Excel Parking George St Wakefield

[ronthewhite]

I went into George St carpark on the 8/12/08 at 21:54 drove into a carparking bay, I sat in my car recieved a call on my mobile and without going into too much detail, I had to go home. I didn't realise at the time that I had been photographed on entering and leaving the car park, I was in the car park for 22 minutes. I know that I didn,t buy a ticket, but to get a £60 penalty seems excessive, is there anyway I can fight this fine?

 

I would appreciate any advice.

[crem]

Council car park or private?

[ronthewhite]

Private car park, payments have to be sent to Sheffield

[patdavies]

Ignore it (and the subsequent increasingly threatening letters)

 

Read the private parking sticky yo put your mid at rest as to what power of enforcement they actually have for their 'invoice'. (ie none)

[68904]

There has been a lot of complaints in the Wakefield Express about these car parks. Its cheaper to go in the Ridings Centre.

[ronthewhite]

Thanks for all the helpfull advice

 

I have decided to fight the penalty charge after reading the wealth of information posted.

My first letter of the process was taken from bernie_the_bolt, and reads as follows:-

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Re: Your letter dated [dd/mmmm/yyyy] Reference[#]

 

I acknowledge receipt of your captioned letter. It seems that you have got my details from the DVLA and I confirm I am the keeper of the vehicle in question. You need to take this matter up with the driver concerned.

 

In the meantime I absolutely deny your claim that the amount claimed, or any amount at all, is due to you from me.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

I await Excels standard reply and will let you know how I get on.

 

Thanks again for everyones help.

[Al27]

It would be interesting to see if you get their new Stephen Thomas template letter ironically criticising you for using a template!

[68904]

I have been told that you can have 1 hours parking in the Riding Centre for 50p. It sometimes get a bit crowded, but its better going there than running the gauntlet using Wakefield MDC Parks or the PPC up Westgate and Kirkgate.

All town centres look on cars as an easy way of making money, its just like the Pirate ships in the Gulf, just there to be hi jacked and held to ransom.

Have a look in the Town Centres and shopping centres with all the big shops closing down.

The Councils have not yet twigged that people with cars are shoppers and shops need people to buy things.

We see once great shopping towns withering on the vine and the Councils with the their head in the sands thinking buisness as usual gerrem ticketed.

Before so long some towns will be closed down and still the councils will be prosecuting a war of attrition against those they should be encouraging into such towns.

Just a thought.

[ronthewhite]

Hi Everyone

 

I have just received a lengthy reply back to my initial responce. I won't bore everyone with the details but the gist is as follows:-

 

"you state that you were not the driver on the day but it is the registered owner/keeper's responsibility to ensure that they know the whereabouts of their vehicle and the identity of the driver at all times, if you believe that you were not in possesion of your vehicle at the time of the contravention please provide us with the the drivers details in order for us to pursue the correct person. You are required to forward the drivers details or pay £60, if details of the driver or the payment is not received the charge will revert to £100. Failure to make payment in the allocated time may result in additional costs being incurred, through Court Action and Debt Recovery."

 

Has anyone else had this type of reply, is it fairly standard?, I would imagine so. I am certainly not going to pay them any money, I would appreciate anyone else's comments before I compose a reply back to Excel.

[My Real Name]

It's the same nonsense seen many times before. You would most likely be wasting your time in writing to them, and you certainly have no obligation, either legal or moral, to do so.

 

You should only think about doing anything in the extremely unlikely event that you receive actual court documents.

[pin1onu]

Hi Everyone

 

I have just received a lengthy reply back to my initial responce. I won't bore everyone with the details but the gist is as follows:-

 

"you state that you were not the driver on the day but it is the registered owner/keeper's responsibility to ensure that they know the whereabouts of their vehicle and the identity of the driver at all times,

if you believe that you were not in possesion of your vehicle at the time of the contravention please provide us with the the drivers details in order for us to pursue the correct person.

Thats as maybe but you are not obligated to tell them. They are not the old bill and there is no law, statuatory or otherwise, that can force you to tell them.

You are required to forward the drivers details or pay £60

You are under no obligation to forward the drivers details. There is no law that obliges you to.

, if details of the driver or the payment is not received the charge will revert to £100. Failure to make payment in the allocated time may result in additional costs being incurred, through Court Action and Debt Recovery."

Absolutely no way. You as the RK cannot be made party to a contract by a third party or made to indemnify a third party.

 

Has anyone else had this type of reply, is it fairly standard?, I would imagine so. I am certainly not going to pay them any money, I would appreciate anyone else's comments before I compose a reply back to Excel.

This is a typical load of BS from Excel. I would suggest that you just ignore them.

 

If you want to reply - have a look at the template letters in the stickies section of the forum, which were written with this sort of scenario in mind, and also have a read of the Private Parking Charges guide in their as well.

