Free Traffic Legal Advice

Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: Awaessi on December 06, 2025, 01:40:46 pm

Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on January 06, 2026, 12:12:05 pm
Hi Happy New Year!

I sent an email to them on 25 December, but I have not yet received any confirmation of receipt or acknowledgment. Is this something I should be worried about, or can I consider it sufficient that I have evidence of having sent the email?

BW
AA
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 25, 2025, 12:07:05 pm
Thank you so much for all your help, just sent a reply to them now, fingers crossed.

Merry Christmas and New Year.
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: b789 on December 24, 2025, 07:56:05 pm
Where does this third PCN come from? I see no reference to anything but 2 PCNs in their correspondence.

ParkingEye are trying to create a “procedural failure” by saying you were granted 7 days to appeal and you did not use it. That is a nonsense position in your circumstances.

You already set out the appeal point in your formal complaint: you never received any Notice to Keeper, therefore no PoFA keeper liability can apply, and the driver will not be identified. Under the PPSCoP, a complaint about a parking charge must be treated as an appeal. So there was no need for you to submit a separate appeal within any arbitrary 7-day window.

More importantly, ParkingEye’s own email effectively concedes that the NtKs were sent to the wrong address. In those circumstances, they cannot lawfully rely on PoFA to pursue you as keeper. They also cannot “fix” that by simply pushing the matter to debt recovery.

What they should have done once you made them aware that the NtKs were not served is simple:

• Either cancel the charges, because keeper liability cannot be created without a properly served NtK; or
• If they wanted to continue pursuing the keeper (which they can’t under PoFA in this scenario), they would need to reissue fresh notices to the correct address and give the keeper the normal opportunity to challenge them. At that point, the keeper is entitled to a fair appeal window (not a made-up 7 days), and if rejected, a POPLA code.

In short, the “7 days” point is a distraction. Your appeal already exists in the complaint, and the substance is fatal to their case: no served NtK + driver not identified = they cannot hold the keeper liable.

If ParkingEye want to waste money, let them. Your response now should force them to either cancel or issue POPLA codes. POPLA will not uphold keeper liability where the driver is not identified and PoFA conditions were not met.

Respond to ParkingEye/CPP with the following:

Quote
Subject: Formal complaint was the appeal (PPSCoP) – NtK not served – no keeper liability – cancel or POPLA

Dear ParkingEye Complaints Team,

PCNs: [list all PCN references]
Vehicle registration: [VRM]

Your email confirms that correspondence for the PCNs was posted to my previous DVLA address and that you only amended my address after my contact in December. That is the core issue: the Notices to Keeper were not served at my correct address for service.

As I stated in my formal complaint, because no Notice to Keeper was served on me within the relevant period in accordance with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, you cannot transfer liability to me as Keeper. The driver has not, and will not be identified.

You also claim that although you granted “late appeal” access on 08/12/2025, no further appeal was submitted within 7 days. That point is irrelevant. The appeal point was already made in the formal complaint, and under the Private Parking Single Code of Practice a complaint relating to a parking charge must be treated as an appeal. There was therefore no requirement for a separate appeal submission within an arbitrary 7-day window.

Once you were put on notice that the original NtKs were not served, you should have either:

1. Cancelled the PCNs, as Keeper liability cannot arise without a properly served NtK; or
2. If you wished to continue pursuing the matter, issued fresh notices to the correct address and afforded the Keeper the proper opportunity to challenge each notice (including, if rejected, the issue of POPLA verification codes).

Instead, you have attempted to close the complaint and divert the Keeper to debt recovery. I will not engage with DCBL. They have no standing and will be ignored.

You must now do one of the following for each PCN:

A) Confirm cancellation; or
B) Issue a valid POPLA verification code for each PCN.

If you refuse to cancel and refuse to issue POPLA codes, while continuing enforcement despite the admitted non-service of the original NtKs, I will escalate this matter to the BPA AOS Compliance Team and the DVLA as a clear breach of the PPSCoP and continued misuse of Keeper data.

For the avoidance of doubt, POPLA will be informed that the driver remains unidentified and that you cannot rely on PoFA keeper liability due to non-service.

Data rectification/erasure – your responsibility

You state that if I require DCBL to make changes to personal data I should contact them directly. That is incorrect.

ParkingEye obtained my data from the DVLA and instructed DCBL to process my personal data for enforcement. ParkingEye is therefore responsible for ensuring that any third party acting on your behalf processes accurate data and that any old/incorrect address data is rectified and erased. You do not discharge your obligations by telling the data subject to chase your agent.

