Appeals

You have the option to appeal against the parking charge notice (PCN) you have received. However, we would issue the following guidance should you wish to pursue this course.

A parking charge notice (PCN) is issued if a vehicle is parked in contravention of the advertised conditions on property we own, lease or have been contracted to patrol. Please be aware that our signage meets or exceeds the requirements of the British Parking Association’s Code of Practice.

How to appeal parking tickets

However, if you feel you have grounds for appeal against the parking charge notice (PCN), please do so within 28 days of issue, noting the conditions below: A parking charge appeal must be made using our online form, or in writing to our address, or via email. For legal reasons we cannot deal with appeals over the telephone.

Please clearly state your reason for appeal and detail any other information you feel is relevant. This must be done within 28 days of the parking enforcement action or within 14 days if you wish any discounted payment period to be honoured. Our Parking Appeals Department will respond in writing or by email within 35 days with a decision.

The amount outstanding WILL NOT increase whilst we consider your parking charge notice (PCN) appeal. If your parking charge notice (PCN) appeal was received within the discount payment period, the opportunity to pay the reduced parking charge notice (PCN) amount will be offered if your appeal is unsuccessful.

Appeals will NOT be considered for the following reasons:

• You went to get some change
• You did not know it was a Pay & Display car park
• You were only a few minutes overdue
• You only stopped for a few minutes
• Please read the relevant sections on Blue Badge use before submitting an appeal for this type of contravention.

Fair service and refund policy

We aim to provide a fair PCN appeals service, carried out by our experienced appeals team. The appeals team uses photographic evidence, reports from our systems, on-site operatives and your correspondence when dealing with any parking notice dispute.

Once your PCN appeal is received we will acknowledge your appeal within 14 days. We will then contact you within 35 days with our appeal outcome.

If you are unhappy with the final decision, you are now able to appeal directly to the Parking on Private Land Appeals Service (POPLA). Appeals cannot be heard by POPLA until a decision has been made by the parking operator. Full details of POPLA appeals will be provided with your appeal rejection letter should your appeal be unsuccessful.

All POPLA appeals will only be considered at the full parking charge amount and the right to any discount is lost if you choose to appeal to POPLA, these are their rules not ours.

Refunds of any payments received will only be provided if a PCN appeal is approved by our parking charge notice (PCN) appeals manager and are at the discretion of the management.

Pay & Display car parks

Pay & Display car parks apply conditions of parking that Pay & Display parking tickets must be displayed on the dashboard of your vehicle, with the issue and expiry time clearly visible to our staff. If failure to display, or incorrect display is the reason for the parking charge notice (PCN) you have received, any parking charge appeal would be dealt with by our appeals team reviewing the photographic evidence supplied by our parking enforcement officers. In this case producing a valid parking ticket, after the event, for the time the parking charge notice (PCN) was issued with an appeal would not be sufficient cause to cancel a parking charge notice (PCN).

Disabled Parking

It is our company policy to uphold an appeal for parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid badge as long as a valid disabled parking badge is produced to the on-site operative and recorded prior to leaving the site.

Please read the relevant sections on Blue Badge use before submitting an appeal for this type of contravention.

Other considerations

In the modern era, there is a lot of information available through such media as advice websites, social media groups and forums online. However, most of this information is unregulated and is not controlled for accuracy or relevance in line with current case law or legislation. It is therefore essential that appeals are submitted in your own words and that they are based on the facts surrounding your case. Two examples of this are as follows;

“I was not the driver and I don’t need to tell you who was”
Since 2012 The Protection of Freedoms Act has covered this, and while there is no requirement to name the driver and provide a serviceable address, failure to do so, providing that the conditions have been met, transfers the liability of the charge to the Registered Keeper. As a BPA AOS company we can apply directly to the DVLA for the Registered Keeper details to pursue collection of the charge from them if the charge remains unpaid.

“The charge is unfair and disproportionate”
In November 2015 the Supreme Court ruled on the case of Parking Eye vs Beavis with regard to the case of a Parking Charge Notice issued. In summary they accepted that the charge was reasonable, that a Contract had been formed as signage was in place, and that breach of the conditions shown on the signage in place was sufficient to issue the charge, this ruling replacing older case law. The full judgement can be found here.