Free Traffic Legal Advice

Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: Randomusername12345 on June 02, 2025, 11:01:34 pm

Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: b789 on November 07, 2025, 05:24:21 pm
Ha! What a bunch of muppets they are. This could be very interesting and you should NOT try and cure their mistake because:

1. There’s no legal duty to help a claimant correct their own procedural or data error.

2. If they try to sue the wrongly named person, that’s a claim against a non-existent defendant — an automatic procedural failure that can’t be salvaged without court permission and cost consequences for them. Even if you never responded to the claimant and a default judgment was made, it would be a nullity as no such person exists.

If a claim ever does arrive in the wrong name, you can either (a) let it collapse, then apply to set aside if a default is entered; or (b) make a proactive non-party application early to strike it out and recover your costs.

3. If they instead try to revert to the keeper, they’re barred by PoFA as liability has already been correctly transferred and the statutory deadlines for keeper pursuit are long expired.

4. Silence also avoids giving them any excuse to “rectify” the record and start again cleanly.

In short, doing nothing keeps them boxed in whichever way they turn:
• pursue the wrong name = invalid claim
•revert to the keeper = no lawful basis

Keep all letters and envelopes as evidence of their misaddressing, and don’t respond unless something arrives either in the keeper’s correct name or in your own correct name. That’s the point where a reply is strategically necessary.

Let us know if that or any other correspondence is received.
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on November 07, 2025, 02:49:02 pm
Update: my wife nominated me as the driver, providing my correct name and address via the legal company. I have now received another PCN but address to the wrong name: my wife has a different surname to me and they have used her surname and a completely different first name to my own (say, Bob instead of Dave). So now I'm wondering how best to handle! What is my best approach seeing as they have my details but haven't used them? Attaching the latest letter received.

(https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/96/00/79/ME17H9RT_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME17H9RT) (https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/b8/08/0a/ME17H9RU_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME17H9RU)
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on October 22, 2025, 07:55:56 am
Can you reshare the signage photos, now that Imgur is no longer accessible?

If you are going to transfer liability to yourself, your wife could respond to the Letter of Claim stating that she was not the driver, and providing the name and address for service for the driver (aka you).

Feel free to show us a draft.

Here's a draft letter - all I'm doing is transferring liability, rather than raising any issues with the claim;

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write in response to your Letter Before Claim concerning the above-mentioned Parking Charge Notice (PCN).

As the registered keeper of the vehicle [vehicle registration], I note your correspondence regarding an alleged parking contravention on 11/05/2025 at Powys Street Car Park. However, I am not liable for this charge, as I was not the driver at the material time.

In accordance with Paragraph 5(1)(b) of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA), I hereby transfer liability to the driver who was in charge of the vehicle on the date in question. The driver's details are as follows:

Name:
Address:

Under PoFA 2012, once the name and address of the driver have been provided, the parking operator must pursue the driver directly and may not continue to hold the keeper liable for the charge.

Please confirm in writing that:

The matter against me, as the keeper, is now closed; and

All future correspondence will be directed to the named driver.

If you intend to proceed despite this transfer of liability, please provide a detailed explanation of your legal basis for doing so. Otherwise, I expect written confirmation that this case is now closed with respect to myself.

Yours,
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on October 14, 2025, 08:28:14 pm
In terms of transferring liability, I can draft something based on other threads. Is it worth challenging the legitimacy of the LBC at the same time, or will there be a reset of the timeline at this stage anyway?
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on October 14, 2025, 02:10:45 pm
Apologies for the delay, work got really busy. Reattaching the photos from my original post here.

(https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/90/66/ce/ME16VYXE_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16VYXE) (https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/6e/b9/09/ME16VYXH_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16VYXH) (https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/24/0d/e2/ME16VYXJ_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16VYXJ)
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: DWMB2 on October 09, 2025, 08:15:08 pm
Can you reshare the signage photos, now that Imgur is no longer accessible?

If you are going to transfer liability to yourself, your wife could respond to the Letter of Claim stating that she was not the driver, and providing the name and address for service for the driver (aka you).

