Successful complaints about private parking tickets - how to get them cancelled!

gbu_2

Here is my successful case thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6530890/pcn-for-parking-at-petrol-station/p1

I received my ticket after parking at a BP Petrol Station forecourt i contacted them via careline@bp.com, after a complaint to them i was passed onto PCManagement then on to Motor Fuel Group Ltd CustomerCare@motorfuelgroup.com

This wasn’t very successful but i was stuck with one employee replying back to me as all his replies where 

cut/paste and then after i complained he stopped replying altogether.

So i was advised to got straight to the top management with my case details and a complaint about his staff to the CEO William Bannister  william.bannister@motorfuelgroup.com

I had a ticket ID number from my previous correspondence so he had everything to hand but i requested a phone call to discuss my case or a face to face meeting at his convenience however this was not needed as just over a week later his Customer Service Manager Lousie Edwards replied back to me saying the ticket has been rescinded with there apologies!

I'm hoping this can help any others that have to deal with this same company, (i would advise contacting there customer service first to see if they’ve changed any of there directives in getting tickets cancelled) probably not but then you would at least have a ticket ID number and proof of complaint before contacting the CEO

Thank you once again to this wonderful forum and helpful members!

bunkersoldier

Many thanks for the extremely useful information and advice provided in this forum. After failing at the first appeal stage to ParkMaven, a Blue Bage PCN at Worcestershire Royal Hospital was cancelled after emailing PALS:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to make a complaint about the failure of your private contractor ParkMaven to comply with your stated policy of providing free parking, for the duration of their hospital attendance, for disabled patients and visitors.

I am the keeper of vehicle registration xxxxxxx and have received a Notice to Keeper Parking Charge Notice (PCN) reference xxxxxxx  dated 07/04/2025 from ParkMaven, demanding payment of £30 for allegedly exceeding the 20 minute maximum stay time by just 6 minutes on 03/042025, despite the vehicle displaying a Blue Badge.

The driver of the vehicle was assisting an 88 year old disabled patient, following a hip replacement operation.  All disabled bays were taken and no standard spaces were found after driving around the site. The vehicle was therefore forced to park in your Drop Off area. The vehicle was displaying a valid Blue Badge, which can be seen in the two PCN photographs. Surprisingly, the PCN does not provide any evidence of the alleged 6 minute overstay, such as time stamped photographs.

On 09/04/2025, I appealed to ParkMaven, fully expecting them to cancel the PCN, but incredibly on 15/04/2025 they rejected my appeal, incorrectly stating that “a Blue Badge does not authorise you to park anywhere on private land”. ParkMaven are clearly unaware of or ignoring Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust’s policy, which defines a disabled person as a holder of a Blue Badge attending or visiting hospital as a patient or visitor. They are also clearly unaware of or ignoring their obligations under The Equality Act 2010, which places a duty on them to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

In accordance with NHS Car Parking Guidance 2022 for NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts Guidelines, NHS organisations are responsible for the actions of private contractors who run car parks on their behalf, so please will you contact ParkMaven and arrange for this PCN to be cancelled. 

To ensure this doesn’t happen again to other Blue Badge holders, please will you also remind them of your disabled parking policy and their duty under The Equality Act 2010.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Coupon-mad

bunkersoldier said:

Many thanks for the extremely useful information and advice provided in this forum. After failing at the first appeal stage to ParkMaven, a Blue Bage PCN at Worcestershire Royal Hospital was cancelled after emailing PALS:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to make a complaint about the failure of your private contractor ParkMaven to comply with your stated policy of providing free parking, for the duration of their hospital attendance, for disabled patients and visitors.

I am the keeper of vehicle registration xxxxxxx and have received a Notice to Keeper Parking Charge Notice (PCN) reference xxxxxxx  dated 07/04/2025 from ParkMaven, demanding payment of £30 for allegedly exceeding the 20 minute maximum stay time by just 6 minutes on 03/042025, despite the vehicle displaying a Blue Badge.

