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Messages - saw15

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1

"the Parking Charge has now been cancelled"
Thanks so much b789, you're a life saver!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Parking Charge:HPxxxxxxx

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the above Parking Charge, which we have reviewed.

I can confirm, as a gesture of goodwill, the Parking Charge has now been cancelled and no further action will be taken in this matter.

Please note that further Parking Charges may not be cancelled.

Please note that once the Parking Charge is cancelled, the contact details are removed from the Parking Charge and will not be retained for any purpose or shared with third parties.  We are, however, required to retain images and appeal correspondence for a period of 2 years by DVLA and the BPA and are not therefore able to delete these from our system. You can review our privacy policy at https://horizonparking.co.uk/privacy-policy/ or you can request that a copy be sent to you in the post by contacting us at the address below if you have any queries regarding your data.

Yours sincerely,

Horizon Parking

2
Will do, thanks!

3
So I couldn't find mention of 'Plan A' (being email the CEO) so I used the text kindly offered by b789.
I suppose I can ask my doctor to confirm my illness - I can also make a screenshot from the NHS app
I have, amazingly, still got the Tesco receipt from the Café where I went (to rest whilst I got my breath back) and the one for my shopping.
I note b789's comments that asking Horizon is a waste of time.
What is the best next step please?

Appeal submitted:
--------------
Dear Horizon,

I am writing in response to the Notice to Keeper. The driver, aged 73, experienced a sudden COPD exacerbation upon arrival at the location and sought refuge in the Tesco café until they felt well enough to begin their weekly shop. This was a medical necessity, not a discretionary delay. Receipts are available to confirm the visit.

COPD is a progressive condition recognised under the Equality Act 2010 when it substantially affects daily activities. The driver’s episode meets this threshold. As such, the Equality Act requires reasonable adjustments — including leniency in time-based enforcement where disability-related delays occur.

The driver has shopped at Tesco weekly for years without issue. This incident was exceptional and health-related. I respectfully request cancellation of the charge on grounds of disability-related mitigation and long-standing custom.

Yours sincerely,
--------------

Horizon Parking refused me:
--------------- email from Horizon Parking --------------------
On Thu, 27 Nov 2025 at 15:01, Horizon Parking Portal <noreply@horizonparkingportal.co.uk> wrote:
27th November 202515:00

Parking Charge Reference HPxxxxxx
Vehicle Registration Number  VOxxaaa
Breach of Terms and Conditions Exceeded Maximum Stay Period ANPR
Date and Time of Breach 6th October 202503:28 PM
Location Name Tesco Lea Valley Extra (3333)
POPLA Code  nnnnnnnnnn
Date of this Correspondence 27th November 2025

27th November 2025

Dear Appellant,

Parking Charge:HPxxxxxx

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning the above-referenced Parking Charge.

Review of your Appeal

The Parking Charge was issued lawfully and in full and proper accordance with the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice issued by the British Parking Association (the ‘BPA’).

There are signs located at the entrance to, and within the car park, that state the terms and conditions that apply when parking.

One of the terms and conditions is that vehicles must not exceed the maximum stay period allowed. As this vehicle was found to be parked longer than the maximum period allowed, a Parking Charge was correctly issued.

The signs throughout the car park are clear and comply fully with the BPA’s prescribed rules and regulations.  When parking on private land, it is the driver’s responsibility to ensure they adhere to the terms and conditions of the car park concerned.

Given the above, and whilst we have considered your representations carefully, on this occasion your appeal has been rejected, although please see the paragraph below regarding further evidence, receipt of which may enable us to review your case further.

Further Evidence
Although we have rejected your appeal, we would be happy to review the status of your appeal should supporting evidence be provided.

We therefore require you to send us a copy of the front and back of your disabled badge to support your claim, allowing us to assess your appeal accordingly. If you are not a Blue Badge holder, please submit alternative proof of your disability so we can further consider your appeal.

You may also send us a copy of your dated receipts, or any other evidence (bank, credit or Clubcard statement) which would support your claim that you were shopping in Tesco, so that we may assess your appeal accordingly.

To submit the requested evidence, you can do so by resubmitting the appeal form available on our website, Horizon Parking Portal or write to us at Horizon Parking Ltd, Finitor House, 2 Hanbury Road, Chelmsford, CM1 3AE.

Until we receive this important evidence, please be advised that the Parking Charge will remain outstanding. However, in good faith, we will hold the current charge rate for an additional 14 calendar days to allow you sufficient time to compile and send the information we require. Once received, we will review the matter further and respond to you accordingly.

We look forward to receiving the above information so we may further consider the Parking Charge for you. Please be aware that Horizon must reserve its rights to pursue the Charge if the evidence requested is not received within the next 14 calendar days.

The Charge Amount and Methods of Payment

In good faith, Horizon will hold the charge at the lower amount of £40 for a further 14 days from the date of this correspondence to allow you further time to pay.

