Shame on You! - Excel Parking Services at The Cloisters - Formby

MOTORISTS visiting Formby believe more needs to be done to warn people about the dangers of receiving parking fines at the Cloisters car park. Several elderly and disabled people visiting Formby have been hit with hefty parking fines despite having their blue disabled badges clearly on show because they failed to issue a pay and display ticket, a rule that varies depending on each car park.

This car park has recently changed all its signs to make sure that people can now see that disabled people have to pay for parking despite having a blue disabled badge but, this time last year was a different story.

Many people received fines for parking with blue disabled badges clearly displayed because they could not see the signs which at the time were over 8ft high as pictured below and also very small writing. You would never have been able to see the very high signs at all.

This was the sign in July last year 2014 displayed so high that you were completly unable to see it. Look at the sign and you can see that there is no pole visible above it at all.

This is the same sign which has now been lowered by over 2ft. Look at the space left on the pole above the sign. They are now more visible to everyone but that does not help the people who received tickets last year because these signs were not visible at all. They were far too high to see. New signs have now been erected everywhere as you can see in the photo below but they are all new.

All new signs erected - 4 in this one photo which was not the case last year.

Two more signs here as you can see. You cannot miss the signs now that have gone up but, that does not help anyone that is fighting against tickets that were issued before the signs were made visible.

This is not the only problem with Excel Parking Services, when you email them to argue your case, they do not respond to any emails. They tell you on the ticket if you do not agree with the ticket, you must email them, you cannot phone or write, it has to be email and when you do, they do not reply. We have seen proof of this with Formby residents that are now fighting Excel charges in court.

Please be aware that you do have to pay for a ticket even if you are disabled and display a blue badge.

The Cloisters car park on Halsall Lane is ran by Excel Parking Service Limited whose rules include paying for a pay and display ticket even if you have a blue disabled badge on show, as a way of proving the correct time of arriving. However this rule is something that varies depending on the car park, most often, disabled badge holders can park in car parks without a pay and display ticket. On Saturday May 2nd, a nurse from Liverpool took a client with Parkinson's disease to Formby for the day and parked at the Cloisters car park, where she left her disabled badge clearly visible. However when she returned to the car park she was left stunned when she found a £40 parking ticket stuck on her car window. Mrs Joan Barton, who was confused as to why she received the ticket, spoke to the ticket officer on site to question why she had been given a fine if her badge was clearly on show. After querying the officer he showed her a small notice in the car park that stated disabled badge holders also need a pay and display ticket. Mrs Barton said: “When he told me I got my parking ticket because I didn’t have a pay and display ticket, I was so confused because in most car parks I never need to have a pay and display ticket if the badge is on show. ”He showed me a small notice in the car park that said disabled badge holders need to pay and display. “I was so shocked, I could hardly see the notice let alone read it, the notice board was so small and unnoticeable, how could an elderly or disabled person possibly read that. ”Something needs to be done to make people aware what is happening in the Cloisters car park, I am positive most elderly and disabled people wont be aware of this notice and would have been fined for something they didn't know about. “I believe this company have made this sign really high and in small font so they can target elderly people. ”When I was there about seven other pensioners also received a parking ticket, this just shows the vast amount of money they are making from this car park, it is disgusting behaviour. “I understand why I received the parking ticket, because I didn't have a pay and display ticket but at the same time they should also make the notice more visible as a warning to people parking there.”

As you can now see by our photographs that they have now made the signs lower and put many more in place but, this is only very recent and has left people distraught and fighting in court.

Excel Parking Service Limited declined to comment.