Accordingly, you must confirm, in writing, that:

a) my current address for service has been updated on all of your systems; and
b) you have instructed all third parties/agents you have engaged (including DCBL) to update my address and permanently erase any old/incorrect address data from their records.

Yours faithfully,

[Keeper name]
[Address for service]
[/list]
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 24, 2025, 06:01:48 pm
Hi everyone,

Got this reply from parkingeye and seems like they are not really helping with it.

Any guidance and advice will be appreciated and be like Xmas treat for me as I have no money and they are asking me 170x3.


We are writing in relation to your recent correspondence. Please be advised our complaints policy does not cover the following: Appeals / dissatisfaction relating to the issuance of a Parking Charge Notice Comments about our policy decisions Complaints which are received 56 days after the charge was incurred We would like to highlight that Parkingeye are member of the British Parking Association and operate in line with the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice. All our signage and processes are compliant with the code of practice. We can confirm our records show that correspondence was issued via the post on 05/08/2025, 14/08/2025 & 08/09/2025 for Parking Charge reference 328809/283827 and on 09/09/2025, 18/09/2025 & 13/10/2025 for Parking Charge reference 438913/539865. As a member of the British Parking Association, Parkingeye obtains all its Registered Keeper information from the DVLA. We can confirm that we have now amended your records as per your request to the new address ............ We would advise that you contact the DVLA to amend any incorrect records that they may hold for yourself. As Parkingeye did not receive any response to the correspondence sent, we contacted our recovery agent in order to recover the outstanding sum owed against the Parking Charge. The categories of personal data we send to them is your name, address and vehicle details. If you require DCBL to make any changes to your personal data we would advise that you contact them directly, as we do not have access to the data which they may hold. As per our complaints policy, appeals or dissatisfaction concerning a Parking Charge will not be dealt with via this process. Our records show that requests for a late appeal were received on 08/12/2025 for both charges, and the requests were granted on 08/12/2025. However, no subsequent appeals were then received. Please note that any evidence/appeals submitted in a ‘request to appeal’ is not considered and appeals and evidence can only be submitted when the appeal request is granted. These cases are currently with Direct Collection Bailiffs Limited (DCBL), and you should contact them directly if you have any further queries. DCBL can be contacted: - By telephone - 0203 434 0423 – Office opening hours: Monday—Friday, 8am—5pm By email - collections@dcbltd.com By post - DCBL, Direct House, Manor Park, Greenwood Drive, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1UG Parkingeye Complaints Team have now closed complaint reference #58747, and this is our final response. Our complaints policy and escalation process can be found by visiting our website at https://www.parkingeye.co.uk/motorist/complaints/ Kind regards, Parkingeye Complaints Team
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 14, 2025, 08:51:29 pm
Thank you so much.
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: b789 on December 14, 2025, 02:53:53 pm
Email the following to ParkingEye/CPP and CC aos@britishparking.co.uk; data.sharing@dvla.gov.uk and yourself:

Quote
FORMAL NOTICE – LIVE COMPLAINT / IMPROPER DEBT RECOVERY ESCALATION

Dear ParkingEye Ltd/Car Parking Partnership,

PCN: 438913/539865
Vehicle registration: [VRM]
Location: University Hospital Coventry / Drop off & pick up
Date of alleged contravention: 04/09/2025

I write as the registered keeper.

On 08 December 2025 I submitted a formal complaint via your complaints process. You acknowledged receipt and confirmed that a response would be issued within 28 days, in accordance with your complaints policy.

That complaint remains live and unresolved.

Despite this, you have instructed Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd (DCBL) to pursue the parking charge and to issue further payment demands. This escalation while a complaint is under active consideration is improper and is contrary to the Private Parking Single Code of Practice.

I will not engage with DCBL. They have no standing in this matter, are not a party to any alleged contract, and any correspondence from them will be ignored.

You are now on notice that the continued processing of my data for enforcement purposes, and the continuation of debt recovery activity while a complaint is ongoing, will be treated as a breach of the PPSCoP.

If debt recovery activity is not immediately suspended pending the outcome of the complaint, I will escalate this matter without further notice to:

• the British Parking Association (AOS Compliance),
• the DVLA (misuse of keeper data and failure to adhere to the applicable Code of Practice), and
• the Competition and Markets Authority (for unfair commercial practices, including the use of debt recovery to pressure payment during an unresolved complaint).

For the avoidance of doubt, the keeper is under no legal obligation to identify the driver and I decline to do so.

All correspondence must be addressed directly to me at the address for service below or by email.