Payment of the outstanding charge can be made using our 24-hour payment line: 020 8106 0789 or online at Horizon Parking Portal 

Alternatively, payment can be made via cheque made payable to Horizon Parking Ltd and posted to Horizon Parking Ltd, Finitor House, 2 Hanbury Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 3AE.

Additional Types of Appeal

If you have no evidence that you wish to submit to us, then you have now reached the end of our appeals procedure. Although we have rejected your appeal, the Parking On Private Land Appeals (POPLA) provides an independent appeals service. To use this service, you must appeal to POPLA within 28 days of the date of this correspondence.

For full instructions on how to appeal to POPLA, please visit their website at www.popla.co.uk. If you would rather progress this matter by post, please contact our Appeals Office and we will send you the necessary paperwork.

Your POPLA reference number is nnnnnnnnnn

Please be advised that if you elect for independent arbitration of your case, you will be required to pay the charge at the full amount and, as such, will no longer qualify for payment at the reduced rate. Please also be advised that POPLA will not accept an appeal where payment is made against the Parking Charge in question.

We are required by law to inform you that Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsman-services.org/) provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal; however, Horizon has not chosen to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such, should you wish to appeal, then you must do so to POPLA as explained above.

Yours sincerely,
Appeals Department
Horizon Parking
------------------------------------------------------------------

4
Quote
Why on earth have you reacted the ANPR entry/exit times? For what possible reason do you think that is necessary????
I read on a parking forum that the private parking companies can see through the anonymity if specific details are exposed so 'vagueify' where practical.
If they see, for example, 13:28:15 and 16:58:12 as times of entry and exit that uniquely identifies the transaction and they can use the forum comments in court. Including an admission of being the driver. As it didn't seem material, even if the risk is imaginary, I didn't think it'd harm advice by redacting.

Quote
As the Notice to Keeper (NtK) is PoFA compliant, up to an arguable point, the drivers identity is not particularly relevant in this case. What relationship are you to the Keeper of the vehicle?
I am the driver.

Quote
Hat have you done about Plan A?
I went to Tesco customer service with the letter and asked for the manager - two people appeared and told me it's a private contractor they have no control over and suggested I approach them. They may have added the word 'first' I could not be sure.

So Plan A is an informal appeal to the contractor within the 28 days. As some advice seems to say it's a waste of time, I put up the post here in case anyone is kind enough to help. I have read a lot of the superb help and advice given freely by so many here - it's awesome. Thank you so much for the text - I'll wait a short while in case anyone else wants to comment then use it and report back.
Quote
Is the driver registered disabled and do they have a Blue Badge?
I am not registered disabled or have a blue badge. I use inhalers for the COPD but am nevertheless prone to attack.

5
Wanted to lodge an informal appeal via their website - glad of any comments before I do:

Dear Horizon,
The driver (aged 73) suffered a COPD attack upon entering the Store so went to the Tesco Café until they felt well enough to start the weekly shop (receipts available).
As the driver has been shopping at Tesco for very many weeks for years with never a parking issue, please consider revoking this.


FYI
I here is the [redacted] letter they sent:





6
Follwing the superb advice I have been given here (above), I wrote:

-----------------NTO response -----------------

My car is an Electric Vehicle so I qualify for free parking in Haringey according to this policy extract:

Parking bays

Electric vehicles (not hybrids or plug-in hybrids) can park for free only in dedicated pay-by-phone bays in Haringey, but the maximum stay and no return rules still apply.

Electric vehicles cannot park for free in shared-use bays (these are pay-by-phone bays that permit holders can park in)."

It's not a shared use bay even by the Council's own standards. Just nearby is this sign - which clearly is shared use
https://i.imgur.com/t7PKaQI.png

- and the order wording that created it:

convert existing pay by phone only parking places between the flank wall of No. 24 Burghley Road N8 and the flank wall of No. 23 Vernon Road N8 on Lyttleton Road N8 into shared use resident permit holders and pay by phone parking places, operating as shared use between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Mondays to Sundays inclusive, and resident permit holders only between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Mondays to Sundays inclusive

I interpreted the sign as meaning that at the time I parked the bay was restricted and therefore dedicated only to vehicles paying and that permit holders were not permitted to park for free simply because they displayed a permit.

The authority's rejection of my challenge states:

You were parked in a bay for people paying to park by phone or online.
You were parked at a time when paying to park by telephone or online was in operation. which is consistent with this bay being dedicated to vehicles paying as the authority does not suggest or claim that the bay was shared use at the relevant time.

I submit that my interpretation of the published policy was consistent with the wording of the sign and therefore the contravention did not occur.
Alternatively, the wording of the policy is ambiguous and there are legal precedents which require that the matter should be resolved in favour of otherwise disadvantaged party i.e. the driver.

-------------------------
I filed this on the day before the very last day possible.
They replied today (5th feb) saying they'd cancelled the PCN.
Thanks so much!!!!
C.

7
... Would you be happy for me to use the image of the signage you have shared to lodge a follow up complaint about them still doing this, more than a year after I complained about them doing so at another car park?

Absolutely, please use any photos of mine you wish for any purpose.

