Woman's £1,906 bill over five-minute parking rule

Two MPs - Lola McEvoy and Abtisam Mohamed - have previously written to Excel Parking with concerns about people being unfairly fined at other car parks it operates.

Miss Hudson believes the five-minute payment rule is "totally unreasonable".

"I haven't got children but I can imagine a busy mum trying to sort her kids out, trying to pay for something when there's no signal here, and the machine being out of order," she said.

"This has been going on for over a year now, and I'm just really hoping it can be resolved.

"I desperately don't want this to happen to anybody else, more than anything, because it gives you a lot of stress."

Miss Hudson started using the Copeland Street car park in February 2023, when she was working in the Derbion centre nearby.

She said the parking machine was "completely out of order", so she tried to pay using a phone app.

"I was trying to get reception and wasn't able to, so I got my wi-fi within the store, and paid online through their app," she said.

Miss Hudson did the same thing each day, paying the full £3.30 daily rate each time, until she received a PCN letter.

It asked her to pay £100 within 28 days, reduced to £60 if she paid within 14 days.

"I rang the company and explained the situation, and they basically said 'you have to pay it'," said Miss Hudson.

"So to keep them off my back I did pay the initial parking fine."

Miss Hudson then received a further nine PCNs.

Although each of the nine outstanding PCNs was for £100, the amount has increased to £1,905.76 because Excel Parking has since added an extra £70 "debt recovery" charge to each one, interest of 8% per annum, a £115 court fee, and £80 costs for a legal representative.

Derek Millard-Smith, a specialist lawyer in the UK parking sector, says parking on private land is generally governed by contract law.

"By entering that land and seeing the signage and parking there, you are deemed to have agreed to those terms, and if you then fail to adhere to those terms you can be issued with a Parking Charge Notice," he said.

Mr Millard-Smith said PCNs were "a contractual debt", which could ultimately be pursed through the civil courts and result in a County Court Judgement, which can affect your credit rating.

He urged anyone who believes they have wrongly received a PCN to appeal against it, either through POPLA or the Independent Appeals Service (IAS).

POPLA is the appeals service for PCNs which have been issued by car park operators, which are members of the British Parking Association (BPA).

The IAS is for PCNs issued by members of the International Parking Community (IPC), which includes Excel Parking.

Car park operators need to be members of either the BPA or IPC in order to obtain drivers' details from the DVLA, and therefore issue PCNs by post.

Excel Parking has made a claim through the Civil National Business Centre asking Miss Hudson to pay £1,905.76.

The two parties had telephone mediation on 11 November but a settlement was not reached.

Miss Hudson has now been told there will be a court hearing within six months.

She said she was "very worried" but wanted to stand up for herself.

"I believe I have got a good case and I believe that it will help not just me, but potentially other people that have been in this situation," she said.

"Hopefully the judge will understand my case and see my point of view."