Excel Parking and Puregym

bookreader89

Hello all

This is my first post on any site ever. Please accept my apologises if I have posted incorrectly. I am seeking help for my son regarding a court claim he has received from Excel parking. This is the story so far….

My son has a membership with Puregym which allows him to park for free for 2 hours. In late June 2025 he parked in the car park and entered the gym. He is a frequent user of the gym and always enters his registration. (he really does as he had to pay a parking fee before and he learnt the cost of failing to get the ticket) On this occasion the pad was not working and there were no members of staff on site which is common. He called me from the gym asking what to do so I went into the puregym website where the advice was to just keep a log of your attendance in case you get a ticket and need to appeal. There was no other advice. He did get a parking ticket and he appealed it straight away. He did acknowledge that he was the driver but thought that once he explained that the machine was not working and that he was within the 2 hours (1 hour 6 mins) that it would be fine. (Clearly neither of us knew to read the MSE advice at that point!). We did not receive the appeal decision and we were waiting for it but didn't know how long they took. He checked his emails and spam folder daily and I religiously open all the mail daily. At the start of September we got a letter from DCBL requesting payment of £170. My son rang Excel customer services to complain that we had not received the appeal decision. Apparently they sent it by email but it's not in his inbox or his spam folder! The appeal had been refused but they had offered him the right to pay £20 to discharge it. Of course he had to pay this within a certain timeframe and we were unaware of it. We were also out of time for appealing to the IAS. He was told that it was in the hands of DCBL and to advise them of the faulty machine and the right to free parking. We straight away sent DCBL an email (late Sept) explaining everything and in early October we had a letter back from DCBL as follows:

Dear xxxx

We write further to your recent email. Please note , our client has instructed us to close this case and, as such, DCBL, will not be pursuing this balance further. Any future correspondence relaying to this matter should be sent to our client directly. Thank you for your co-operation.

Kind regards, Correspondence Team, Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd.

We thought that this was the end of it until we received a court claim 2 days ago claiming for £255. I'm appalled that a firm can act this way and obviously I want to fight it. A friend recommended that I look on MSE. I have looked at the steps to take and will attempt to draft a defence after I have done the acknowledgement of service to the court. Can they tell my son that they have closed the case and are not pursuing it and then file in court?

I will read and follow the 8 steps but any advice specific to these circumstances would be greatly appreciated.

Exodi

Unfortunately and as you've learned, hoping the PPC will cancel it is utterly hopeless. It is their whole business model to extort money out of people.

The first thing you should have done is spoke to the gym, who likely have an agreement with the PPC. They could get it waived for you if you explain the circumstances (though you may need to be persistent to avoid Customer Service staff fobbing you off!). Appealing to the landowner is always the first suggestion in parking disputes, and is often the quickest and easiest (again, appealing to the PPC is a total waste of time).

FWIW I had a parking 'fine' for the gym. When I spoke to their customer service team on live chat they told me they don't get involved in parking disputes. I then emailed some higher ups letting them know of the hardship their issue will now cause me and that people online had a right to know how they treat their loyal customers. The same day I was contacted by a staff member from the gym who cancelled the fine the same day (well I received confirmation from the PPC a few days later).

Speak to PureGym, save your breath speaking to the PPC - they're not interested in what's fair.

Gr1pr

DCB Legal probably filed the claim on behalf of Excel, not DCBL ( debt collectors. No longer involved )

Its currently an unregulated industry, cowboy country

You dont fight it, your son does, with your help and ours

You cannot and do not file the AOS he does via his government gateway account

He files he defence too, not you

So is it Excel Parking via DCB Legal. ?

Post the Issue date from the top right of the claim form below and also post a redacted picture of the POC from the lower left of the claim form below after hiding the VRM details first

Coupon-mad

Who issued this claim for Excel?

Show it to us. Just the Claim Form, not the tedious paperwork or cover letter.

Redact the Claim no. (top right), password (bottom right) and your own data and just cover the VRM in the Particulars. We need to see EVERYTHING else on that Claim Form.

bookreader89

Thank you all for coming back to me. I'll photocopy, redact and upload the claim form in the morning as I don't have the facilities to do so at home. The claimant is Excel Parking Services Ltd but the address for sending documents is to Elms Legal Limited who we've not dealt with. The only letters he has had were from dcbl who last emailed him to state that their client had instructed them to close the case.

I understand that everything needs to be in my sons name. I'm in the process of pulling all the documents, emails, proof of attendance and photos of the signage in the car park (it's not changed since the incident). My son approached Puregym when he got the initial parking ticket but they said that they couldn't get involved. I've advised him to go back to them again now given that Excel are asking for £255 which is a years membership fee. I'll let you know how he gets on and will upload the documents in the morning.

Again many thanks for replying.

Gr1pr

So Excel Parking via Elms Legal ( forget about DCBL, they are not involved here. )

Post the Issue date from the top right of the claim form below

Coupon-mad

No photocopier needed. Take a photo then screenshot the photo on your phone and use the black pens to redact because we need to see more than just the date.

bookreader89

Apologises but technology is not my thing. Had to do it the old fashion way with a photocopy and a pen.

Claim form.jpg

Gr1pr

So Excel Parking via Elms Legal ( for now ), issue date 5th Feb, so your son needs to complete the AOS online on MCOL ASAP, certainly before 24th

The alleged breach is pleaded, ( no valid payment )so use the standard template defence or similar and adapt it

Everything must be done in his name, he is the defendant

Coupon-mad

They say they want interest but haven't specified a date.

I have tweaked some wording last night in the Template Defence, so use that. Dead easy.

bookreader89

That's great. Thank you both so much. I just hope we get a reasonable judge. Will they let me attend with him? The idea of having to go to court is totally freaking him out.