that I had as far as I was aware entered my VRM correctly and that the machine had failed to record it properly. He actually said he couldn’t understand why anyone would enter a single-letter VRM in the first place. There was also nothing on the signage explaining what to do if the ticket printed incorrectly.

The claimant’s evidence really fell apart here. They provided a “full” payment list but my payment wasn’t on it, despite me having a ticket, even if it was for a 'partial VRM'. When I challenged this, their representative said the machine wouldn’t record a single-letter VRM because those don’t exist… which raised the obvious question: why did it take payment and issue a ticket at all?

I also pointed out that if their list only shows “valid” VRMs, there could be multiple faulty entries missing which the judge clearly took on board.

14/11 case:
This one was about failed payment attempts. I showed evidence of trying to pay via the machine, app, and online, none of which worked. I also called the helpline to report the issue.

The judge did question the fact that others had paid around the same time (based on their evidence), which worried me a bit. But ultimately he agreed it wouldn’t be fair to penalise me with an inflated charge when I had made repeated genuine attempts to pay.

The judge was very fair and balanced throughout. He clearly looked at the facts rather than just accepting the claimant’s standard arguments. But to anyone reading this thread early on for guidance, I want to be honest about the other side of it too. Personally, I’m not sure I would go through the whole process again. It has been a very stressful and confusing experience, and I’ve spent countless hours dealing with this that I really needed for other areas of my life. If you have the time, energy and determination then absolutely go for it, and I have huge respect for everyone who does - it's really important. These cases matter, and challenging them is part of pushing back against unfair practices but be prepared for the time it will take to take it all the way to court. For me personally, the impact it had on my time and wellbeing was significant, and if I’m being completely honest, I might have just paid the charge had I known what the process would involve. I appreciate that doing so can perpetuate the wider issue, which is frustrating in itself. That said, this experience has definitely made me more motivated to support greater fairness and oversight in private parking, and I would absolutely support any efforts to improve the system going forward.

Umkomaas

👆👆 Wonderful results and an equally great write up. Excel out of your life (and off your shoe)!

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943054#Comment_81943054

That's great news and an honest account in that this entire scam pursuit of a paying (and prevented from paying) customer and we get it that fighting it drained your energy.

These cases should be blocked from going to court - stayed, if a claim has already been served - until a proper ADR (Single Independent Appeal scheme set up by or for the Government) has been used - free to the public - and exhausted.

These PCNs would have been thrown out by a proper, fully impartial appeals service but sadly, you had no choice because neither Excel nor the IPC offers a fair one.

This looks like they falsified or altered the payments log:

The claimant’s evidence really fell apart here. They provided a “full” payment list but my payment wasn’t on it, despite me having a ticket, even if it was for a 'partial VRM'. When I challenged this, their representative said the machine wouldn’t record a single-letter VRM because those don’t exist… which raised the obvious question: why did it take payment and issue a ticket at all?

Hmmm… allegedly false evidence then? Shocking! But not new… this is just as they were held by two judges to have done, in Excel v Ambler:

Here is the Excel v Ambler final refusal transcript and original thread


Link to the transcript
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v1xdk8n8xdglddg/Ambler%20appeal%20Judgement%20p1.jpg?dl=0

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5869594/court-report-excel-spanked-at-skipton/p5

alicebarbz

Wow, it's insane how they can get away with this!

Umkomaas

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943676#Comment_81943676

Why not bring this to the attention of your MP? Your written skills will put together a hard-hitting, pointed outline of the main issues you faced. MPs will soon be considering the draft Code of Practice, due to be laid before Parliament for consideration in the Autumn. Remind your MP of this and ask that he/she pays close attention to this (not simply rubber stamping it), given the importance of getting this right. Give him/her some key points (based on your Excel experience) on which they should focus their attention.

alicebarbz

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943702#Comment_81943702

Thanks, I'll make a note of doing this. It shouldn't take too long to put something together.

Umkomaas

👆👆 Great stuff. 👍