You have to consider what your chances of successfully defending this should ParkingEye eventually decide to take you to court of the alleged debt. Lets look at the bare bones of the circumstances:
The driver entered, attempted to pay, and could not due to:
• payment machine failure,
• lack of alternative viable methods (no signal for QR app or helpline),
• and no available onsite assistance.
• The driver did not accept the contract (no payment made, no tariff selected).
• The total stay was 16 minutes, which exceeds the minimum 5-minute consideration period.
An appeal to POPLA has almost zero chance of being successful. This case will likely be rejected by POPLA on technical grounds if ParkingEye can demonstrate that:
• signage was visible,
• terms were clear,
• the vehicle remained over the 5-minute consideration threshold without completing payment.
POPLA assessors tend to apply the Code rigidly and will never consider mitigating circumstances unless they amount to a procedural breach or unlawful conduct.
In my opinion, the only way you have any chance of getting this unfair PCN cancelled is if it goes to court. There are two outcomes, depending on how ParkingEye decide to handle litigation on the matter.
If they think their case is weak, they will eventually use the bulk litigation firm of incompetent legal wannabes, DCB Legal to issue a claim. If they do that, you have won, because as long as you follow the advice and defend the claim properly, they will, in due course discontinue.
However, if ParkingEye think they have a strong case, then they will handle the claim in-house with their own litigation team. Should this be the case, then it is highly likely that it would proceed al the way to a hearing.
At a hearing, you have the best chance of winning this because, unlike ParkingEye or their incestuous so-called "independent" appeals service, POPLA, a judge is the only truly independent arbiter and will decide any claim on the facts.
In the small claims court, this is where you would have a far stronger chance, especially with:
• evidence of the failed payment attempt (machine photos),
• witness evidence of no signal,
• your health context,
• and a properly structured argument around impossibility of performance and no contract formed.
The judge will also be able to decide on mitigating issues and, in my opinion, you probably have a better than 50% chance of being successful.
However... this is a long protracted process and is likely to last for anything from 9 months to over a year before it is finally decided. In the meantime, you will be receiving debt recovery letters threatening all sorts of nonsense but enough to scare anyone not familiar with this process. Debt collectors can be safely ignored. They are powerless to actually do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear.
After ignoring all debt collector letters, at some stage you will receive a Letter of Claim (LoC). At this point you will know whether they think they have a fair chance at recovering the alleged debt. If the LoC is issued by ParkingEye's in-house litigation team, then it is likely to end up in court. However, if the LoC comes from the incompetents at DCB Legal, it's a slam dunk that as long as the claim is defended, they will discontinue before they have to pay the trial fee.
This is not guesswork. This is all based on many years of dealing with these unregulated private parking companies and their bottom dwelling, bulk litigation brethren.
So, you have to decide whether you are prepared to fight this all the way, with our advice or you can go it alone and either pay up or fight with advice from elsewhere.
