Welcome. This is worth fighting but you must realise that you are dealing with an unregulated private parking company that is a member of the IPC and no amount of appeal is going to be successful. However, eventually it will lead to a claim and that is when this will be won. We are taking anything from nine months to over a year for this to conclude.
If you follow the advice, you won't paying this vexatious company a penny. There is no evidence that any contract was formed with the driver as they must allow a minimum consideration period of at least 5 minutes before a PCN can be issued.
There are also probably other problems for them but we can cover those later. For example, if this requirement to obtain a permit from the concierge is a new term or condition, have they complied with the PPSCoP requirement to have prominent signs notifying drivers that there has been a material change to the conditions?
To get the ball rolling you should appeal with the following but only do so as the Keeper, even though their NtK appears to be PoFA compliant. It will be rejected but that is part of the plan:
I am the registered keeper of the vehicle and I dispute your 'parking charge'. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a formal complaint about your conduct to your client landowner.
Your Notice to Keeper (NtK) alleges a contravention based on an observed period of presence on site that is less than the minimum five-minute consideration period required under the Private Parking Code of Practice. As such, you have failed to show that any parking contract could have been formed.
There is no evidence that the driver was afforded a meaningful opportunity to read the signage and decide whether to remain. Without such evidence, no agreement can be said to have been entered into, and no breach can have occurred.
NPC are urged to cancel the charge now, as they cannot hope to succeed should they try and litigate this matter when the observation period falls short of the minimum requirement to support any contractual liability
