Excel Parking: Pensioner hit with £100 demand after hunt for Broomhill pay meters that 'didn't exist'

Stephen Barnicott parked at Broomhill Rooftop car park where signs stated ‘pay at meter’. 

When he couldn’t find one, he said he went to Morrison’s supermarket below and asked staff. They told him the machines had been stolen.

He failed to download a payment app because the signal was “atrocious”, he said, before phoning a number where he eventually paid. The process took 37 minutes.

Excel Parking imposes a 10-minute deadline and sent Mr Barnicott a demand for £100.

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Mr Barnicott said: “At no time did we endeavour to evade the parking charge and, had there been a meter as stated, we would have paid immediately and obtained a relevant ticket.

“We were visitors to the area to attend a family wedding and this has certainly left us with a very negative view of Sheffield and Excel Parking.”

Machines at the site have been missing since at least June 21 when Gail Swift received a demand in similar circumstances.

Her appeals to Excel and IAS were rejected and she is preparing to fight them in court.

In September, The Star found signs advertising a paymeter and others stating ‘pay by phone only’. See more Excel Parking stories in the ‘Read More’ section.

Mr Barnicott, from Staffordshire, initially appealed to Excel but was refused. A second appeal, to Independent Appeals Service, run by trade body International Parking Community, was successful.

A representative for Excel said Mr Barnicott did not explain all the circumstances in his appeal.

They added: “It wasn’t until he appealed to the Independent Appeals Service that he fully explained the circumstances.

“Despite the parking charge having been correctly issued, upon reading his further appeal, we decided to accept his explanation for the delay and chose to no longer pursue the charge.

“Had Mr Barnicott provided as much detail in his initial appeal to us, it’s unlikely matters would have progressed to the IAS.”

International Parking Community charges firms for membership - which they must have to access the DVLA database of drivers’ addresses.

The fee is based on turnover, so the more money a parking company makes the more its income increases. Excel’s turnover jumped from £12.8m in 2022 to £16.1m last year.

Excel Parking boss Simon Renshaw-Smith sits on the IPC’s 12-strong steering committee, which is by ‘invitation only’.