The driver of the vehicle was assisting an 88 year old disabled patient, following a hip replacement operation.  All disabled bays were taken and no standard spaces were found after driving around the site. The vehicle was therefore forced to park in your Drop Off area. The vehicle was displaying a valid Blue Badge, which can be seen in the two PCN photographs. Surprisingly, the PCN does not provide any evidence of the alleged 6 minute overstay, such as time stamped photographs.

On 09/04/2025, I appealed to ParkMaven, fully expecting them to cancel the PCN, but incredibly on 15/04/2025 they rejected my appeal, incorrectly stating that “a Blue Badge does not authorise you to park anywhere on private land”. ParkMaven are clearly unaware of or ignoring Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust’s policy, which defines a disabled person as a holder of a Blue Badge attending or visiting hospital as a patient or visitor. They are also clearly unaware of or ignoring their obligations under The Equality Act 2010, which places a duty on them to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

In accordance with NHS Car Parking Guidance 2022 for NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts Guidelines, NHS organisations are responsible for the actions of private contractors who run car parks on their behalf, so please will you contact ParkMaven and arrange for this PCN to be cancelled. 

To ensure this doesn’t happen again to other Blue Badge holders, please will you also remind them of your disabled parking policy and their duty under The Equality Act 2010.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

This is a great example of a complaint in these circumstances. Well done!

MauveMoo281

This success story refers to Highbridge Retail Park Waltham Abbey Essex EN9 1BY

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81411966#Comment_81411966

On 18th March 2025, 4 days after the alleged 'contravention' I received a parking charge letter from UK Parking Control by post.

My *offence* ~ 'Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space' in a free-to-park, retail park in Waltham Abbey, Essex. The photo shows my vehicle parked in 1 of 2 'bays' separated by 1 hatched marking.

One of the rear wheels 3 inches into that hatched marking in the disabled bay, which to all intents and purposes in my mind *is* part of the bay?

My Blue Badge was on display. 

I had suffered a medical emergency and needed to exit the car quickly. I was driven home by a relative, in her car. 

My car was collected less than 30 minutes later so there was no overstaying.

I disputed the charges on receipt of the postal charge letter, (18th March 2025), and explained what had happened via email.

That I had suffered a medical emergency, had displayed my Blue Badge at all times and had been driven home by a relative and my car had not overstayed the 2.5 hour limit.

On Good Friday, 18th April I received an email demanding "medical evidence for the date of the contravention".

I have been back, (19th April), to photograph the signage, the disabled bays and spoken to store managers about UKPC predatory conduct. 

With reference to UKPC outrageous demand for "medical evidence", I would assert that in order to obtain a Blue Badge I have already established, with proof, my disability and it is most certainly not within their, (UKPC), powers to decide this. 

Moreover, it is a gross breach of my right to privacy.

As a disabled person, I have protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and failing to make reasonable adjustments, (ie. the need to park differently due to my condition) is a breach of those protected characteristics which amounts to a criminal offence by Legal & General and their sub-contracted agents, UKPC.

Can they make this disgraceful demand for "medical evidence in relation to the date of the contravention?" 

Could you please offer advice on the best way to proceed?

I cannot and will not pay £100 on a point of principle, (reduced to £60), you know the 'deal'...

-----------------------


UPDATE - APRIL 24th:

I have news!   

My UKPC invoice has been cancelled, as a "goodwill gesture".

Yesterday's email to Georgie Brooks @ Hampson Wall was passed to a variety of recipients who in 'hot potato' stylie, swiftly handed it on and so I have no idea of the role of the players in this money spinning endeavour.

           Natasha Mann ~ Service Delivery Manager @ bellrockgroup.co.uk
 

This individual emailed to inform that the invoice had been cancelled and for that I am genuinely grateful. 

I have asked if I will be formally notified by UKPC or would her email suffice.