Yours faithfully,

[Keeper name]
[Address for service]
[email address]

You can safely ignore anything from DCBL. It is just a powerless debt collector trying to intimidate you into paying out of ignorance and fear. Shred the DCBL letters and use the result as hamster bedding for all anyone cares.
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 14, 2025, 12:57:18 pm
Thank you so much for you guidance and it is really appreciated 🙏.

I have received another letter as below, should I just ignore it or need to take any action while I am waiting for them to reply to my complaint:

DCB001/802/E-PEL dcbl
Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd 24/7 Payment line: 01302 897022
Collections team: 0203 597 3959
www.dcbltd.com/pay-onlineDCBL Reference Number: 10738339
Date of Letter: 08 December 2025
Date of Contravention: 04/09/2025
Parking Charge No.: 438913/539865
Vehicle Registration:
Client: Car Parking Partnership
Location: University Hospital Coventry / Drop off & pick up
Reason for Contravention: Vehicle Remained On Private Property In Breach Of The Prominently Displayed Terms FINAL REMINDER - Unpaid Parking Charge £170.00We wrote to you recently regarding an unpaid parking charge and Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd (DCBL) have been instructed to collect the outstanding balance on behalf of our Client. The balance is still outstanding and you are now at risk of legal proceedings being issued against you.In the event that a claim is issued against you, further fees and costs will be incurred and these will be added to the balance that you owe to our Client. Thereafter, non-payment of the claim amount may result in a County Court Judgment being entered against you. This may result in further enforcement action being taken and in some circumstances, it may prevent future lending.Supreme Court Decision about Parking Charges.A Supreme Court ruling in November 2015 reinforced that it is lawful for a parking operator to pursue payment of a correctly issued unpaid parking charge through the County Court. The case was an important test case for companies like our Client. You can find further information online at:https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2013-0280At this point, you are no longer able to appeal the parking charge. Your next opportunity to dispute the charge would be if the matter was taken to Court.Preventing Further Action.You should either pay the outstanding amount by scanning the QR code below or call us to discuss repayment on 0203 597 3959

Yours sincerely,

Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: b789 on December 09, 2025, 02:14:25 pm
Mon 8 Dec at 09:42

We can confirm that we have received your complaint and a response will be issued within 28 days as detailed in our complaints policy.

So, what is the problem? They now have until 5th January 2026 to respond.
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 09, 2025, 01:40:41 pm
Hi I did complaint and you can see below their auto reply.

Thanks for submitting your complaint |
Yahoo
/
Inbox



Parkingeye Limited
 
From:
noreplywebform@parkingeye.co.uk

Mon 8 Dec at 09:42

Hi ,  thank you for getting in touch.

We can confirm that we have received your complaint and a response will be issued within 28 days as detailed in our complaints policy.

Please note, appeals will not be dealt with via this process. All appeals should be submitted via https://portal.parkingeye.co.uk/.

Kind regards,
Parkingeye Team.

The contents of this email and any attachments are intended for the named addressee(s) only. It contains information which may be confidential and which may also be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient it is strictly forbidden to disclose any part of this message with any third party or to copy, distribute or use the contents herein without the express written consent of the sender. If you have received this message in error please contact the Privacy Lead at ParkingEye Limited immediately on +44 (0)1772 450970 and then delete it. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free from any virus or other defect, unfortunately, full security of the email cannot be ensured as, despite our efforts, the data included in emails could be infected, intercepted, or corrupted. Therefore, the recipient should check the email for threats with appropriate software. The views and opinions expressed in this email belong to the sender and may not be that of the ParkingEye Limited. ParkingEye Limited does not accept liability for any damage inflicted by viewing the content of this email, nor does it accept any liability for any statements contained within this email.

The contents of this email and any attachments are intended for the named addressee(s) only. It contains information which may be confidential and which may also be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient it is strictly forbidden to disclose any part of this message with any third party or to copy, distribute or use the contents herein without the express written consent of the sender. If you have received this message in error please contact the Privacy Lead at ParkingEye Limited immediately on +44 (0)1772 450970 and then delete it. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free from any virus or other defect, unfortunately, full security of the email cannot be ensured as, despite our efforts, the data included in emails could be infected, intercepted, or corrupted. Therefore, the recipient should check the email for threats with appropriate software. The views and opinions expressed in this email belong to the sender and may not be that of the ParkingEye Limited. ParkingEye Limited does not accept liability for any damage inflicted by viewing the content of this email, nor does it accept any liability for any statements contained within this email.
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: b789 on December 09, 2025, 01:28:26 pm
I have no idea. I told you to use the Complaints Form and you can just upload the complaint as a PDF letter using that form:

https://www.parkingeye.co.uk/motorist/complaints/cpp-complaints-form/

You are complaining, not appealing!
Title: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal to get it write off.
Post by: Awaessi on December 09, 2025, 09:24:39 am
Thank you so much for your advice – I really appreciate it. I followed your suggestions and just received the response below from them.
Quote
Could you kindly guide me on the best way to handle this now? Thanks again for your help! 

