Excel Parking ordered to pay £10,240 in five-minute parking rule row

A car park operator that demanded £11,390 in parking charges from a driver has lost a court case and been ordered to pay thousands in costs.

Excel Parking, which has been criticised for charging drivers £100 if they took more than five minutes to pay at a car park in Derby, has been doing the same in Darlington.

Hannah Robinson, 21, was among those to be caught out and received hundreds of letters demanding money, as well as repeated phone calls.

Excel Parking eventually took her to court for some of the parking charge notices (PCNs), but a judge has now dismissed the claim and told the firm to pay £10,240.10 in costs to charity.

“Following the court hearing I feel relieved and a massive weight has lifted from my shoulders,” said Miss Robinson.

“It has been extremely stressful and frustrating; I constantly worried what letters I was receiving or who was going to knock at the door after the threats.”

Miss Robinson had free legal representation at the hearing but the judge made a pro bono costs order, meaning Excel Parking will have to pay thousands in costs to a charity called the Access to Justice Foundation.

This was the amount her legal team from Keidan Harrison spent defending the case.

“I feel happy that they [Excel Parking] are getting a taste of what it felt like for me,” said Miss Robinson.

Excel Parking Services Ltd told the BBC it did not want to comment as it was appealing.

Miss Robinson said the problems began for her in June 2021, when she started parking at the Feethams Leisure car park in Darlington, as she worked in a restaurant above it.

She said she paid each time but it sometimes took longer than five minutes due to poor phone signal and problems with the payment app.

“I started getting a couple of fines, and I was young and had just started driving, so I would pay them because I was scared,” said Miss Robinson, from Stockton-on-Tees.

She continued using the car park, despite the problems, because it was the safest one to use as a young woman on her own at night.

“There was actually a lift from that car park up to my workplace,” she said.

“I worked unsociable hours, I finished late, sometimes midnight or one in the morning, it was just the safest option for me to go down there.”

She decided to start appealing against the charges towards the end of 2022, but Excel still wanted her to pay.

“I’d been begging to speak to them, constant emails,” she said.

“I’ve got threads and threads of nobody wanting to communicate with me, and I was asking for so much help to try and sort this out.”

She eventually received a letter, in February 2024, asking her to pay 67 unpaid charges.

Each one was £100, plus a £70 debt collection fee, so the total was £11,390.

She then broke down and told her family what had been happening.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said her nan, Adrienne Atkin.

“I couldn’t believe the amount, and I couldn’t believe a company could do that, so I was shocked.”

Mrs Atkin then started trying to help her granddaughter.

“It’s almost been a full-time job trying to keep on top of everything, and it’s very easy for people to give up,” said Mrs Atkin.

“It had an effect on a young girl that shouldn’t have happened, when she should be out working, having fun.

“At some point Hannah just stayed in her bedroom. When her phone rang she was on edge because she didn’t know if it was going to be them.”

Miss Robinson eventually received a court claim asking her to pay two of the £100 PCNs, plus a £70 debt collection for each, and various other costs.

Excel Parking later applied to amend this claim so they could pursue 11 different PCNs.

But at a hearing on 26 March, District Judge Janine Richards dismissed this application, and also dismissed the original claim.

She found Excel’s “conduct in relation to this litigation was both unreasonable and out of the norm”, and therefore ordered the firm to pay the winning party’s legal costs of £10,240.10.

Miss Robinson said she was grateful to her solicitors, Luke Harrison and Anya Prasad.

“I am overwhelmed with the support I have received,” said Miss Robinson.

“The hearing was very tense but I’m glad the judge saw through them.

“I am upset with the way they have treated me and I hope this stops them going after innocent people.”