Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: Curliness8852 on June 19, 2026, 09:19:58 am
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I have drafted an appeal letter, below. I have deliberately left out the keying error and other information that could "muddy the waters", as I don't want to cause confusion to the appeals assessor.
Would you mind reviewing the below and telling if there is anything that I have omitted that would boost the appeal though?
I write to appeal the Parking Charge Notice (reference XXXX) issued by Euro Car Parks Limited (“the operator”). I appeal solely in my capacity as hirer of the vehicle. I do not identify the driver.
Grounds of Appeal: Failure to comply with the statutory requirements for a valid Notice to Hirer under Schedule 4, Paragraph 14 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
For a Notice to Hirer (“NtH”) to be valid and capable of transferring liability to the hirer, the operator must comply strictly with the conditions set out in Schedule 4, Paragraph 14 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“PoFA 2012”).
Paragraph 14(2)(a) requires that the creditor has given the hirer a notice together with a copy of the Notice to Keeper and a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2). These are:
• A statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement;
• A copy of the hire agreement; and
• A copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement.
Upon receiving the NtH from the operator, I noted that none of the abovementioned documents were enclosed – neither the Notice to Keeper, hire agreement, or any communications from the hire company. To date, none of these documents have been provided at any point, whether at the time of service of the NtH or subsequently. The operator has therefore failed entirely to satisfy the statutory conditions necessary to transfer liability from the keeper to the hirer.
The operator’s failure to provide the requisite documents means that no valid NtH exists in law. Liability therefore cannot be transferred to me as the hirer, and the charge is thus not enforceable against me.
For completeness, I note that even if the documents had been provided at a later date, this would still not cure the deficiency: Paragraph 14(2)(a) requires the documents to be served together with the NtH, and retrospective provision cannot satisfy that requirement.
I respectfully request that POPLA uphold this appeal and cancel the charge in full.
Supporting Documents Enclosed:
1. Annex A: Copy of the Notice to Hirer as received
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Just choose "other". "I was not improperly parked" at the very least implies who was driving, which, given one of your appeal points is based on them not knowing who was driving, is not advised.
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I am happy to drag through an appeal since parking was paid for in full.
The options listed on POPLA are:
- My vehicle was stolen
- I was not improperly parked
- The amount requested on the parking charge is not correct
- I was not the driver or the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged improper parking
- Extreme circumstances prevented me from parking correctly
- Other
The most appropriate option seems to be "Other", but they add a statement saying Appeals based solely on the following grounds (the last two) are less likely to be successful.
As such, would I be best to select both "I was not improperly parked" (and provide evidence of payment) and "Other" to cover both options?
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It’s your call.
You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.
Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
Do you want to pay £0 but have to deal with this for a number of months, or do you want to be done with thi for £20 now?
Only you can decide.
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I have now received a response to my appeal, stating that they are offering a "Major Keying Error" fine of £20 instead of the full fine.
As they did not follow due process in issuing the fine, should I still appeal to POPLA on the basis that they haven't fulfilled their NtH obligations?
If I do appeal on this basis, am I best to avoid muddying the waters by talking about the fact that a ticket was bought with a major keying error, and just stick to the invalid NtH line entirely?
Thanks
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You could contact Octopus and ask them to record the fact that you are now dealing with the matter and that no payment should be made by them in relation to your vehicle.
Given that the operator has now issued the NtH, it would probably be too late for them to allege that the keeper had not provided them with the correct documents - if they believed that the keeper had not provided the correct documents then they should have raised that point directly with the keeper (lease company) before issuing the NtH.
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Great, thank you for that information. I had missed the key word "together" when I read the Act!
One question - if Octopus EV did not give all tbe required information to the carpark operstor, are they still liable as the registered keeper?
I believe that my agreement with them allows them to recharge any tickets they pay to me, so I'm wondering if it is worth checking with Octopus to ensure that they have taken all steps needed to allow the parking operator to transfer liability, and hope the parking operator doesn't followcup with a new NtH including the other documents together?
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I would initially appeal to the parking operator using a loose appeal point purely to get the POPLA code - something along the lines of 'I understand that the parking was paid for'.
Obviously you will appeal purely as the hirer.
This would prevent the parking operator from understanding exactly what they have done wrong and give them no time to put it right.
