Thread: Excel Parking Fine :(

Hi! (I realise I had previously posted this in the wrong forum).

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on my parking fine I recieved yesterday. I am a member of JJB gym in middlesbrough, and they provided (a very limited) number of parking spaces belonging to the gym. The only other spaces require payment, as they belong to the council. As there were none of these spaces left, I used a disabled space as there were about 5 free ones. I returned to find a nice fine for £100 (?!?!?!?!!) on my windscreen. I know I was in the wrong but seriously, £100???? Extorton.
Also there were NO signs stating penaltys for parking there. Would I still have to pay even though there are no signs, just because it's a disabled space? This is the letter I sent. I'm pretty sure it will be useless:

I would like to appeal against my parking fine of £100 pounds for parking in a disabled parking bay outside of the JJB gym in Middlesbrough.

Firstly, I am a member of JJB gym in middlesbrough, and I had drove in from Sedgefield. After driving around the car park for several laps, there were no other blue spaces, therefore, my only other option would have been to drive 15 miles back to sedgefield, or pay an hourly rate to use the gym in the public spaces, though I already pay a monthly fee of £30 to use the blue spaces. So I would say on this occasion I had no other choice and I would ask that this fine be repealed.

Secondly, I am a student at university, and I was using my mums car, who is out of the country for the next few weeks on holiday. As I am not working full time, I do not have £60 to pay within 7 days and certainly do not have £100 to pay upfront in a lump sum if the £60 is not paid in 7 days.

Thirdly, at no point did I see a sign stating the penalty payable for parking in a disabled car parking space. Private parking companies are not backed by criminal law and are subject to contracts by means of information displayed on signs. I did not see such a sign containing information regarding the penalty for parking in this place, therefor there was no contract.

Thank you for your time.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

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It's a [problem].

There is no 'appeal process' and you will receive a standard template letter back, telling you to cough up.

All you have received is an unenforceable invoice from a private company. They do not have the power to issue fines, only invoice you for services completed and expenses incurred.

As they have provided no service and they have not incurred any costs, they are entitled to £0.

• do not pay
• do not contact them again
• your mum will receive 5 or 6 threatening letters, full of lies about court and CCJs. If she ignores them, they will go away in a few months.
• they will not take anyone to court

The issue here is persuading your mum not to pay and not to be intimidated by the letters. These companies just exist to post out threatening, inaccurate and sometimes fraudulent paperwork. If 50% of people are gullible enough to pay, they make a very nice profit for not much work.

Ditto

So there is absolutely no way they will take me to court or affect my credit rating (or have bailiffs at the door)??

I am pretty sure my mum will panic and pay when she recieves the first letter, i'll refer her to this forum, but shes very worried about things like that.
xxx

They will not take you to court because they haven't got a legal leg to stand on.

The only way to have your credit rating affected is *if* you are taken to court *and* you lose *and* you still refuse to pay.
It'll never happen.

Remember this is nothing to do with the owner of the vehicle anyway. The company will pay £2.50 for your mum's address from the DVLA (because the government sells people's addresses for £6million a year) and send her junk letters, which is pretty stupid.

If the company have any brains, they'll just send you their junkmail since you've already contacted them, so you can ignore them instead of your mum.

debt collectors won't call. They might threaten to, but it's just an intimidation tactic. They have no powers without a CCJ and not many will waste £10 on petrol just on the off chance you were in. All they can do is knock on your door like any member of the public.

If it's any reassurance, I'm currently ignoring the scumbags at CMS Parking. My 'fine' goes up to £130 soon!

That's great, I can go spend the £60 on what I planned on spending it on originally, a new outfit to wear at job interviews. Yay Thanks all. xxx

Originally Posted by GuidoT

Neve say never, but it is very improbable that they will commence legal proceedings.

For it to affect your credit rating, they would have to take you to court, obtain judgement against you and then not to pay within 28 days of the judgement (then the judgement will be registered against you) - all these events occurring very unlikely.

Similarly for bailiffs (that have any powers) to turn up they would need judgement in Excel's name and you not to pay.

These tickets are really nothing to be concerned about, I must have around 70 now.

70. Love it. you have made them spend lots of time and effort chasing them up.

Just one thing:
I'm slightly worried that parking in a disabled parking bay might be illegal?
Would this mean I have to pay, or is this not related?
xxx

It isn't illegal - you won't be going to magistrates court and prison for dodgy parking on private property.

Disabled spaces on private land, as with virtually every painted line off the public highway, usually have little legal meaning.

No private company has the power to issue a financial penalty for breaching terms and conditions on their property.

Whilst it is antisocial and inconsiderate to park in a disabled spot on private land, I could happily park horizontally across two bays at Asda and they couldn't actually do a thing.