Free Traffic Legal Advice

Are there any timestamped photos of the vehicle showing a time of 22:02? The two you've shown us were taken at 22:17 a few seconds apart. What evidence do they have that the vehicle was observed at 22:02 as noted on the Notice to Driver (NtD)?

Also, the NtD does not comply with PoFA 7(2)(e) as the Creditor is not identified.

This is how you must handle this. There is no legal obligation on the Keeper to reveal the identity of the unknown driver and no inference or assumptions can be made.

The NtD is not compliant with all the requirements of PoFA which means that if the driver is not identified, they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the Keeper.

Use the following as your appeal. No need to embellish or remove anything from it. On Friday 19th December you send the following appeal, ONLY as the Keeper:

I am theKeeper of the vehicle and I dispute your 'parking charge'. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

As your Notice to Driver (NtD) does not fully comply with ALL the requirements of PoFA 2012, you are unable to hold the Keeper of the vehicle liable for the charge. Partial or even substantial compliance is not sufficient. There will be no admission as to who was driving and no inference or assumptions can be drawn. Elite 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 NtD can only hold the driver liable. Elite have no hope at POPLA, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.

Now that you have the Keeper’s details from this appeal, any attempt to obtain the same data from the DVLA would be unnecessary and would constitute misuse of personal data, in breach of the lawfulness and data-minimisation principles in Article 5(1)(a) and (c) UK GDPR and without any lawful basis under Article 6(1)(f). It would also breach your obligations under PoFA 2012 and the DVLA KADOE contract. You are therefore put on formal notice not to make any DVLA request in relation to this PCN.

Do not send the appeal before or after Friday 19th December. There is a strategic reason for this. If they respond to the appeal without issuing a Notice to Keeper (NtK), that is another arrow in your quiver.

Either use their online portal but DO NOT make any selection that identifies the driver. You are appealing ONLY as the Keeper. You can try emailing the appeal to Customer.services@eliteparkingmanagement.com.

Come back when you receive a response.

So they only have evidence of the vehicle being parked for less than 2 minutes. They are also in breach of the PPSCoP section 5.1 and Annex B:

The purpose of this Annex is to set the mandatory minima for the consideration and grace periods that parking operators are required to apply in accordance with 5.1 and 5.2.

Factors to be taken into account are detailed in the relevant clauses. It is important to note that where there is evidence the consideration period has expired the minimum period of time for the consideration is not relevant however, the operator should retain evidence to show how the consideration period had ended.

The significance of whether the consideration has expired is fundamental as it is the point the driver has accepted the terms and conditions attached to the controlled land in question. A consideration period is not a free period of parking.

The operator has not provided any evidence of a consideration period except their operator "saying" that it was observed at 22:02. If that were the case, then they should have taken a time stamped phot. They didn't.

No. You can use that for your POPLA appeal. It is as rare as hens teeth that any  initial appeal to an operator is ever successful.

Just send what you have been advised on Friday 19th December.

As a relative newbie here who is keen to learn from this forum so that I may, in future, give something back, can one of the resident gurus here explain the difference between a "Notice To Driver" and a "Notice To Keeper"?

And why should there be a delay in responding to the former when no such caveat would appear necessary with the latter?

Thanks 

I have received an email from Elite, with a pdf letter attached:

Thank you for your appeal received on 19/12/2025 regarding the above detailed Parking Charge Notice. We have reviewed the case and considered the comments that you have made. This appeal has been considered in conjunction with the evidence gathered by the parking attendant. Our records show that the notice was correctly issued as your vehicle was parked in breach of the Terms and Conditions of Parking.

We can confirm that this PCN has been issued in line with industry standards and is compliant with the British Parking Associations (BPA) Code of Practice.

Please be advised that the area in which this vehicle was parked is private land for permit holders only. The vehicle details were checked, and this vehicle does not have a valid permit for this location.

We are therefore unable to cancel the Parking Charge Notice as it was issued correctly. We have now extended the discounted payment period by 14 days to allow you time to pay the discounted settlement amount. Please now make payment of £60 to reach us by 06/01/2026 or £100 to reach us by 20/01/2026. We must advise you that once the discounted settlement rate passes it will not be offered again.
Payments can be made by cheque or postal order made payable to Elite Car Parking Management Ltd. Please ensure you write your Parking Charge Notice number clearly on the reverse. Please do not send cash through the post. Payment can be made using a debit or credit card by calling the automated payment line on 03330230008 or by visiting eliteparkingmanagement.ec6pay.com. For our full Complaints Procedure please visit www.eliteparkingmanagement.com.

Further appeals:
You have now reached the final stage of our internal appeals process. If you wish to appeal your case further you can now only do so to Parking On Private Land Appeals (POPLA) as provided by Ombudsman Services on instruction of the British Parking Association. All information on how to appeal to POPLA is provided on their website; www.popla.org.uk, you’ll need the following 10-digit verification code to submit your appeal; [redacted].

