Here's the PCN notice. Sorry about the delay, I didn't get back home until late last night
And this is what I put in the appeal
I am writing to formally challenge the parking fine issued on 17/09/2024 at Birkenhead Hamilton Square. I believe this penalty is unjustified due to the following reasons, and I kindly request that you cancel this fine.
The driver has been a regular user of your car park for over a year. They follows the same routine each time, parking the car, entering the registration number, and paying for the ticket via their card. For the past year, the standard charge for 24 hours has been £2.60, and this is the amount they paid on the day in question, assuming the same tariff applied.
However, I have since learned that a new tariff structure has been introduced, with the minimum payment of £2.00 covering only 4 hours, and the cost for 24 hours now being £2.80. While the signs may have changed to reflect this, I believe it was not made sufficiently clear to regular users, like my wife, that these changes had taken effect.
As a frequent user of the car park, the driver had no reason to check the signage daily, since they believed they were familiar with the parking fees. The new structure, particularly the introduction of a 4-hour minimum, represents a significant change that was not adequately communicated to loyal customers. This lack of clarity led to an honest mistake on their part.
I have attached two photos that show both the old tariff and the new one. The differences are subtle but important, and I believe that more proactive efforts should have been made to alert regular users of the change—either through clearer signage, or an additional notice.
Given the circumstances, I kindly request that this fine be reconsidered and canceled, as it seems unreasonable to penalise a customer for an unintentional oversight caused by an insufficiently communicated change in pricing.
