Park & Control parking charge: how to appeal

Where Park & Control charges go wrong

• Genuine customers of the site. Retailers, restaurants and venues frequently instruct the operator to cancel for customers who have a receipt or booking. Send it to the venue as well as the operator.
• Two visits recorded as one. When an ANPR camera misses a read, a morning and an evening visit become one long stay. Receipts, bank statements and loyalty records from both visits are strong evidence.
• Grace periods. The sector code requires a 10-minute grace period after the paid or free time ends, and a consideration period of at least five minutes on arrival. A short overstay is often inside the grace period once it is applied.
• Signs that do not form a contract. An entrance sign missing, unlit at night, too high to read, or terms that are unclear or contradictory. If the terms were not adequately brought to your attention, no contract was formed.
• Late or defective Notice to Keeper. Check the date of the parking event against the date on the notice, and the wording against Schedule 4.

To hold the registered keeper liable rather than the driver, the operator must comply with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: a camera-issued Notice to Keeper must be delivered within 14 days of the parking event, and a windscreen ticket must be followed by a Notice to Keeper between 28 and 56 days later, with the prescribed wording. If it misses any of this, it can only pursue the driver, and you are never obliged to say who that was. Keeper liability does not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

How to appeal a Park & Control charge

1. Appeal to Park & Control within 28 days of the date on the notice, using the appeal link or postal address printed on it. Quote the reference and registration, state your ground, attach your evidence, and do not name the driver unless you choose to.
2. If rejected, use the independent appeal named on the rejection letter within 28 days. The letter will give either a POPLA code (British Parking Association members) or an IAS reference (International Parking Community members). Use whichever it names; you cannot choose.
3. Only a court can make you pay. After the appeals stage the operator may pass the charge to a debt recovery firm and may issue a county court claim. Recovery letters carry no legal force, but a claim form does: respond to it or a default judgment will follow.

Whether the discount is re-offered after a rejected appeal depends on the operator's trade body — the British Parking Association requires it, the International Parking Community does not.