Feel free to show us a draft.
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on October 09, 2025, 07:34:52 pm
It did, but it was all through a portal which no longer gives the option as we have gone past their appeals time frame.
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: jfollows on October 09, 2025, 07:16:18 pm
The original NTK should include instructions about identifying the driver.
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on October 09, 2025, 06:56:25 pm
Hello all, I have now received a letter before claim! Images hopefully pasted below...

Grateful for.advise on next steps. I asked in my original appeal what times I had paid for, as this was excluded, and for proof of right to form a contract, but neither were provided.

My wife is getting cold feet and so I would like to transfer liability to the driver (me) - what's the best way to do this?

Thanks for any advice!
Dan

(https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/c7/e0/b9/ME16RG9G_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16RG9G) (https://thumbs4.imagebam.com/5b/4b/64/ME16RG9I_t.jpg) (https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME16RG9I)
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on June 03, 2025, 03:18:51 pm
Thanks! That's all good to know. I'll be back in touch in a few months time then by the sound of it :)
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: b789 on June 03, 2025, 11:25:01 am
Given that the sign, even if it has a new name on it, does not conform to the standards required by their CoP and that it is incapable of forming a contract, then yes, you should challenge it. The only reason this is gong to take a long time is because you are dealing with a vexatious, greedy firm.

VCS have been battered many times in court over the issues with their PCNs, but they rely on overwhelming numbers of charges and the gullibility of most of their victims to pay up if they persist.

If it progresses to litigation (likely), there is a very good chance of you being successful. The actual odds of it actually reaching a hearing in front of a judge are low. Even if it did, you would have a good prospect of success (better than 50%).

Even in the very worst case scenario and a claim was unsuccessfully defended, there is no risk of a CCJ on your credit file as long as the CCJ is paid in full within 30 days of judgment. We would never put someone at risk of having a CCJ on their credit record.

If you are worried that your wife may fold under the pressure and she was not the driver, you can, at any point up to issue of a claim, transfer liability to the driver.

Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on June 03, 2025, 10:12:45 am
Ok, thanks - is there any point in appealing, or do I just ignore it completely for now?

Do you think this is something I can successfully resolve when it comes to litigation, given that they seem to be doing most things "right" now? I'll need to reassure my wife as it's her name on it!
Title: Re: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: b789 on June 03, 2025, 01:29:04 am
The only way this will be resolved is after they have initiated litigation. This will take anything from about nine months to over a year to come to conclusion.

The photo of the sign is too old and I believe that it now correctly has the VCS name on the signs. Correct me if I'm wrong and show a contemporaneous photo of the sign if it still has the Excel name on it.

No appeal to VCS or the IAS is going to succeed. You can safely ignore all debt recovery letters that will come your way. Debt collectors are powerless to do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear.

Come back when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) and we will advise on how to respond.
Title: Excel Parking/VCS PCN - parked after the expiry of the time purchased - Powis Street carpark, Woolwich
Post by: Randomusername12345 on June 02, 2025, 11:01:34 pm
Hello all - hoping I'm following all the advice in my post here!

My wife is the registered keeper of the vehicle in question, I'm here to do the admin but with her knowledge and support. The driver parked the vehicle in the carpark and paid for a ticket - I understand for 2 hours, although the NtK doesn't actually say this, or anything else about the ticket purchased. The driver was managing two small children, and it just took a but longer than expected to get them in&out of the car and out of the car park.

The NtK looks PoFa complaint. The signage has a huge amount of information on it - I'm using a photo from Google Street View as I've not been able to visit the site. There is only one payment machine and it's slow and on a Sunday morning there's always a queue because of a nearby church, but without the ticket details it's not possible to know how long it took to buy the ticket (the driver would guess less than ten minutes).

I've considered complaining to travellodge about the disproportionate fee for a small infraction, but from other forums understand that the hotel does not own the land, and it's not clear who does. This makes me wonder whether Excel/VCS have the proper authority to charge, but I don't have enough information to know.

Here's the NtK:
(https://i.imgur.com/c7KQYkO.jpeg)

Reverse side:
(https://i.imgur.com/VcmNgvG.jpeg)

And the signage:
(https://i.imgur.com/hJaCFE7.png)


I've missed the date to appeal before the mugs discount expires as was on holiday, but we want to argue against this nonsense anyway, so assume that makes no difference.

Really grateful for any advice on how best to handle this!