Free Traffic Legal Advice

I received PCN today (9-Nov). Please see below. Date of alleged contravention 31-Oct.
The ASDA Crawley car park is first hour free to park with the 2nd hour paid (or you get a free coupon from the retailer if you spend more than £35 in store). Maximum parking time is 2 hours.

The exit photo in PCN is too dark and the Registration Number of the vehicle exiting is somewhat unclear. I logged into Parkingeye's appeal page (not to submit the appeal, but to see a clearer photo). The photo evidence online is also quite dark, and the first 2 letters of Registration Number is not very clear.

PCN



Photo evidence of vehicle entering and leaving


I also have a shopping receipt of more than £142 spent at ASDA. I spent a long time shopping inside. It was Halloween night and there were long queues at the manned tills. We didn't go to self-service machines as we had a lot of items to scan. The till operator at the queue which we joined was not the fastest. There was an elderly couple at the top of the queue who spent a lot of time arguing with the till operator about something.

We stood in queue for around 15-20 minutes including the time spent scanning our items and paying. Some items didn't scan, so the operator had to manually enter the barcode number. After we purchased our items, I then stood in queue at the old Customer Service counter (now selling tobacco) waiting to be served, in order to request the free parking coupon. Upon my turn, I was told that these coupons (for 2 hours max) are now given by the security instead. I then purchased another item, which I forgot to buy the first time. I have lost this second receipt, but can show my bank statement as evidence. After that, I went to the Security to ask for the free parking coupon which they gave me after checking my receipt.

I then went to the parking payment machine outside. The window to scan the QR code was dirty with smudges. The machine was a bit temperamental and wasn't scanning the QR code. I ended up spending a couple of minutes trying to scan it. When it finally got scanned, a message on screen said I may be liable to a charge (because I had exceeded the 2 hours maximum limit) and that I may be able to appeal.

I was over the 2 hr limit by 25 min.

My questions are -
1. Are the photo evidence clear enough to be legally acceptable as evidence?
2. Is what I received considered a NtK? Or is NtK yet to arrive?
3. On Page 2, under Protection of Freedoms Act, they say "if after 29 days from date given". Should this not be 28 days? Does this make the NtK invalid?
4. Should I merely appeal based on the delays at the store which led me to spending over 2 hrs?

What have ASDA management said about getting their agent to cancel this unfair PCN? I’d threaten to return everything you purchased and threaten to take your business elsewhere in future.

I spoke to Customer Service who said there's nothing they can do. Told me to upload a copy of my receipt when appealing.

CEO@asda.com I believe

Likely grounds to challenge

1. You were a bona fide customer who met the minimum spend. The “free with £35+ spend” offer creates a legitimate expectation that parking associated with completing that shop, including queuing and obtaining the coupon, will not trigger a £100 charge.

2. Consumer Rights Act 2015: enforcing a rigid two-hour cap against a genuine £142 shopper where delay was caused by the retailer’s own processes (Halloween queues, slow/manual scans, being redirected to Security for the coupon, and a temperamental scanner) can be argued unfair and not in good faith. Any ambiguity in how the offer works should be interpreted in your favour.

3. Private Parking Single Code of Practice v1.1: operators must allow an arrival consideration period and a minimum 10-minute grace period on exit. In a busy store, those periods plausibly account for much or all of a 25-minute “overstay”, especially where machine/scanner issues added time.

4. Signage and transparency: if signs or in-store messaging did not make clear that the two-hour maximum is absolute even for qualifying spend, or that the coupon process could still lead to liability once the two hours elapsed, that supports a challenge for unclear or misleading terms.

5. Landowner cancellation: the operator acts as ASDA’s agent. ASDA can and should instruct cancellation where a qualifying shopper is affected by store-caused delay. Your receipt and the fact Security issued the coupon are strong evidence for a retailer complaint.

6. ANPR and timings: ANPR measures entry/exit, not time parked. Time spent finding a space, reading terms, and queuing to exit falls within consideration/grace. Any added delay from a dirty or faulty QR scanner is operator-induced and should not be held against you.

7. Keeper liability (PoFA 2012): only relevant if they are trying to hold the registered keeper liable. If the Notice to Keeper is late or missing mandatory wording, keeper liability fails. You should not identify the driver.

8. Equality Act 2010 (only if applicable): disability, pregnancy, or other protected-characteristic needs requiring more time would trigger a duty to make reasonable adjustments, making rigid enforcement unlawful.

Evidence to rely on: the £142 receipt; bank statement showing the additional forgotten item; description that Security checked your receipt and issued the coupon; description/photo of the scanner condition; notes on Halloween queues and manual barcode entries.