Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: dontthrowmeawayplease on July 21, 2026, 07:10:57 pm
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https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/PUB271702.pdf
The location is inside the airport boundary.
ECP should not be claiming POFA keeper liability - that's a breach of their Code of Practice and should be reported to the CMA.
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If you search the forum for "Gatwick map" you will find links to and extracts from maps showing the airport boundary.
You have missed the point. The registered keeper is never under any obligation to name the driver. The parking company can use the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to transfer the liability from the unknown, unidentified driver to the registered keeper, but can not do this for land under statutory control, which primarily means airports and ports these days.
If the Hilton is within the confines of the airport, you can appeal on the basis of "not relevant land" and you should be able to find similar appeals for other locations within the boundary on the forum. Your appeal will be rejected, almost certainly, because these companies don't believe in accepting appeals.
Although there is a minimum 5 minute "consideration period" I think they will respond that this does not apply when the driver chooses to park within this time period. The driver considered and decided to park.
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Hello guys, I'm based in England.
"Someone" was giving a lift to a friend who had a flight to take from Gatwick, then on his way there the flight was cancelled, and said friend was rescheduled to a flight the next morning. This was the second time his flight was postponed, and around the same days many other flights experienced similar issues.
So, to avoid any further back and forth, the friend decided to stay there in the airport area (instead of "someone" taking him back home and then back to the airport tomorrow morning risking that even tomorrow's flight would be cancelled/postponed etc), knowing the airline would have to cover costs until the next flight etc.
Someone and my friend parked at McDonald's for a few minutes to check for hotels, and everything even dozens of miles away was fully booked. Since they were close to the terminal, they thought they'd just pop by the Hilton (right by the Gatwick South Terminal) and ask if they somehow got any cancellation that freed up any room, last-minute.
So they parked in the bay in front of the Hilton (exactly here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kjUuggCD9MdA34WZA).
They entered the Hilton, asked if they had any room. They didn't have any room, they went back to their car, and left.
All of this (parking, entering the Hilton, asking at the front desk, leaving the car park) happened in 3m13s
I, as the registered keeper of the car that was used, have now received a PCN for those 3 minutes. Here the full letter:
https://ibb.co/zqVf7DN
https://ibb.co/jktq9BKV
My questions:
- Does the Hilton "carpark" (a handful of bays in front of the entrance) fall under the "airport regulations" whereby the registered keeper (me) is not legally required to communicate the identity of the driver to the parking company? If so, can I just appeal on that basis and end it there?
- If the above doesn't apply to this case, is it fair to appeal on the basis that I've remained in the carpark for less than 5 minutes, i.e. the "consideration period" (or whatever it's called)? In this case, does it matter whether in those 3 minutes I was entering the hotel to check for the availability of a room, or was out "reading the T&C of the carpark" (which, in full honesty, I wasn't)? If I go for this option, how do I word the appeal (not an English native speaker)?
Unfortunately I was abroad and I've just come back home finding the PCN, already past by the "reduced rate" date, and I'd like to avoid having to pay £100 for this.
Thanks a lot in advance for any help! 🙏