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Private parking tickets / Re: What are the best grounds for contesting this parking charge?
« on: February 08, 2026, 02:52:03 pm »
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Private parking tickets / What are the best grounds for contesting this parking charge?
« on: February 08, 2026, 02:50:50 pm »
Hi all,
I've been directed to get some advice here by some users on r/LegalAdviceUK.
My situation is as follows:
I arrived in the car park at 18:20. The image below shows the sign with the terms and conditions of the car park.
https://ibb.co/xtZDJjV7
As I planned to stay for about 2 hours, I went to the machine and pressed the PLUS button to reach the £2 fair for a 2-hour stay. However, the time displayed as the end time on the machine was 20:00.
I realised this was because parking is split into 2 time periods - 08:00-20:00 and 20:00-08:00. It seemed that the machine was expecting me to pay the overnight charge in addition to the 2 hour charge. However, pressing the PLUS button on the machine did not allow me to add any extra time. The maximum I could pay was £2.
I paid the £2, and the ticket printed, with 20:00 printed on it as an implied end time. As there was no option to pay more I had no other options. I returned to the car park after just under 2 hours. Left at 20:20, just a few seconds short of 2 hours after arriving.
Got a letter in the post with a charge of £100 claiming that I had "failed to make a valid payment". Appealed to the company, but failed. They also said we could have paid the overnight charge after our stay which is not at all clear from the sign.
I would like to challenge this further. I believe there are several grounds for challenging this, which I'll list below. It would be great to get ideas on the best way to approach this.
I would very much appreciate any insight into the best approach to take here, and best ways to word my POPLA appeal.
Thank you very much.
I've been directed to get some advice here by some users on r/LegalAdviceUK.
My situation is as follows:
I arrived in the car park at 18:20. The image below shows the sign with the terms and conditions of the car park.
https://ibb.co/xtZDJjV7
As I planned to stay for about 2 hours, I went to the machine and pressed the PLUS button to reach the £2 fair for a 2-hour stay. However, the time displayed as the end time on the machine was 20:00.
I realised this was because parking is split into 2 time periods - 08:00-20:00 and 20:00-08:00. It seemed that the machine was expecting me to pay the overnight charge in addition to the 2 hour charge. However, pressing the PLUS button on the machine did not allow me to add any extra time. The maximum I could pay was £2.
I paid the £2, and the ticket printed, with 20:00 printed on it as an implied end time. As there was no option to pay more I had no other options. I returned to the car park after just under 2 hours. Left at 20:20, just a few seconds short of 2 hours after arriving.
Got a letter in the post with a charge of £100 claiming that I had "failed to make a valid payment". Appealed to the company, but failed. They also said we could have paid the overnight charge after our stay which is not at all clear from the sign.
I would like to challenge this further. I believe there are several grounds for challenging this, which I'll list below. It would be great to get ideas on the best way to approach this.
- The sign clearly says "Pay on arrival". I attempted this and paid the maximum that the machine allowed me to pay
- If staying past 20:00 necessitates paying for a additional (overnight) stay then the only way to be compliant with the instruction to "Pay on arrival" is to return at exactly 20:00, at which point the machine will allow you to pay this. Paying any later would mean paying too late. Paired with the issue with the payment machine, this seems like a purposefully difficult and predatory restriction.
- Paying for 2 hours of parking on arrival should entitle you to 2 hours of parking, whether or not you go past 20:00. Otherwise paying for an hour of parking at 19:59 would only entitle you to 1 minute of parking.
I would very much appreciate any insight into the best approach to take here, and best ways to word my POPLA appeal.
Thank you very much.
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