Parking Eye ANPR - Accused of under paying for duration - Wall St, Hereford

Car was parked up at car park but driver did not leave the car for the duration. Sign said pay on exit so this was done prior to leaving with the car. Machine asked for registration plate, gave a value on the screen (£1.60) and says press green to pay at the top  - paid with card and received a parking slip (granted this says "receipt" on it). Surprising considering I was about to leave. I think the "when exiting car park" may mean when leaving on foot leaving the car parked. Since the reg number was entered at the end of stay (on exit) was expecting it to calculate what was needed).

Received ticket in post for over staying, 1hr 13 on 1 hr ticket.

Took photos of signage on another day and of the machine - entered a random (fake) registration plate to see what it shows.

The machine specifically says to select your tariff after entering the number plate, but since the registration plate was entered wasn't expecting to select our own time so assumed the number (it was in £ not in time) was correctly calculated. Basically missing the whole "card step" part.

Raised issue with POPLA who sided with the operator. Operator only supplied a PDF of how to pay with cash, and didn't provide evidence of signage as per what POPLA said.

POPLA says since the machine says to use the "Card Step" button (IMO a stupid term) to increase tariff so the appeal was unsuccesful. POPLA confirms the operator confirms the ticket was for 1hr.

Not sure how long POPLA took to respond to the case, though only found out when a "Letter before county court claim" was received.

They base it on a "resonable user", though my thinking is its reasonable for the machine to tell you how long you need based on ANPR entry and entering a registration plate, specially on exit.


Timeline...
29th August 2025

Arrival: 16:01:31
Purchase ticket: 17:13:xx
Departure: 17:15:28

PCN issued: 2025-09-10
POPLA appeal submitted: 2025-09-15
POPLA outcome: 2025-11-12
LBA received: 2026-01-07



Additional Qs...

1) It says pay before exiting car park - but it gives a ticket at the machine. Do they mean exit on foot or exit in the car? The car was never left alone.

2) The "10 minute" leway to enter into contract, does this eat into the time allowed to leave the car park? (specifically being 1hr13)


Images...
Car park Sign 1:
Car park Sign 2:
Meter sign 1:
Meter sign 2:
Purchased ticket or receipt:
PCN Front: https://ibb.co/Rfks5sZ
PCN Rear: https://ibb.co/HLN2hmqt
POPLA Case: https://ibb.co/LX3PYb8H
LBA Front: https://ibb.co/0j98kmdY
LBA Rear: https://ibb.co/Y7Hp76Zs

The machine specifically says to select your tariff after entering the number plate, but since the registration plate was entered wasn't expecting to select our own time so assumed the number (it was in £ not in time) was correctly calculated. Basically missing the whole "card step" part.

Your task on this point would be to convince the court that a reasonable and observant driver would make this assumption. In your favour is that this is a 'pay on exit' car park, so it's not entirely unreasonable to think the machine may be connected to the ANPR system and be able to calculate your stay. Against you is the fact that the machine contains instructions, which set out that the driver must select the correct tariff.

1) It says pay before exiting car park - but it gives a ticket at the machine. Do they mean exit on foot or exit in the car? The car was never left alone.

I'm not sure the answer to this affects your case. They aren't accusing you of paying at the wrong time, but of not paying for your full stay.

2) The "10 minute" leway to enter into contract, does this eat into the time allowed to leave the car park? (specifically being 1hr13)

There is a 10 minute grace period mandated by the Code of Practice, at the end of a legitimate period of parking, to account for time entering/leaving the car park, finding a space etc. In some circumstances this period may not be sufficient, although it might be hard to make that argument here, as from a look at Google Maps, the car park in question is fairly small.

I do think the main issue is "not reading" as I was focusing on the screen (even though that said at one point to increase etc) although I don't think everyone reads everything - not to mention it only gives a price value, so you in theory have to cross reference price vs time really which I think personally is nonsensical.

I only read the first line "Press green button for ticket" and immediately pressed it because thats how I think sadly.


The addtional questions was opinions on if others feel the pay on exit is supposed to mean one or the other - and you answered the 10 minute to mean both entry and exit which I thought it might be.

Something else we were talking about here - it says "10 minutes free stay" which I take to mean the grade period. Below it it has odd wording "All tariffs include the first 10 free minutes" - not the "first free 10 minutes". It seems to suggest the 10 minutes free is indeed free and up to 1hr means you're only paying for 50 mins initially. Right?

If you note the real time in the photo, vs the expiry time the ticket gives you for the 1hr tariff of £1.60- if you leave on exit the ticket is +1hr? I can't be sure how it would display if I put in a real car reg as we didn't park here to take photos.

Is it worth being clear that I am not ignoring the letter before action, and I will await court summons (without giving any details or not) - or ignore it until the time possibly arrives? I know courts like to see good faith negotiations so wouldn't want to impede this.



I'm going to try to narrow down my points...
Pay on exit + entering registration = assume it would calculate for me.
I read press green for ticket on the first line only (...)
Maybe the 1hr10 vs 1hr13 point (but already the 10 minutes is the grace so not sure)

Just a note here and it may be splitting hairs but it doesnt say it's pay on exit but pay before you exit, I.e. you can pay at anytime as you pay before you leave. This is exactly what people wanted after the Excel parking pay within 5 minutes scandal.

Thousands of people use (horrible) machines like this each day and get it right so understandable POPLA would assume a reasonable person could interact with it.

Think of the 10 minute free more like an advertised consideration period rather than free parking. So if you stay for less than 10 minutes parking is free, if you stay more than 10 minutes then you have to pay for all the time in the car park.

Looks like this is Parkingeye pursuing this so they probably think they have a good case, not DCB Legal so more chance of this actually going to court. Parkingeye have quite a good win rate in court. In most cases entering any form of defence will result in the case being dropped before the court fee is due but I think thats less likely in this case and if it does go to court your current defence of not understanding how the machine works is a little weak.