Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: Unimexsol on November 18, 2025, 08:19:28 pm
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Brilliant, thank you!
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Appeal as the keeper, not the driver. Keep it simple and factual. The driver suffered a suspected heart attack, was told to get to A&E immediately, and pulled into the nearest safe place when chest pain worsened. They were admitted and stayed three days. The car was removed later that evening. Include hospital admission and discharge proof.
This is clearly covered under the Private Parking Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP) Annex F, which requires operators to take account of emergencies or illness when considering appeals. Clauses 8.4.1 and 8.4.3 also oblige them to consider mitigating circumstances in accordance with Annex F. Refusal to do so is a sanctionable breach of the Code.
Horizon’s Notice to Keeper is PoFA-compliant, so they can already pursue the Keeper for the charge. That means there is no real tactical advantage in trying to keep the driver’s identity “secret” – PoFA has already given them a route to hold them liable anyway.
If you send hospital evidence that is in the Keepers name, for the exact date/time of the incident, it will be obvious to Horizon that the Keeper and the driver are the same person. Even if you keep using “the driver” in third person, they will still fairly infer that the Keeper driving.
However, In this situation, you should still frame the appeal strictly as the Keeper and refer only to “the driver”. Even though Horizon will be able to work out that the Keeper and driver are the same person from the hospital evidence, there is no need to assist them with an explicit admission. You lose nothing by keeping that formal distinction, and you preserve every possible technical argument for later.
The important part of your appeal is the substance: the genuine medical emergency, the hospital admission, and their obligations under the Code to treat that as strong mitigation, not any formal confession about who was driving.
Suggested keeper appeal:
Re: Parking Charge Notice [ref], vehicle [VRM], Leyton Flats Car Park, [date]
I am the registered keeper of this vehicle and I dispute your Parking Charge.
On 28 October 2025, the driver experienced severe chest pain and other symptoms suggesting a heart attack. They were advised to get to A&E urgently. While driving towards the hospital, they became stuck in a near-stationary queue of traffic. Their condition worsened, and feeling unsafe to continue, they pulled into the first safe parking area available, which was the Corporation of London’s Leyton Flats Car Park. They immediately went to A&E, were admitted, and remained in hospital for three days. The vehicle was collected and removed from the car park that same evening by their partner.
The driver was in no condition to locate signs or use a payment machine. A £100 charge in these circumstances would be unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, as no reasonable consumer would have agreed to it when faced with a medical emergency.
Your company must comply with the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP). Clause 8.4.1 and Annex F require operators to consider emergencies and illness as mitigating circumstances. This case falls squarely within that requirement.
Please cancel this Parking Charge and confirm that my data will not be shared with third-party debt collectors. If you refuse, I require a detailed explanation addressing the medical evidence and the relevant Code clauses, together with a POPLA verification code. Any refusal in these circumstances will be reported to the BPA and DVLA as a breach of the Code.
Yours faithfully,
[Name]
Registered Keeper
If Horizon rejects it, submit a POPLA appeal using the same emergency argument supported by Annex F, then add standard points about PoFA compliance, unclear signage, and unfair terms once you see their evidence. Keep the driver’s identity undisclosed throughout.
The driver needs to understand that choosing to carry on driving while they genuinely thought they were having a heart attack was not an intelligent choice. They were gambling not only with their own life but with everyone else on the road – the sort of move that, had it ended badly, could easily have put them in contention for a Darwin Award rather than anyone’s sympathy.
Next time, the driver should stop somewhere safe and call for help; no parking ticket, delay, or concern about “wasting ambulance time” is worth killing themselves or someone else over.
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Hi all,
Would appreciate your help on this one. On 28th October the driver of the car that got this ticket suffered a suspected heart attack. They sought medical advice and was told to get themselves to A&E as soon as possible. Knowing that the London Ambulance service is massively over-stretched they decided to drive themselves to the nearest hospital. Their chest pains were getting worse and worse as they were driving and as they got onto the road that leads to the hospital they found themselves in a long, virtually stationary queue of traffic. By now they were in serious pain and they didn't feel that they could safely continue to drive so they pulled into the first safe parking place, which was the Corporation of London's Leyton Flats Car Park. Knowing that time of the essence they didn't stop to pay for parking but staggered to the nearby hospital's A&E department where they were admitted and ended up staying for 3 days. Their partner collected the car and drove it away from the car park the same evening. The vehicle keeper has now received a parking charge from Horizon Parking who administer the parking charges for the Corporation of London.
How is it best to challenge this? The driver has proof of admission to hospital and their hospital discharge 3 days later. Photos of the Penalty Charge attached.
(https://i.ibb.co/pBh0ysLP/20251118-195910.jpg) (https://ibb.co/39Rrz8Cs)
(https://i.ibb.co/LXBS58qV/20251118-195935.jpg) (https://ibb.co/TxJcLkn9)