You should note that the legislation actually specifies;
14(2) The conditions are that—
(a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper;
The key word in the legislation is "together" meaning; that they cannot retrospectively provide the documents since all the documents must be served 'together'.
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Good evening,
I have now received the formal PCN (Notice to Hirer) in the post, please see on Google Drive:
- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X5u6NyVs_85w9CO0_rH-rm4jIC65g8Of?usp=drive_link
They have not attached either:
- Notice to Keeper
- Hire Agreement
- A copy of the statement from Octopus EV stating that I am the hirer (although I was cc'd onto Octopus' reply to them stating this, not sure if this is sufficient?[/li
Does this mean that they have not fulfilled their duties in issuing the ticket?
As they were informed of my (the hirer's) details on 19 June, does this mean that if they do not supply the above by 10th July, they cannot pursue me or the driver for the PCN?
If that is indeed the case, does that mean that I should wait until after 10th July to reply, and then appeal/inform that that as they did not meet those requirements, they are unable to pursue this further?
Thanks
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You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.
Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
I'll post the full PCN when I get a proper copy - the initial one was issued to my leasing company, so waiting for that to be transferred over. I'll read up on the keying error information, thank you.
If the car is leased, this should mean you will get a Notice to Hirer issued to you in due course which is unlikely to meet the requirements of PoFA 2012 to transfer liability from the unknown driver to you as hirer.
Do not identify the driver.
Post the NtH when you receive it and note the other documents sent with it (there should be, but probably there won’t be).
Search the forum in the meantime for the usual failings of Notices to Hirer, and the appeal point that results.
So far I have an email from the leasing company (Octopus EV) that they have sent to ECP authorising them to communicate with me directly:
Dear Euro Car Parks Limited
This letter confirms that Octopus Electric Vehicles has authorised you to communicate directly with the nominated person detailed below in
relation to the Penalty Charge Notice they have received.
Vehicle Registration: <redacted>
Reference: <redacted>
Contract Start Date: <redacted>/2025
Contract EndDate: <redacted>/2029
Driver/CustomerName: <redacted>
Driver/Customer Address: <redacted>
The above vehicle is on long term lease with Octopus Electric Vehicles and the nominated person above has full use of the vehicle.
There are multiple drivers on the policy, so despite Octopus' wording that I'm the driver/Customer, they do not know who the driver was, just that I am the customer.
I'll read up on NtH failings whilst awaiting a copy of it, thank you.
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You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.
Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
I'll post the full PCN when I get a proper copy - the initial one was issued to my leasing company, so waiting for that to be transferred over. I'll read up on the keying error information, thank you.
If the car is leased, this should mean you will get a Notice to Hirer issued to you in due course which is unlikely to meet the requirements of PoFA 2012 to transfer liability from the unknown driver to you as hirer.
Do not identify the driver.
Post the NtH when you receive it and note the other documents sent with it (there should be, but probably there won’t be).
Search the forum in the meantime for the usual failings of Notices to Hirer, and the appeal point that results.
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Note that your original argument is probably flawed in that Euro Car Parks probably got nothing from you, their contract is likely to be that they hand over all the money to the land owner in return for which they get to keep any money they manage to extract from people who break their rules. So they want their £100 (or whatever) from you now.
Interesting. I really should have just bought a second ticket when I realised then!
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You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.
Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
I'll post the full PCN when I get a proper copy - the initial one was issued to my leasing company, so waiting for that to be transferred over. I'll read up on the keying error information, thank you.
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Note that your original argument is probably flawed in that Euro Car Parks probably got nothing from you, their contract is likely to be that they hand over all the money to the land owner in return for which they get to keep any money they manage to extract from people who break their rules. So they want their £100 (or whatever) from you now.
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You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.
Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
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Good morning,
Last weekend, I parked in a car park, and unfortunately entered the first two characters of my old car's registration on the parking machine, with the last five characters being correct for my vehicle.
That evening, I contacted EuroCarParks (without stating who the driver was) stating that the car had been parked in the car park, and providing evidence of ownership of the previous car with the initial starting characters on the plate, in the hopes that they would not issue a PCN given that payment was made in full for parking and they haven't therefore lost out on revenue.
As expected, they ignored that communication and have now issued a PCN.
Can I appeal this notice?
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Example:
My current car reg is AB20XYZ
I entered DE20XYZ on the parking payment machine
My old car reg was DE19GHI
Thanks in advance.