PCN from Excel Parking

Shagger

This morning I received a PCN from Excel Parking demanding £100 for an alleged 10 minute overstay that occurred on 30th May.

Am I right in thinking that, as Excel Parking is an IPC member, my best course of action is to do nothing and wait to see if they take it to court?

Does the fact that the PCN has only just arrived help my case at all? And if so, how do I even prove that it only arrived today?

Gr1pr

Check if it complies with POFA 2012 , in both timescales and wording 

Study the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum 

Excel are not going to cancel it regardless of any appeal,  although you could appeal as keeper using the template appeal,  then ignore the debt collectors letters 

Plan A is always the best option for pcns,  get the retailer or landowner or landlord to cancel it 

Bear in mind that they have 6 months to obtain keeper details and one month to get the pcn to the keeper,  so its not about when you received the pcn,  as much as the incident date,  issue date and the standard posting requirements of presumed to be delivered 2 business days later 

Coupon-mad

Ten minute overstay is not a breach.

Do you mean only ten minutes after actual allowed parking period? Might be worth throwing at the IAS if only to cost Excel money and keep their minions busy.

Shagger

Gr1pr said:

Check if it complies with POFA 2012 , in both timescales and wording 

Study the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum 

Excel are not going to cancel it regardless of any appeal,  although you could appeal as keeper using the template appeal,  then ignore the debt collectors letters 

Plan A is always the best option for pcns,  get the retailer or landowner or landlord to cancel it 

Bear in mind that they have 6 months to obtain keeper details and one month to get the pcn to the keeper,  so its not about when you received the pcn,  as much as the incident date,  issue date and the standard posting requirements of presumed to be delivered 2 business days later 

The car park in question is just that, rather than being for/associated with a business, hotel, retailer etc, so does that mean that Plan A is out of the window? Or is it sometimes possible to get the owners of the private land on which the car park is situated (assuming it isn't owned by Excel themselves) to see sense and cancel the charge?

The PCN issue date is 09/06/25- 10 days after the alleged offence. In the NTK it states that it's assumed I received it no later than 2 working days after the issue date, but I don't know how I'd prove this wasn't the case even if it were relevant given that it was just posted through my letterbox like any other letter.

Re: the NTK wording, it does seem to be POFA compliant as far as I can tell.

Shagger

Coupon-mad said:

Ten minute overstay is not a breach.

Do you mean only ten minutes after actual allowed parking period? Might be worth throwing at the IAS if only to cost Excel money and keep their minions busy.

I've re-checked the NTK and I think the alleged overstay is actually around 25 minutes, not 10 minutes. I'd misread the time.

Gr1pr

Shagger said:

Gr1pr said:

Check if it complies with POFA 2012 , in both timescales and wording 

Study the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum 

Excel are not going to cancel it regardless of any appeal,  although you could appeal as keeper using the template appeal,  then ignore the debt collectors letters 

Plan A is always the best option for pcns,  get the retailer or landowner or landlord to cancel it 

Bear in mind that they have 6 months to obtain keeper details and one month to get the pcn to the keeper,  so its not about when you received the pcn,  as much as the incident date,  issue date and the standard posting requirements of presumed to be delivered 2 business days later 

The car park in question is just that, rather than being for/associated with a business, hotel, retailer etc, so does that mean that Plan A is out of the window? Or is it sometimes possible to get the owners of the private land on which the car park is situated (assuming it isn't owned by Excel themselves) to see sense and cancel the charge?

The PCN issue date is 09/06/25- 10 days after the alleged offence. In the NTK it states that it's assumed I received it no later than 2 working days after the issue date, but I don't know how I'd prove this wasn't the case even if it were relevant given that it was just posted through my letterbox like any other letter.

Re: the NTK wording, it does seem to be POFA compliant as far as I can tell.

Excel wont own the land,  they are a sub contractor working on behalf of the landlord or landowner,  overseeing the parking and vehicle movements etc

Its definitely worth trying,  otherwise you are left with a stalemate and possibly a future court claim,  never say never 

So issued a week ago on Monday,  presumed delivered 2 days later,  Wednesday,  so within Pofa2012 timescales

So you compared your NTK against the stock pictures in the newbies sticky thread in announcements and you believe that it's Pofa2012 compliant , despite your postal delays assertion, your word against the presumed delivered argument,  so again one for court,  as would be keeper liability or not

25 minutes overstay cannot reasonably win any appeal,  not when the Beavis case mentions using a watch

A landlord or landowner may be sympathetic if its a genuine mistake,  Excel could not care less 

Ergo,  you probably need a different argument based on signage and landowner authority if you wanted to beat them, which definitely won't be at the appeal stage 

Coupon-mad

I will never understand why anyone would use an Excel (or any IPC firm) car park instead of the street, where there are always various options in all towns/cities and none involve ANPR cameras...

But with a 25 min overstay there is no appeal, so (as you asked in your OP) - yes - do nothing and wait to see if they take it to court.

Shagger

Coupon-mad said:

I will never understand why anyone would use an Excel (or any IPC firm) car park instead of the street, where there are always vatious options in all towns/cities and none involve ANPR cameras...

But with a 25 min overstay there is no appeal, so (as you asked in your OP) - yes - do nothing and wait to see if they take it to court.

Depends on the city, time of day and- most relevant of all in my case- the size and height of the vehicle.

I had a PCN from Premier Parking Solutions a few years ago that eventually disappeared after a lot of threatening letters over a period of about a year, so hopefully this one goes the same way, although having read through more of the forum it seems that Excel are very litigious...

Gr1pr

6 years is the limit under the Limitations Act 1980, so unless that PPS claim was over 6 years ago,  it's not gone away yet, it could be asleep for the time being,  waiting to be awoken up by passing it to a legal company 

Shagger

Gr1pr said:

6 years is the limit under the Limitations Act 1980, so unless that PPS claim was over 6 years ago,  it's not gone away yet, it could be asleep for the time being,  waiting to be awoken up by passing it to a legal company 

In that case I may end up with two on the go then, as the PPS one was only 3 years ago so there's plenty of time for it to resurface.

Re: this Excel one, despite it being the last thing I need now given everything going on in my life and how little time and money I've got, I'm inclined to take it to court if necessary just because of the principle involved and the fact that the practices of these predatory firms infuriate me.
Given that I don't really have any defence and they're probably not going to care about any mitigating circumstances (of which there are actually some), I presume I'd just have to rely on the template defence below?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs/p1

Just so I know what I'm getting myself into, am I right in thinking that if I were to lose, the total I'd then owe is unlikely to be more than £200, and I'd have 30 days in which to pay it?

Coupon-mad

Correct.

And bear in mind that the Government are imminently expected to be putting out a Public Consultation and/or Impact Assessment to enact a statutory Code of Practice.

If (like the Tories) they want to ban DRA 'fee' extortion then that will make it easier for Defendants to defend at least the exaggerated part of claims and interest.