Private Land Enforcement Procedure (private land)

Enforcement Procedure for a Private Land Parking Ticket

 

If you have received a Parking Charge Notice for parking on private land you are in the right section for details of the enforcement procedure. For all council issued parking fines please see our main section on parking accessed from the top menu as the procedure is very different.

We also suggest that you read our other sections on private parking tickets accessed from the left hand menu near the top of this page.

 

Received a Private Land Parking Notice?

 

Timescales

 

Parking charge notice placed on vehicle or sent to vehicle keeper or vehicle hirer.

If the parking charge notice is sent by post the parking company must send this to you within 14 days of the alleged breach

You have 28 days from the date that you received it.(whether placed on your windscreen or received in the post) to pay the parking charge notice, challenge it or provide the details of who the driver was at the time.

If you pay within 14 days the parking company must offer you a discount of at least 40%.

If you do not take any of the steps above the parking company may issue a notice to keeper and then take subsequent steps to recover the charge. If you make a challenge and they reject it you can appeal to the private parking appeals service.

NOTE: If you provide the parking company with details of the actual driver you can no longer be pursued by them and they must pursue the actual driver if they want settlement of their parking charge. They can do this by sending a “notice to driver” to the actual driver.

NOTE: When a parking enforcement company receives a challenge about a parking charge notice the guidance issued to them by the British Parking Association states that they must stop work on processing the charge immediately and that they must not increase the charge until they have replied to the challenge” They are also told that they must reply to or acknowledge receipt of the challenge within 14 days and if they acknowledge receipt they must respond to the challenge within a maximum time of 35 days from the date of receipt. Once you have made a challenge the company may not seek payment from you until they have responded.

 

Letter of Rejection

If a challenge is made and rejected by the parking company they must, in a letter of rejection, provide full details of why the challenge has not been accepted and how to appeal to POPLA and provide a form or a link to an online form.

They must also give you a reasonable time to pay the parking charge before restarting the collect process. The BPA tells its members to give at least 35 days from the day they reject the challenge. You should therefore either pay the parking charge or appeal to POPLA within 35 days. We would suggest that you do so within 28 days.

 

Appealing to the “independent” parking appeals service.

P.O.P.L.A (PARKING ON PRIVATE LAND APPEALS)

The website is www.popla.co.uk

You can only use the service if you have already appealed to the parking company who issued the ticket to you and they have rejected it. We strongly recommend that you use the service if you are not satisfied that the parking company have handled your initial appeal correctly. Do not be intimidated by any threatening letters which the parking company send. Once you have lost the discount offered you have nothing to lose by appealing.

You must appeal within 28 days of the rejection by the parking company.

The service is free to motorists so you probably have nothing to lose but will cost parking companies £27 each time a motorist appeals!

P.O.P.L.A does not allow personal hearings. We think it is the right of every citizen to be able to present their case personally. They accept postal and emailed appeals only.

Motorist’s appeals will not be handled by an adjudicator rather an “assessor” For issues which an “assessor” must consider and grounds for appeal please see our comprehensive section below.

If an assessor finds in your favour the parking company must cancel the parking charge however if your appeal is refused it is not binding on you. You do not have to pay it as you still have the option to go to court or to defend a case brought against you by the parking company in the county court. There have been a few court cases and these are summarised inour court cases section.

We are very concerned at the independence of POPLA having looked at the grounds for appeal on their website.

Their website is www.popla.co.uk. We would be delighted to hear from motorists who use the new service with details of the decisions that have been made. This will help us assist other motorists.

In considering appeals, POPLA is able to consider whether a landholder or parking company acting on his behalf has behaved reasonably. This includes whether any parking charges are based on a genuine pre-estimate of loss. POPLA can also consider whether the landholder has complied with the BPA’s Code of Practice, and inform the BPA of any suspected breaches so they may take appropriate action.

POPLA may also refer cases back to the landholder where it considers the landholder has failed to take reasonable account of evidence of reasonable mitigating circumstances which has been presented by the driver or registered keeper.

Next: Sample Private Land Charge Notices