Dear Sir/Madam

Your request to access the online appeals process has been approved. You will now be able to access the appeals process using your parking charge reference number and vehicle registration details.

To submit your appeal please click here https://portal.carparkingpartnership.co.uk/appeal .

You have 7 days to submit your appeal. If you prefer to make a payment instead of appealing, please click here .

Please note: This is not the appeals process. This is confirmation that you now have access to the online appeals process.

Kind Regards,

Car Parking Partnership Team

Car Parking Partnership is a trading name of Parkingeye Limited, Company registered in England and Wales No: 5134454. Registered office: 40 Eaton Avenue, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, PR7 7NA - Web: www.carparkingpartnership.co.uk
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 09, 2025, 12:46:54 am
Hi thank you so much for your advice, I followed it and got this below response from them, would really appreciate if you can guide me how to deal with this now,
Dear Sir/Madam

Your request to access the online appeals process has been approved. You will now be able to access the appeals process using your parking charge reference number and vehicle registration details.

To submit your appeal please click here https://portal.carparkingpartnership.co.uk/appeal .

You have 7 days to submit your appeal.If you prefer to make a payment instead of appealing,please click here .

Please note: This is not the appeals process. This is confirmation that you now have access to the online appeals process.

Kind Regards,

Car Parking Partnership Team

Car Parking Partnership is a trading name of Parkingeye Limited, Company registered in England and Wales No: 5134454. Registered office: 40 Eaton Avenue, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, PR7 7NA - Web: www.carparkingpartnership.co.uk
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: b789 on December 06, 2025, 04:49:27 pm
First off, DO NOT refer to these Parking Charge Notices (PCNs) which have been served as postal Notices to Keeper (NtK) as "fines". They are nothing of the sort and I will give you £100 for every occurrence of the word "fine" you can show us in any of the correspondence over this.

What you have received is speculative invoices for an alleged breach of contract by the driver from an unregulated private parking company. CPP is essentially Parkingeye under another name, used for specific contracts (often NHS trusts, universities, or public sector sites). If you receive correspondence from CPP, you are in fact dealing with Parkingeye Ltd, and they are definitely not a "authority" that can issue "fines".

As for the useless debt recovery letters from DCBL, you can safely ignore those. Debt collectors are not a party to any contract allegedly breached by the driver. All debt collectors can do is try and intimidate the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear.

Whilst it is too late to appeal the initial PCNs, because you never received the original NtKs, you have not been served them and under PoFA, you cannot be liable, even if you forgot to update your V5C. In other words, they have failed to "give" the notices to you within the statutory period. However, that will be denied and argued.

What you need to do is send a formal complaint to CPP explaining that the first you knew of the PCNs was the debt recovery letters issued by DCBL, who were easily able to identify your current address. You will require CPP to consider the formal complaint as an appeal and if they do not accept your reasons, they must therefore issue a POPLA code for you to make a secondary appeal.

WE could do with seeing both sides of any NtK you received. Do not redact any location, dates or times on them.

AS CPP are in fact Parkingeye, I know that there will be at least one defect on their NtKs that you can use against them. You must ONLY write as the Keeper. They have no idea who the driver is unless you blab it to them, inadvertently or otherwise. No "I did this or that", only "the driver did this or that". Don't tell 'em your name Pike!

I advise you, for now, to make a formal complaint about each PCN received to date where you never received the original NtK with the following:

Quote
Formal complaint, appeal and data rectification notice

PCN reference: [insert reference]
Vehicle registration: [insert VRM]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I write as the registered keeper of the above vehicle. This is a formal complaint and, in accordance with Section 11.2 of the Private Parking Single Code of Practice, it must also be treated as an appeal against the validity of this parking charge.

Following a recent change of address, it appears that any original Notice to Keeper was sent to a previous address and was therefore never properly served on me. I first became aware of this PCN only when a debt recovery letter arrived from DCBL at my current address.

Because no Notice to Keeper was ever served (given) to me at my correct address within the relevant period prescribed by Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, you cannot rely on PoFA to hold me, as keeper, liable for this charge. Any liability, if it exists at all, would rest solely with the driver, who will not be identified. On that basis, you are required to cancel this PCN.

