Free Traffic Legal Advice

Good morning,


Last weekend, I parked in a car park, and unfortunately entered the first two characters of my old car's registration on the parking machine, with the last five characters being correct for my vehicle.


That evening, I contacted EuroCarParks (without stating who the driver was) stating that the car had been parked in the car park, and providing evidence of ownership of the previous car with the initial starting characters on the plate, in the hopes that they would not issue a PCN given that payment was made in full for parking and they haven't therefore lost out on revenue.


As expected, they ignored that communication and have now issued a PCN.


Can I appeal this notice?



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Example:
My current car reg is AB20XYZ
I entered DE20XYZ on the parking payment machine
My old car reg was DE19GHI

Thanks in advance.

Note that your original argument is probably flawed in that Euro Car Parks probably got nothing from you, their contract is likely to be that they hand over all the money to the land owner in return for which they get to keep any money they manage to extract from people who break their rules. So they want their £100 (or whatever) from you now.

Note that your original argument is probably flawed in that Euro Car Parks probably got nothing from you, their contract is likely to be that they hand over all the money to the land owner in return for which they get to keep any money they manage to extract from people who break their rules. So they want their £100 (or whatever) from you now.

Interesting. I really should have just bought a second ticket when I realised then!

Quote from: Curliness8852 on June 19, 2026, 10:47:32 am

Quote from: jfollows on June 19, 2026, 09:52:41 am

You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.

Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.

https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/

I'll post the full PCN when I get a proper copy - the initial one was issued to my leasing company, so waiting for that to be transferred over. I'll read up on the keying error information, thank you.

If the car is leased, this should mean you will get a Notice to Hirer issued to you in due course which is unlikely to meet the requirements of PoFA 2012 to transfer liability from the unknown driver to you as hirer.
Do not identify the driver.
Post the NtH when you receive it and note the other documents sent with it (there should be, but probably there won’t be).
Search the forum in the meantime for the usual failings of Notices to Hirer, and the appeal point that results.

So far I have an email from the leasing company (Octopus EV) that they have sent to ECP authorising them to communicate with me directly:

Dear Euro Car Parks Limited
This letter confirms that Octopus Electric Vehicles has authorised you to communicate directly with the nominated person detailed below in
relation to the Penalty Charge Notice they have received.
Vehicle Registration: <redacted>
Reference: <redacted>
Contract Start Date: <redacted>/2025
Contract EndDate: <redacted>/2029
Driver/CustomerName: <redacted>
Driver/Customer Address: <redacted>
The above vehicle is on long term lease with Octopus Electric Vehicles and the nominated person above has full use of the vehicle.

There are multiple drivers on the policy, so despite Octopus' wording that I'm the driver/Customer, they do not know who the driver was, just that I am the customer.

I'll read up on NtH failings whilst awaiting a copy of it, thank you.

I would initially appeal to the parking operator using a loose appeal point purely to get the POPLA code - something along the lines of 'I understand that the parking was paid for'.

Obviously you will appeal purely as the hirer.

This would prevent the parking operator from understanding exactly what they have done wrong and give them no time to put it right.


You should note that the legislation actually specifies;

14(2) The conditions are that—

(a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper;

The key word in the legislation is "together" meaning; that they cannot retrospectively provide the documents since all the documents must be served 'together'.

You could contact Octopus and ask them to record the fact that you are now dealing with the matter and that no payment should be made by them in relation to your vehicle.

Given that the operator has now issued the NtH, it would probably be too late for them to allege that the keeper had not provided them with the correct documents - if they believed that the keeper had not provided the correct documents then they should have raised that point directly with the keeper (lease company) before issuing the NtH.

It’s your call.

You can appeal on the basis of a “keying error”, see https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130426-2.pdf, and ask to pay accordingly per F.3.

Or you can post the notice here and see if there are grounds for appealing it and paying nothing.

https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/

Do you want to pay £0 but have to deal with this for a number of months, or do you want to be done with thi for £20 now?
Only you can decide.

Just choose "other". "I was not improperly parked" at the very least implies who was driving, which, given one of your appeal points is based on them not knowing who was driving, is not advised.