Excel Parking: Motorists' fury at Broomhill site earning Sheffield company up to £500-an-hour

Three people appeared to go over the time limit when The Star spent an hour at Broomhill Rooftop parking. Two more gave up and drove off after growing frustrated with the Connect Cashless Parking app.

They are also likely to receive letters demanding £100, potentially earning the firm a total of £500.

Excel Parking issues invoices to drivers who break its rules, followed by letters referencing debt collectors and legal action.

But in court, judges tend to focus on whether someone has paid for their parking and there have been examples where they have ignored the time limits imposed by operators.

At the entrance, signs feature a coin and card symbol. A smaller, separate sign states: “This car park is pay by phone only.”

In total there are 272 words that take about a minute to read fully.

Once parked, and with the clock counting down, drivers are faced with an 800-word main sign with rules and terms which takes about three minutes to read.

It includes instructions on how to ‘tap card’ or ‘insert cash’ at the meter, although Excel says the machines have been stolen and it is now a pay by phone car park only. 

This leaves drivers with two options: download the Connect Cashless Parking app or call an 0345 number.

The app comes with 2,700 words of terms and conditions which drivers are urged to ‘read carefully before going any further’. Doing that takes 10 minutes.

Therefore reading all of the signs and terms and conditions to pay by app at Broomhill Rooftop takes 14 minutes - four minutes over the time limit.

There are other factors that might delay payment.

Bev Lewis from Manchester was dropping her daughter at university and using the site for the first time when she experienced problems.

She said she struggled to get a signal to download the payment app in the nearby entrance to Morrisons supermarket, but did not want to stand outside and get her phone wet in the rain.

She did not have her reading glasses and also had to nip back to the car to check her registration number. Including the time it took to find a space and park, she now fears she will get a £100 charge.

She said: “I found it very stressful because of the 10-minute time limit. There may be elderly people here who may struggle. You should be able to tap with your card or use something like Apple Pay.”

Charles Grellois, a computer science lecturer, took 11m 40s to download the app and pay.

He found it did not work with his Monzo bank account and had to input details of another, which used up valuable time.

A third car park user described previously receiving two £100 letters, the first time for taking too long to pay after downloading the app and the second time when the app said ‘error’.

Broomhill is a busy student area and the Rooftop site sees a lot of first-time visitors.

The Star downloaded the payment app. The process involves waiting for a text confirmation code, agreeing to terms and conditions, inputting vehicle details, inputting bank account details and opening your banking app to verify the transaction.

Broomhill Rooftop includes the option to pay by phone. This method took just 3m 10s but appears to be far less popular with drivers.

Previously reported complaints at the site include problems with pay meters and a systems fault which saw the company apologise after wrongly issuing an unknown number of £100 demands at least twice.

The car park is above a shopping parade which includes Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Costa, Boots and Barnardo’s. Morrisons has urged customers having problems with Excel to contact them.

A spokesperson said: “If a customer believes they may have an issue with their ticket, we would advise them to speak with our customer service team when parking."

The private parking industry is self-regulated. Trade body International Parking Community handles appeals over £100 parking letters. It recently launched an 18,000 word code of conduct which includes sanctions.

It says drivers must be given enough time to pay - the ‘consideration period’ - taking into account how long it takes to find a bay and park, read the signs, identify and comply with requirements for payment, or leave.

It adds: “It is important to stress that the consideration period is the amount of time a driver has to decide whether or not to park, including the time needed to find an available parking space.”

But, crucially, it does not say how long it should be.

The IPC is funded by firms including Excel Parking.

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At Berkeley Centre on Ecclesall Road, the firm was replaced after years of complaints over its 10-minute payment time limit.

Today, motorists get half-an-hour free and can pay at any time during a two-hour stay. No one has complained to The Star since new operator Bank Park took over.

Meanwhile, drivers at the Excel-run Feethams Leisure site in Darlington get just five minutes to pay.

Complaints to local MP Lola McEvoy are now so frequent she met owner Columbia Threadneedle and site managers Workman LLP and urged them to step in.

We asked Excel Parking boss Simon Renshaw Smith whether drivers should read all of the signs and terms at Broomhill Rooftop. We also asked if he accepted there could be innocent reasons why motorists go over 10 minutes, and if the site was making £500-an-hour.

The company has not yet responded.

Excel Parking Services Ltd is based at 7 Europa View in Tinsley and includes subsidiary Vehicle Control Services VCS.

Last year, the company’s ‘profit before tax’ rocketed from £2m to £4m, its annual results show.

Private parking firms issue Parking Charge Notices, which sound similar to Penalty Charge Notices issued by councils and police, they also have the same initials: PCN.

But many argue they are simply invoices for allegedly breaching a parking company’s terms and conditions.

Ageco.co.uk, part of charity Age UK, states: "Although parking charge notices are sometimes referred to as ‘fines’, it is often argued it is simply an invoice requesting payment in what has been perceived as a breach of agreement between a car park operator and the driver.

"This means that it can be disputed directly with the owners of the car park, and it’s possible that you may even find that you have no obligation to pay them anything at all."

Citizens Advice states: "The Parking Charge Notice might look like an official fixed penalty from the police but it isn't one."