Civil Penalty Notice (Parking)

trace-j

No idea where the Metrocentre is, but sounds like private land.

On private land the owner has a Civil duty of care for your safety, well being etc and property whilst you're on their land.  In turn you will be required to comply with any conditions they impose whilst you are on their land.  

For example broken glass on top of your perimeter wall to stop thieves getting in.  If an intruder was to injure themselves- they can (and have) sue you.  However if you put up conspicious signs to say 'anti-trespass measures in place enter at own risk' etc you can't be sued as you gave plenty of warning to absolve your duty of care to the trespasser.

The same can be applied here.  If you aren't supposed to park in certain places the land owner will have to ensure consipicious signs are in place to ensure visitors are aware of the consequences of improper parking.  Scout out the carpark are there any signs if so how many and their locations.  1 sign behind a lamp post for a carpark that holds say 100 cars won't be enough.  As it's not a public highway technically the owner coud use what ever markings they fancied, but they need to mean something to the visitor.

It's also worth noting what evidence do they have of you parking improperly.  If they don't use on spot tickets you could insist on some photos (since some local authorities and companies now use digital cameras) or CCTV footage.

Best bet is check for signs- if you weren't made aware of parking restrictions there's not much they can do.

These companies tend to deal with matters like this via standard letters.  If you ignore them you get a standard final warning before court action etc and then passed to their Solicitors who will proceed via small claims.  If you ignore it could lead to a CCJ.  Best to deal with ASAP.