Remember the plaque on a building @ Highbridge Retail Park showing a Legal & General Helpline?
My call was answered by a female from BellrockGroup ~ Maintenance Division which threw me in terms of trying to establish where best to direct my complaint.

So it is now proven that BellRock Group have access to the client portal to UKPC.

Anyway, I am so very grateful to Coupon-mad's comprehensive (and daunting!) Newbie thread and the Forumites that helped me to this succesful outcome (and even the potential stalking horse.)

I shall be sticking around as I have found this place fascinating and have so learned much from you all and shall be recommending this site to others who find themselves in dire straits.

GreenJ101

Car park land owner? - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

PCN received at an Iceland store for an overstay of what ANPR cameras made out to be 14 minutes but only received a DCBL invoice of £170. Emailed Iceland customer service team explaining that I had no previous letters and that £170 was extortionate! Customer service claimed there was nothing they could do as they don't own the car park and after a few email exchanges of me questioning them and getting nowhere I emailed Richard Walker, the CEO. I emailed him 4 times before I finally got a response from the Iceland resolution centre who were very quick to cancel the PCN. 

The Email sent to CEO:

Good morning Richard,

This is the third E-mail I have sent without reply so ill take that as confirmation of where you stand on the matter, however I will continue to email while I wait for my letter of claim. I didn't expect you to respond directly but I assumed you wouldn't ignore my emails all together and have an assistant of some sorts reply.

I have received the PCN for an alleged infringement at your Melton Mowbray store on the 29/11/2024 and only received the first correspondence from DCBL on the 24/01/2025 claiming they are recovering a debt of £170! I was shocked to receive this notice and quickly found out Excel parking had sent 2 letters to my previous address and the "fine" had gone up considerably from £60 to £170 before I had any knowledge of it, any chance to appeal it or seen any evidence relating to the alleged infringement. After searching for evidence I found images of the vehicle in question entering the car park at 15:57 and leaving at 17:11, a total duration of 1 hour and 14 minutes, however this doesn't take into account any consideration time, time spent parking, time paying for parking or time leaving the car park. Taking into account the industry usually applies a grace period to allow for these actions, the apparent infringement doesn't seem fair for a customer who paid for parking in good faith.

The use of ANPR on this site seems a deliberate and predatory way of trapping and persecuting customers and the fact I had no chance to settle this invoice in its early stages and instead am being harassed for an extortionate amount of money also feels like a carefully planned attack on your customers.

Having no luck pleading my case with both DCBL and Excel parking I then emailed your customer care team who claimed dismissively that the car park was owned by Excel. I had my suspicions that this was in fact not the case and asked the customer care team to double check the ownership of the car park. Since being in contact with your customer care team I have been assured the car park is OWNED by Excel no less than THREE times by three different members of the customer care team and there is nothing else that Iceland can do.

My suspicions remained and after a simple land registry check, and £14, it turns out the land in its entirety is leased and therefore controlled by Iceland, not Excel! Excel, it seems, have been approached by Iceland to manage the car park on their behalf. So why was I told Excel own it 3 times by 3 different members of the customer care team? Was this the team being deliberately dishonest? 

Since being in contact with your customer care team I have continued to be sent intimidating "debt collection" letters that your agents Excel have instructed a third party to send. The private parking sector including your agents firm is currently under the microscope and change is imminent. They are currently self regulated meaning they can make their own rules up to line their pockets with your customers money. A lot of questions are being asked about their breach of GDPR regulations and very recently have had their "5 minute to pay rule" dismissed. The question remains as to why Iceland are willing to do business with such a poorly reputable company? I appreciate the need to protect your car parks from being abused but surely there is a better alternative for the good of your customers and ultimately Iceland's reputation? I would like to remind you that Iceland are directly responsible for the actions of the agents it deals with.

 The whole experience has left a very sour taste in my mouth and has me questioning whether using my local store in the future is worth the hassle and risk. All the contact I have had with your customer care team have me questioning the true intentions of the department, are they even working on behalf of the customers to resolve cases?  I have 2 case numbers with your customer care team department and hope you can find the time to see for yourself what they are telling customers in regards to the land ownership.