8
Thanks @DWMB2
Here is the PCN (I've removed my licence plate but not touched any other part).

9

Thanks so much for such an impressive reply, I will follow your guidance and post the result here.
Thanks b789 for being there for us:)

10
Hi everyone! (please note, photos are not showing up, I'm working on it, they are visible in the preview)

My car was parked in what the driver considered a safe area making no obstructions (loading via the nearby back door, so only there for a short while).

Here's a google map link that shows the entrance to the car park
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kmQLDY57kLjGVhPE8

The triangular gap alongside the car in the photo is because of the shape of the pillars, nothing to do with access as far as I can tell.
There are numbers on one wall of each bay, but do not identify car parking spaces (they were put there to help identify where the many leaks are coming from I was told by the Counicl Officer who arranged it)
Reading this website it seems that people should not identify themselves as drivers.

q1) What grounds might there be for an appeal?

For me to make an appeal on the operator website https://www.paymyparkingcharge.com/, it asks:
Details of appeal
I was the driver of the vehicle Y/N



q2) Can I ignore the driver question?

The car park has no explicit markings as to where you're allowed to park (no white lines, no bays marked out). Only double yellow along some edges, none of which were crossed by the parked car.

q3) Is it reasonable to be fined for not parking in a designated area when there are no designated areas obvious to me?

Thanks in advance for any advice :)


Album of photos as I couldn't figure out how to embed them here:
https://imgur.com/a/UYllpxz

11
I would go on with this. See what others say.

But post your challenge and their rejection in full.
Thanks! Surely they will say, a shared bay does not need overlapping hours, just as a shared guitar can be played by different people at different times and still be considered shared?

That above is the full text of my challenge and their response - the other part of the letter details how I can pay and is not specific to my issue:
--------------
You have these choices:
• You can pay the discount charge of £40.00 if your payment reaches us within 14 days of the date of service of this letter.
• You can pay £80.00 within 28 days of the date your PCN was issued.
• You can formally challenge your PCN by using a Notice to Owner form. The vehicle's owner will automatically receive the form if the PCN has not been paid within 28 days of being issued. The form offers you the chance to formally challenge your PCN or pay the full £80.00. If you decide to formally challenge your PCN, please do not write to us again but wait until the Notice to Owner form arrives.
How to pay:
• By internet: Go to http://www.haringey.gov.uk/payments and follow the online instructions.
• By telephone: At any time (Credit/Debit Cards only) on 0300 456 0520 - Please have your credit/debit card and Penalty Charge Number to hand when you make the call.
• In person: Take your PCN and payment to Haringey Vehicle Pound, Unit 1, 1 Waltham Park Way, London, E17 5DU between Monday to Saturday 7am to 10pm and Sunday 8am to 8pm.
Please ensure you obtain a receipt.
Yours sincerely
xxxx xxxxxxx
Parking Process Case Officer
-----------

12
Staffordman (above) is very clear:
Parking bays

Electric vehicles (not hybrids or plug-in hybrids) can park for free only in dedicated pay-by-phone bays in Haringey, but the maximum stay and no return rules still apply.

Electric vehicles cannot park for free in shared-use bays (these are pay-by-phone bays that permit holders can park in).


As regards shared use, IMO the level of penalty is correct. The bay has complementary but not overlapping restrictions and you parked when only the payment requirement was in force.

To me it seemed that a shared-use bay is not a shared-use bay unless the parking hours overlap. When is there sharing?
I wrote to them:
"This is not a shared bay because the parking hours are not shared"

Received this back today (No mention at all of my point about my car being an EV and EV parking being free in non-shared spaces):
----------------------------
We have carefully considered what you say but we have decided not to cancel your Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
You were issued a PCN for not paying to park. You were parked in a bay for people paying to park by phone or online; however, the Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO)'s handheld computer showed no payment to park.
You were parked at a time when paying to park by telephone or online was in operation.
Please be advised the onus lies with the motorist to ensure that they purchase time to park
immediately after parking (RingGo) by telephone or online to cover the vehicle for the entire period it is parked.
I am satisfied that the signage in this location is sufficient to warn motorists of the restriction in place.
The onus lies with the motorist to check all signage, and park correctly before leaving their vehicle unattended.
-----------------------------
So I guess I have to pay up?

13
 I arrived at the slot at about 1:35pm, so just over an hour before the PCN was issued.
C.

14
Thanks again, kind of you  :)

The PCN shows I was there at 2:34pm for five minutes

I too assume
7-10pm
means 7pm to 10pm

When they mean early in the morning, they indicate (as in the top half of the sign) by adding'am' to the hour.
So the top half says:
8am-7pm

So if 7am was meant, it would be
7am-10pm
7-10pm must therefore mean 7pm to 10pm.

So, can I write before the 14 days that I didn't break the rules:
"This is not a shared bay because the parking hours are not shared"
C.




15
Thanks!
So I could say in my initial appeal that I didn't break the rules because:
"The bay does not share parking hours so is not a shared parking bay for EV parking"?
C.

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