ParkingEye parking charge: how to appeal

Where ParkingEye charges go wrong

• Two visits recorded as one. ParkingEye's cameras read plates on entry and exit. If a read is missed, your morning trip and your evening trip become one all-day stay. Bank statements, receipts and loyalty-card records from both visits are strong evidence, and ParkingEye cancels many of these.
• Overstays of a few minutes. The sector code requires a 10-minute grace period after the permitted time and a consideration period of at least five minutes on arrival. A 12-minute overstay in a two-hour car park is often a 2-minute overstay once the grace period is applied.
• Hospital visits. Patients, visitors and staff frequently receive charges for stays that were unavoidable. Most NHS trusts have told ParkingEye to cancel these on request; an appointment letter or discharge note usually does it.
• Genuine customers. Supermarkets and retail parks generally do not want their customers charged. A receipt for the visit, sent to the store manager and to ParkingEye, is often the quickest route to cancellation.
• Signage. ParkingEye's signs are generally compliant, but entrance signs missing, unlit at night, or terms changed without notice have all succeeded at POPLA.
• Late Notice to Keeper. Check the date of the visit against the date of the notice.

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 ParkingEye charge

1. Appeal to ParkingEye within 28 days of the date on the notice, using the online appeal link or the postal address printed on it. Quote the reference and registration, state your ground, attach evidence, and do not name the driver unless you choose to.
2. If rejected, appeal to POPLA within 28 days. ParkingEye is a British Parking Association member, so its rejection letter will contain a ten-digit POPLA verification code. The POPLA assessor decides on the documents; it is free and independent.
3. Only a court can make you pay. After that the operator may use a debt recovery agency 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.

British Parking Association rules require the operator to re-offer the discounted amount for 14 days if it rejects your first appeal, so appealing to the operator does not cost you the discount.

Should you pay ParkingEye?

If you clearly stayed well beyond the limit at a well-signed site, the discounted £60 may be the pragmatic answer. If any of the failures above apply, appeal. ParkingEye has taken drivers to court and won where the case was clear, but it also cancels a large share of charges on well-founded appeals. AppealGo checks the notice and the dates, drafts the appeal and files it with ParkingEye for you.