Case Number: 03958799

Case Number: 04002794

Again I apologise for the lengthy email but after exhausting all other options I have nowhere left to turn before a civil court case is brought against me. I am asking for this PCN to be cancelled before that happens so I can put all this stress and anxiety behind me and my faith can once again be restored in Iceland.

I look forward to hearing from you,



This led to the resolution team getting in touch and quickly cancelling the PCN. They didn't seem interested in the circumstances surrounding the PCN it seemed as though they had already been asked to cancel it on my behalf to get rid of me.

So whoever your PCN is from, don't give up too early on plan A! Even while you are waiting for a letter of claim continue to bombard the land owners and get angry. 

If you have a PCN from an Iceland car park be prepared to have your time wasted by the customer care team, it seems they have been told no to deal with PCN's. You could try the resolution team directly but emailing the customer service team might be a hoop you have to go through in order to achieve the end goal.

Email addresses:

Iceland customer service: 

• customer.service@iceland.co.uk

Iceland resolution team: 

• Iceland.ResolutionTeam@iceland.co.uk

Iceland CEO: 

• richard.walker@iceland.co.uk

Umkomaas

GreenJ101 said:

Car park land owner? - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

PCN received at an Iceland store for an overstay of what ANPR cameras made out to be 14 minutes but only received a DCBL invoice of £170. Emailed Iceland customer service team explaining that I had no previous letters and that £170 was extortionate! Customer service claimed there was nothing they could do as they don't own the car park and after a few email exchanges of me questioning them and getting nowhere I emailed Richard Walker, the CEO. I emailed him 4 times before I finally got a response from the Iceland resolution centre who were very quick to cancel the PCN. 

The Email sent to CEO:

Good morning Richard,

This is the third E-mail I have sent without reply so ill take that as confirmation of where you stand on the matter, however I will continue to email while I wait for my letter of claim. I didn't expect you to respond directly but I assumed you wouldn't ignore my emails all together and have an assistant of some sorts reply.

I have received the PCN for an alleged infringement at your Melton Mowbray store on the 29/11/2024 and only received the first correspondence from DCBL on the 24/01/2025 claiming they are recovering a debt of £170! I was shocked to receive this notice and quickly found out Excel parking had sent 2 letters to my previous address and the "fine" had gone up considerably from £60 to £170 before I had any knowledge of it, any chance to appeal it or seen any evidence relating to the alleged infringement. After searching for evidence I found images of the vehicle in question entering the car park at 15:57 and leaving at 17:11, a total duration of 1 hour and 14 minutes, however this doesn't take into account any consideration time, time spent parking, time paying for parking or time leaving the car park. Taking into account the industry usually applies a grace period to allow for these actions, the apparent infringement doesn't seem fair for a customer who paid for parking in good faith.

The use of ANPR on this site seems a deliberate and predatory way of trapping and persecuting customers and the fact I had no chance to settle this invoice in its early stages and instead am being harassed for an extortionate amount of money also feels like a carefully planned attack on your customers.

Having no luck pleading my case with both DCBL and Excel parking I then emailed your customer care team who claimed dismissively that the car park was owned by Excel. I had my suspicions that this was in fact not the case and asked the customer care team to double check the ownership of the car park. Since being in contact with your customer care team I have been assured the car park is OWNED by Excel no less than THREE times by three different members of the customer care team and there is nothing else that Iceland can do.

My suspicions remained and after a simple land registry check, and £14, it turns out the land in its entirety is leased and therefore controlled by Iceland, not Excel! Excel, it seems, have been approached by Iceland to manage the car park on their behalf. So why was I told Excel own it 3 times by 3 different members of the customer care team? Was this the team being deliberately dishonest? 