If you’re appealing to POPLA you must do so within 28 days from the date of this letter. If POPLA reject your appeal you’ll be liable for the full amount of this PCN. The discounted amount will not be reinstated in any circumstances. POPLA will also not asses a case that has been paid prior to the appeal being received by them. In line with our Approved Trade Association (ATA) accreditation we’re required to provide you with an Independent Appeals Service for which we’ve chosen POPLA. We’re also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsman-services.org) provides an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service. However, Elite Parking Management have chosen not to participate in this alternative ADR service, and should you wish to appeal further
you must do so to POPLA as detailed above.

Yours sincerely,
Appeals Department
Elite Car Parking Management

Please advise what my options are now. Thanks in advance!

@nman26, that is excellent news. The morons have issued an appeal rejection and a POPLA code without ever serving a valid Notice to Keeper (NtK) under paragraph 8 of PoFA. From now until POPLA submission, do this...

Today is 23 December 2025. Do NOT submit a POPLA appeal yet. Do NOT contact Elite again. Do NOT email, phone, or use their portal. Do NOT say anything about what happened and do NOT identify the driver.

All you do for now is check daily for any email/letter headed “Notice to Keeper” (NtK) or anything else from Elite. If anything arrives, keep the envelope, note the date it arrived, and keep copies of every page.

There are two deadlines you must keep in mind.

First, the PoFA deadline for a Notice to Keeper. Because there was a windscreen Notice to Driver dated 22 November 2025, Elite can only try to create keeper liability by serving a PoFA-compliant NtK that is “given” by day 56. Day 56 is Saturday 17 January 2026. In practice “given” is presumed two working days after posting, so anything posted on or after Thursday 15 January 2026 is going to be out of time.

Second, the POPLA deadline. The rejection is dated 23 December 2025. The POPLA code is treated as valid for 33 days from that date. The last day to submit is Sunday 25 January 2026.

If a Notice to Keeper arrives before 17 January 2026, do not respond to Elite. You will still go to POPLA, but the main argument becomes that the NtK is not PoFA compliant and/or not served in time (depending on what it says and the dates). The driver remains unidentified.

If no Notice to Keeper arrives by the end of 17 January 2026, Elite have missed their only statutory route to transfer liability to you as keeper under PoFA, because the driver has not been identified. Your core POPLA point will be: windscreen NtD was issued, no PoFA-compliant NtK was served within the required period, driver not identified, therefore no keeper liability.

You should submit the suggested POPLA appeal below, on 18 January 2026. That is after the PoFA deadline has passed and after the last possible posting date for an on-time NtK, while still safely within the POPLA code validity period. Do NOT leave it later than Sunday 25 January 2026, which is the final day.

Between now and 18 January, draft the POPLA appeal and prepare your evidence without submitting anything: keep a copy of the windscreen ticket (front and back), the rejection PDF/email dated 23 December 2025, the operator photos, and your photos of the signage and bay markings. On 18 January, if no NtK has been served in time, update the POPLA text to state that fact and submit.

Do not pay, do not engage with any “discount” deadlines, and do not identify the driver at any stage.

Here is the suggested POPLA appeal wording:

POPLA Verification Code: [insert]
Operator: Elite Car Parking Management Ltd
PCN Number: [insert]
Vehicle Registration: [insert]
Site: British Estate, London E3 4LU
Date of alleged contravention/NtD placed on vehicle: 22/11/2025
Date of operator rejection letter with POPLA code: 23/12/2025
Appellant status: Registered Keeper

Ground of appeal: No keeper liability. Operator has failed to comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4. Driver not identified. The charge must be cancelled.

This was a windscreen Parking Charge Notice (a Notice to Driver). Where a Notice to Driver (NtD) has been served, the operator can only pursue the registered keeper if, and only if, the operator fully complies with PoFA Schedule 4 paragraph 8 by serving a fully compliant Notice to Keeper (nth) within the strict statutory timeframe and with the prescribed mandatory wording.

The driver has not been identified and will not be identified. There is no legal obligation on a Keeper to name the driver and there is no lawful presumption and can be no inference that the Keeper was the driver.

The operator issued an appeal rejection by email dated 23/12/2025 and provided a POPLA code. That rejection is not an NtK and it does not contain the mandatory PoFA paragraph 8 Keeper liability wording. Further, as at the time of this appeal, the operator has not served any NtK that is compliant with PoFA Schedule 4 paragraph 8.

Because the operator has not complied with PoFA, the operator cannot transfer liability for the parking charge from the unknown driver to the Keeper. As a result, the Keeper cannot be held liable for this charge. POPLA must allow this appeal and require the operator to cancel the PCN.

I require the operator to produce strict proof to POPLA that an NtK was served in full compliance with PoFA Schedule 4 paragraph 8, including proof of the date of posting, the date it was given, and the full mandatory PoFA wording. If the operator cannot produce that strict proof, POPLA must allow the appeal.