Free Traffic Legal Advice

Subject: Urgent complaint – private parking ticket issued at Parsloes Hub

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to complain about a private parking charge issued to me after a recent appointment at Parsloes Hub.

Date of visit: 28 May 2025
Time on site: 14:49 to 14:57 (according to the operator’s photos)
Vehicle registration: [VRM]
Private Parking Company: Countrywide Parking Management Ltd
PCN reference: [PCN number]

On arrival, I saw signs in your car park stating that parking was free but that motorists must register their vehicle. I immediately went to the reception desk and asked how to do this.

Your staff member told me she would register my vehicle herself, asked for my registration number, and confirmed that it was done. I relied on that assurance and went straight in for my consultation. I was the only car in the car park and my visit lasted less than eight minutes in total from entrance to the car park to exit.

Despite following the instructions given by your staff, I have now received a £100 “Parking Charge Notice”. The notice wrongly states the location as “Tulasi Medical Practice RM9 5QP”, even though I was parked at Parsloes Hub. My initial appeal to the parking company was rejected. I have since received a “final demand” threatening further action.

This situation is extremely distressing. I did exactly what your signage and your staff told me to do. If the member of staff failed to enter my registration correctly, that is a failing on the part of your contractor or staff, not mine. It is not acceptable for patients attending medical appointments to be threatened with debt collection and court action in these circumstances.

I am asking you, as the landholder/client, to:

1. Instruct Countrywide Parking Management Ltd to immediately cancel PCN [PCN number], and
2. Confirm in writing that this has been done, so that I can have peace of mind.

I would also be grateful if you could review the process used by reception staff for registering vehicles, because it is clear from my experience that patients are being put at risk of unfair tickets through no fault of their own.

I look forward to your urgent written confirmation that the parking charge has been cancelled.

Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

Subject: Formal complaint & notice of dispute – PCN [ref], vehicle [VRM]

Dear Sirs,

I refer to Parking Charge Notice [PCN number] issued by Countrywide Parking Management Ltd (“CPM”) to vehicle [VRM] for an alleged contravention on 28 May 2025, timed 14:49 to 14:57.

I dispute any liability for this charge. There was no breach of any parking terms, and CPM’s own trade body Code, as well as basic consumer protection law, has been breached.

1. Staff authorisation – I complied with the instructions given
On arrival at the car park at Parsloes Hub, I saw signage stating that parking was free but that motorists must register their vehicle. I immediately went to the reception desk to ask how to do this.

The receptionist told me she would register my vehicle herself, asked for my registration number, and confirmed that it was done. I then went straight in for my consultation and left immediately afterwards.

Your own images show my car on site for eight minutes in total. At all times I was acting in reliance on the clear assurance given by the reception staff, who were acting as agents for the landholder and, by extension, your company.

If the registration was not correctly entered onto your system, that is entirely down to your agent and your processes. I fulfilled all obligations placed on me by the signage. It is not open to CPM to profit from its own or its principal’s failure.

2. Mandatory consideration period – no contract could have been breached
The Private Parking Single Code of Practice, jointly adopted by the BPA and IPC, requires operators to allow a reasonable consideration period for drivers to enter, read the terms, decide whether to park and comply, or leave, before any liability can arise.

Your own ANPR timestamps show an on-site period of eight minutes. In that time I:

– entered the car park,
– read the new parking signs,
– went straight to reception to ask how to register,
– provided my registration number to your principal’s staff member and was told it was done,
– attended a brief consultation, and
– left.

Ticketing a patient in these circumstances is plainly incompatible with your obligations under the PPSCoP and any IPC Code of Practice that applied at the time. No reasonable consideration period was allowed and no enforceable contract to pay a charge ever arose.

3. Incorrect site description – “Tulasi Medical Practice” is not where I parked
The Notice states that the contravention occurred at “Tulasi Medical Practice RM9 5QP”. I did not park at Tulasi Medical Practice. I parked at Parsloes Hub, which happens to share the same postcode.

This mis-describes the location and fails to “specify the land on which the vehicle was parked” as required by Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 if you wish to rely on keeper liability. It also raises serious doubts about the accuracy of your records and the mapping between your ANPR system and the correct site.

Given that the alleged site is wrong, the charge is, on its face, invalid.

4. Consumer law and unfair commercial practice
By issuing a charge in spite of your agent’s assurance that my vehicle had been registered, CPM is engaging in a misleading commercial practice contrary to Part 4 (Unfair Commercial Practices) of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. A consumer who has done exactly what they were told to do by staff should not be pursued for £100.

5. Required outcome
In light of the above, I require CPM to:

– Cancel PCN [PCN number] immediately; and
– Confirm in writing within 28 days that this matter is closed and that my personal data will not be further processed or passed to any third party for “debt recovery” purposes.

Should CPM refuse to cancel, then:

– I will treat this as a formal complaint and reserve the right to escalate to the landholder and relevant authorities including the ICO, and
– I require you either to issue a fully compliant Letter of Claim in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims or to confirm that no further action will be taken. I will not enter into any correspondence with debt collection agents, who are not a party to any alleged contract and have no standing.

Any continuation of this matter in the face of the facts above will be relied upon later in support of a request for costs on the grounds of unreasonable conduct, in the event that CPM elects to issue a claim and then fails.

Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

For now, you can safely ignore all debt demands. Come back when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC).