Free Traffic Legal Advice

As RK, I have received a PCN from Euro Car Park regarding a parking overstay at the Shell Garage near Gatwick North Terminal.  Regrettably, being 80 miles away, photos of the signs won't be possible and, unfortunately, there are no clear signs on GSV.  However, the sign at the entrance would appear not to show the full terms of using the area to park. 

The last time that I had to deal with one of these was back in 2018 when ECP generally rejected an initial appeal but a POPLA appeal was successful by forensically dissecting PoFA and showing where they were going wrong.

Has the legislation changed in the ensuing period?  Are there any examples of recently successful POPLA appeals? 

https://ibb.co/LhHq8VWj

https://ibb.co/bj00d5DR

https://maps.app.goo.gl/JnU63bM4Ey9yg5gB6

Have you appealed yet? The Shell garage sits within the Gatwick Airport boundary and is therefore not relevant land for the purposes of PoFA. As long as the driver is not identified, they cannot pursue the Keeper for the charge.

Easy one to deal with… as long as the unknown drivers identity is not revealed. There is no legal obligation on the known keeper (the recipient of the Notice to Keeper (NtK)) to reveal the identity of the unknown driver and no inference or assumptions can be made.

The NtK is not compliant with all the requirements of PoFA as the location is not relevant land, which means that if the unknown driver is not identified, they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper.

Use the following as your appeal. No need to embellish or remove anything from it:

I am the registered keeper. ECP cannot hold a registered keeper liable for any alleged contravention on land that is under statutory control. As a matter of fact and law, ECP will be well aware that they cannot use the PoFA provisions because Gatwick Airport is not 'relevant land'.

If Gatwick Airport wanted to hold owners or keepers liable under Airport Bylaws, that would be within the landowner's gift and another matter entirely. However, not only is that not pleaded, it is also not legally possible because ECP is not the Airport owner and your 'parking charge' is not and never attempts to be a penalty. It is created for ECP’s own profit (as opposed to a bylaws penalty that goes to the public purse) and ECP has relied on contract law allegations of breach against the driver only.

The registered keeper cannot be presumed or inferred to have been the driver, nor pursued under some twisted interpretation of the law of agency. Your NtK can only hold the driver liable. ECP have no hope at POPLA, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.

If they reject, you can use the following map to prove the point that the Shell garage sits within the Gatwick Airport boundary and is therefore not relevant land for the purposes of PoFA:

Oh dear! Will ECP never learn?

"10/11/25

Our Ref: XXXXXXXXXXX
Unique POPLA Verification Code: XXXXXXXXXXX
Dear XXXXXXX
Thank you for your letter of appeal. The details of the Parking Charge Notice are as follows:
Parking Charge Notice Number: XXXXXXXXXXX Date of Issue:XX/10/2025
Vehicle Registration Mark: XXXXXX Time of Issue: 02:17:04
The Site: Shell Petrol Station - Gatwick North
Breach of Terms and Conditions:
Your vehicle has overstayed the maximum
time period allowed
After carefully reviewing the information you provided, Euro Car Parks (ECP) have decided to reject
your appeal for the following reasons:
• The Site is operated by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system. ANPR
cameras have captured an image of the vehicle registration mark XXXXXX entering and
leaving The Site and calculated the duration of stay.
• Parking at The Site is limited to 20 minutes. Your vehicle entered at 01:31:39 and exited at
02:17:04 therefore was parked longer than the maximum period allowed.
• Signage located throughout The Site clearly details the terms and conditions. On entry to
private land, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure all terms and conditions as detailed
on the signage are adhered to.
The parking charge notice has been issued correctly and remains payable.
Please use one of the following options below to make payment for the amount of £60.00:
1. Online: By visiting https://www.eurocarparks.com/pay-a-parking-charge/
2. Phone: Use the automated telephone service 0203 553 4559.
3. Post: Make your cheque payable to Euro Car Parks Limited (include a £2.50 handling charge
for cheque processing) and post to Euro Car Parks Ltd, 30 Dorset Square, London, NW1
6QJ, quoting the PCN number on the reverse of the cheque.
The parking charge notice will be held for 14 days from the date of this letter to allow time to make
payment.

You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure.
You can make an appeal to the Independent Appeals Service, POPLA (Parking on Private Land
Appeals) using the unique POPLA Reference code provided above. Please note, should you decide
to appeal to POPLA, or if you appeal to POPLA and your appeal is subsequently rejected, the option
to pay the discounted amount will no longer be available and the Full Amount of the PCN will be due.
Please note - if the parking charge notice was issued in Scotland and or Northern Ireland, only “The
Driver” can appeal to POPLA.
If you decide to appeal to POPLA, you will need to visit the website, www.popla.co.uk where further
details of how to appeal (either online or by downloading the relevant forms) can be found. If the
driver is unable to access the website, please use the contact us page at
https://www.popla.co.uk/contact. Please ensure that the POPLA Reference Number as noted above is
quoted on all correspondence to POPLA. You have 28 days from the date of this letter to submit an
appeal to POPLA. If you appeal to POPLA, the parking charge notice will be placed on hold.
Appeals may not be accepted if payment is made against the Parking Charge Notice, including any
appeals logged via POPLA.
If you choose to ignore this letter, we will seek to recover the outstanding amount owed to us through
the debt recovery process and procedure, this may lead to court action against you.
By law, we are also required to inform you that the Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsmanservices.
org) provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be able to assist with your
appeal. Please note, we have not chosen to participate in their dispute resolution service and as such,
should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as detailed above.
Yours sincerely"

I intend to compose a full POPLA appeal but, in the first instance, would somebody be kind enough to point me to where I can get a definitive, legible map showing the airport bounday, please?  The link, kindly provided by jfollows above, is not clear enough to show the roads and boundary and b789's map is only a proposal, from what I can ascertain in the online documentation.  Meantime, I'll start composing my 10 page appeal!

The general advice is to keep POPLA appeals simple and short (where airport land is concerned.)

It doesn't matter how many pages you write - the accessor will not engage with any of your additional points once he / she sees your 'relevant land' argument.

Nothing wrong with b789's map so far a I can see? Leave it to the parking company to come up with an alternative map if they can be bothered. Don't forget that it's their job to show that the keeper is liable and they are not going to be able to do that.

OK.  Thank you.  Things have changed somewhat since I was last involved on Pepipoo then.  In those days (possible 10 years ago!), it was encouraged to throw the kitchen sink in to discourage the PPC from putting their arguments forward.

I'll draft something and put it on here for comment.  Thank you for your help.

OK, if you want to rely on ChatGPT. The main thrust of the POPLA appeal must be to lead the moronic POPLA assessor by the nose to the logical conclusion.

In this case, the very first thing the PIOPLA assessor must ascertain, is whether the Keeper can be liable if the driver is not identified. Have a search of some other POPLA decisions and see how the assessors frame their reasoning.

Before any alleged contravention can be considered, is the person being pursued liable or not. If they are not liable, then everything else is irrelevant.

So, frame your POPLA appeal on that basis.

Also, it would be good if we could get a look at their contract with the landowner, so put them to strict proof of a contemporaneous contract flowing from the landowner. Use the following wording for that section:

I require strict proof of a valid, contemporaneous contract or lease flowing from the landowner that authorises the operator to manage parking, issue PCNs, and pursue legal action in its own name. I refer the operator and the POPLA assessor to Section 14 of the PPSCoP (Relationship with Landowner), which clearly sets out mandatory minimum requirements that must be evidenced before any parking charge may be issued on controlled land.

In particular, Section 14.1(a)–(j) requires the operator to have in place written confirmation from the landowner which includes:

• the identity of the landowner,
• a boundary map of the land to be managed,
• applicable byelaws,
• the duration and scope of authority granted,
• detailed parking terms and conditions including any specific permissions or exemptions,
• the means of issuing PCNs,
• responsibility for obtaining planning and advertising consents,
• and the operator’s obligations and appeal procedure under the Code.

These requirements are not optional. They are a condition precedent to issuing a PCN and bringing any associated action. Accordingly, I put the operator to strict proof of compliance with the entirety of Section 14 of the PPSCoP. Any document that contains redactions must not obscure the above conditions. The document must also be dated and signed by identifiable persons, with evidence of their authority to act on behalf of the parties to the agreement. The operator must provide an agreement showing clear authorisation from the landowner for this specific site.

I'm struggling to apply the byelaws to the Shell Garage:  https://tinyurl.com/airport-byelaws
 (I can verify the link, as I copied it.)

It looks like I can include:

Byelaw 5(3) Obstruction Except in an emergency, no person shall leave or park a Vehicle or cause it to wait for a period in excess of the permitted time in an area where the period of waiting is restricted by a Sign.

Byelaw 6(1) Drive or place vehicle No person shall drive, operate or place a Vehicle elsewhere than in a place provided for the passage or accommodation of such a Vehicle.

Byelaw 2(3)  Any other byelaw shall not exceed level 3 on the standard scale.

I would interpret all of the above defining the statutory control of parking, and penalties for breach, within the area defined on the map.

Have I missed any other provisions?

I know exactly what PoFA 2012 sched 4 para 3 says with respect to 'relevant land.' 

in your previous post, you told me to lead the POPLA Assessor 'by the nose.'  Consequently, I was going to inform him that it was not relevant land and the byelaws make provision for penalties for contravention under scale 3.  I needed to then show how that contravention arises, and the fact that it does not arise in such a manner to allow the RK to be liable under PoFA.  Perhaps you could kindly direct me towards a 'successful non-ChatGP' opening paragraph because the one that I started with appears to have been a 'successful ChatGP' submission.  I wasn't aware of the origin, merely that it had been successful.

I don't wish to appear belligerent but it's a few years since I was advising the exact same cases on Pepipoo and, consequently, I am out of practice.  I'm sure that, with your help, we will be able to chalk up a success for FTLA.

Here is a link to a local government planning map you can annotate to evidence the official boundary of Gatwick airport:

https://crawley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/PUB271702.pdf

Also a local planning document with an airport map showing the official boundary:

https://www.gatcom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Item7_Crawley-Draft-Submission-Local-Plan.pdf

If you Google “Gatwick local plan map” you can find a while load of official publications that contain maps showing the airport official boundary.