If you refuse to cancel, you must issue a POPLA verification code so that this appeal can be referred to independent adjudication.

This correspondence is also a data rectification notice addressed to your Data Protection Officer. You obtained my keeper details from the DVLA and are now the data controller for that personal data. You are hereby instructed to:

1. Update your records to show my correct current address for service as set out at the bottom of this letter.
2. Permanently erase any old or incorrect address from all of your systems.
3. Take all necessary steps to ensure that any third party to whom you have passed my personal data (including DCBL or any other agent) also updates my address and erases any old address.

For the avoidance of doubt, this notice has been submitted via your portal and also transmitted to your DPO email address at dpo@carparkingpartnership.co.uk. Your SMTP server returned a "250 OK" response, confirming acceptance of the message. Under established principles of electronic service, this constitutes valid delivery. Any subsequent denial of receipt will be treated as bad faith conduct and cited in complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Failure to comply will result in escalation under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, specifically:
   - Part 2, Chapter 1 (Unfair Commercial Practices) – for misleading omissions and obstruction of communication channels.
   - Section 229 (Duty not to frustrate consumer rights) – for refusal to monitor published contact addresses.
   - Schedule 18 (Blacklisted Practices) – for materially distorting consumer decision‑making by denying access to redress.

If the CMA finds against you, consequences include enforcement orders, fines of up to 10% of global turnover, and potential director disqualification.

Please confirm in writing, within 28 days, that:

a) The PCN has been cancelled or, if not, that you have issued a POPLA code; and
b) My current address for service has been corrected on all of your systems and by all third parties, and that any old address data has been erased.

Yours faithfully,

[Keeper’s name]
[Current postal address]

You send the complaint either as a PDF attachment that you can upload or just use the webform here:

https://www.parkingeye.co.uk/motorist/complaints/cpp-complaints-form/

And you also email it to: dpo@carparkingpartnership.co.uk and CC yourself.

AS CPP have chosen to use DCBL to chase their PCN, if you follow the advice you receive here, you will not be paying a penny to CPP.

READ THIS FIRST - Private Parking Charges Forum guide (https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/)

Posting Images (https://www.ftla.uk/announcements/posting-images)
Title: Re: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: MrChips on December 06, 2025, 02:37:21 pm
I think this will need to be moved to the private parking tickets forum
Title: Urgent Advice Needed: Hospital Parking Fines Escalated to Debt Collectors - How to Appeal or Minimise?
Post by: Awaessi on December 06, 2025, 01:40:46 pm
Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a bind and could really use some advice from anyone who's dealt with similar parking issues, especially with hospital parking or private parking. I'll try to keep this as concise as possible.

Background: I recently moved from Scotland to the Midlands (yeah, hindsight is 20/20), and my wife is a doctor working for the NHS at a local hospital. I didn't realise or update my address on my V5C (vehicle log book) when I moved previously – I always updated my DVLA driving license, insurance, and breakdown cover, but overlooked the V5C thinking it wasn't strictly necessary. I've since corrected that.

The issue: I pick up my wife from the hospital most days. The pick-up/drop-off zone has a 10-minute max stay rule, but due to heavy traffic, it often takes that long just to pull up. Plus, my wife frequently gets delayed leaving the ward because of clinical emergencies or other reasons – she can't have her phone on her, and signal in the hospital is terrible anyway, so she couldn't let me know she'd be late. Over the last 4 months, I've apparently overstayed on a few occasions while waiting.

The hospital outsources parking enforcement to a company, Car Parking Partnership (CPP). They must have sent initial notices to the old address on my V5C, which I no longer have access to, so we never received them.

Fast forward, and we've just gotten 3 letters from DCBL (a debt collection agency) demanding £170 each for these incidents.

What I've done so far: We contacted the hospital for help, explaining we never got the original letters, but they said it's out of their hands and we need to deal directly with CPP and DCBL. I haven't reached out to them yet.

Questions: Where do I stand legally on this? Is there a way to appeal or challenge these fines, especially since we didn't receive the initial notices due to the outdated V5C address?
Any tips on minimising the amounts or even getting them waived entirely? Should I contact CPP first or DCBL? Has anyone had success appealing hospital parking fines under similar circumstances (e.g., NHS staff family, genuine pick-up delays)?

Any guidance, templates for letters/emails, or resources would be hugely appreciated – this has come at a really bad time financially.

Thanks in advance!

Best,
A.A