Edited January 29, 2009 by pin1onu
grammatical error

[lamma]

Perky's drivel spouted by Excel (again). Ignore. can't believe they are this daft, it must be deliberate. see http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/164651-problems-ppcs-face.html?highlight=problems+ppc+face and write to TS

[patdavies]

but it is the registered owner/keeper's responsibility to ensure that they know the whereabouts of their vehicle and the identity of the driver at all times,

 

I'm trying to think of the correct technical term for this statement...

 

Oh yes...absolute bollocks!

 

There can be no responsibility placed upon a registered owner, since there is no such entity. Even criminal law does not place this level of responsibility on a keeper, registered or otherwise, unless they are a corporate body where they cannot prove that it is not reasonable to keep a log of who drives their vehicles and when;

 

 

if you believe that you were not in possesion of your vehicle at the time of the contravention please provide us with the the drivers details in order for us to pursue the correct person.

 

More bollocks.

 

There is no basis in law for you to supply this information except where required in criminal matters by s.172 of the RTA 1988 or s.112 of the RTRA 1984.

 

If, and it's a big if, they wished to take this matter to Court, it is for then to prove who the driver is and sue him/her. There is no basis for suing the RK on the basis that he/she has failed to identify the driver (Even in criminal law, the RK cannot be prosecuted for the original offence; only the specific offence of failing to supply)

[ronthewhite]

Thanks for all the advice

Here is my next letter

 

I refer to your previous correspondence.

I have to advise you that the driver could have been any one of a number of people and I keep no records of who has driven the car on any given day.

 

Unless you provide evidence to substantiate your claim against me I shall be unable to assist you further in this matter and I restate my denial of this claim.

YF

I'll keep you posted

[ronthewhite]

Hi

 

Just recieved my 3rd response from Excel

 

"Further to your correspondence regarding ownership of vehicle, I have been in consultation with management and have been instructed to request driver details from you.

If you are not prepared to inform us of the identity of the driver, we will continue to request settlement from the vehicle owner.

As we received correspondence after the stipulated date you are required to either make payment of £100 or provide us with the drivers details.

Failure to comply will result in the charge increasing and eventual court action."

 

The letter was signed by Samantha Whitham, anyone else had dealings with her?

They seem fairly persistent with the driver identity, has anyone got any ideas on how I could reply back quoting any legal Acts confirming that I don't have to provide the drivers identity.

 

Thanks once again.

[sameagle]

"but it is the registered owner/keeper's responsibility to ensure that they know the whereabouts of their vehicle and the identity of the driver at all times,"

 

And in the case of a hire car, with two drivers, say, visiting Scotland, the hirers need to know "at all times", whether we've got it parked outside a cafe in Oban, or having just been awarded a degree at Edinburgh University, I'm now waiting nearby, for the other driver to collect me?

 

They are floundering and threshing about, [but don't they all?]

 

Sam the Eagle

[lamma]

Usual Excel rubbish (well even more rubbishy than usual in my view). and against the BPA CoP that they signed up to.

Ignore them.

[Al27]

Further to your correspondence regarding ownership of vehicle, I have been in consultation with management and have been instructed to request driver details from you.

If you are not prepared to inform us of the identity of the driver, we will continue to request settlement from the vehicle owner.

As we received correspondence after the stipulated date you are required to either make payment of £100 or provide us with the drivers details.

Failure to comply will result in the charge increasing and eventual court action.

 

I'd inform them that it was one of these drivers:

 

• B. O'Problem

• Seymour Butts

• Betty Swallocks

[68904]

Am fed up of eemore butts.

Just do not answer them again.

[ronthewhite]

Hi All

Just a quick update.

After a year since I was issued a parking ticket by Excel I am still receiving threats of court action, I have ignored all correspondence since Feb. 09, the last letter sent to me was by a debt collection agency,(Oct. 09) asking me to pay the original £60 or guess what? court action. You would have thought by now that they would have realised that I have no intension of paying and either take me to court or stop bothering me.

 

I hope this helps anybody else who finds themselves in a similar position.

[pin1onu]

Good on you for not paying.

 

This smacks of increasing desperation from the PPCs and the parasites otherwise known as debt collectors.

 

They want their Christmas bonuses but unfortunately the word is out and as more people get the message income is dropping. Sad isn't it?

 

(or should that read pathetic).

[lamma]

Sad ? Well there are tears on my keyboard - tears of laughter.

[68904]

If these comics.

were going to take you to Court, it would have taken place months ago.

You made your error writing to these monkeys on day one.

I hope that you use the Ridings Centre, a £1 for one hour, no clamps, tickets just shopin gone mad.

Its the same up Westgate with this company, it was in the local papers the other week.

 

Do not pay, careless talk costs ££££££'s.

[travman]

Just found this thread.

This is the car park that just sent me the "photo ticket" throught the post demanding £60 to start with

[letshelp]

Just found this thread.

This is the car park that just sent me the "photo ticket" throught the post demanding £60 to start with

Well Travman, having read the thread you know what to do;)

regards