Since being in contact with your customer care team I have continued to be sent intimidating "debt collection" letters that your agents Excel have instructed a third party to send. The private parking sector including your agents firm is currently under the microscope and change is imminent. They are currently self regulated meaning they can make their own rules up to line their pockets with your customers money. A lot of questions are being asked about their breach of GDPR regulations and very recently have had their "5 minute to pay rule" dismissed. The question remains as to why Iceland are willing to do business with such a poorly reputable company? I appreciate the need to protect your car parks from being abused but surely there is a better alternative for the good of your customers and ultimately Iceland's reputation? I would like to remind you that Iceland are directly responsible for the actions of the agents it deals with.

 The whole experience has left a very sour taste in my mouth and has me questioning whether using my local store in the future is worth the hassle and risk. All the contact I have had with your customer care team have me questioning the true intentions of the department, are they even working on behalf of the customers to resolve cases?  I have 2 case numbers with your customer care team department and hope you can find the time to see for yourself what they are telling customers in regards to the land ownership.

Case Number: 03958799

Case Number: 04002794

Again I apologise for the lengthy email but after exhausting all other options I have nowhere left to turn before a civil court case is brought against me. I am asking for this PCN to be cancelled before that happens so I can put all this stress and anxiety behind me and my faith can once again be restored in Iceland.

I look forward to hearing from you,



This led to the resolution team getting in touch and quickly cancelling the PCN. They didn't seem interested in the circumstances surrounding the PCN it seemed as though they had already been asked to cancel it on my behalf to get rid of me.

So whoever your PCN is from, don't give up too early on plan A! Even while you are waiting for a letter of claim continue to bombard the land owners and get angry. 

If you have a PCN from an Iceland car park be prepared to have your time wasted by the customer care team, it seems they have been told no to deal with PCN's. You could try the resolution team directly but emailing the customer service team might be a hoop you have to go through in order to achieve the end goal.

Email addresses:

Iceland customer service: 

• customer.service@iceland.co.uk

Iceland resolution team: 

• Iceland.ResolutionTeam@iceland.co.uk

Iceland CEO: 

• richard.walker@iceland.co.uk

Great account, great example of a direct, but polite letter of complaint, great result. Well done, and thanks for your feedback. 👍

grassmarket

Parking Eye: successful defence of 2.5hr overstay at LIDL

It was only after a marathon 4hrs in Lidl (yes really!) that we emerged, bleary-eyed, to discover the parking limit was supposed to be 90 mins. Naturally this attracted the attention of Parking Eye! Despite the Ipswich store manager’s best efforts, Lidl’s head office were no help. However I happened to have photographic evidence that we really had been in Lidl the whole time - so with persistence & tenacity I eventually managed to get Parking Eye to give up. 

The only question now is trying to work out where those 4 hrs went…

Coupon-mad

grassmarket said:

Parking Eye: successful defence of 2.5hr overstay at LIDL

It was only after a marathon 4hrs in Lidl (yes really!) that we emerged, bleary-eyed, to discover the parking limit was supposed to be 90 mins. Naturally this attracted the attention of Parking Eye! Despite the Ipswich store manager’s best efforts, Lidl’s head office were no help. However I happened to have photographic evidence that we really had been in Lidl the whole time - so with persistence & tenacity I eventually managed to get Parking Eye to give up. 

The only question now is trying to work out where those 4 hrs went…

Must be a record. I hate Lidl and resent even 20 minutes in there to get stuff that always goes off too quickly... but I digress.

If ever you realise you've overstayed just go to the CS desk and ask to be added to the daily whitelist of exempt visitors. Insist. Do that before leaving otherwise the minute the camera gets your numberplate as you leave you WILL have a PCN. Avoid that by being proactive.

Well done on your persistence after the event though!

ak_83

If you're a genuine customer that is caught by a private parking company in a retail park or site, then you must contact the landlord or managing agent that holds the contract with the parking company. You will often see the name of the managing agent on the sign boards as you enter the retail park. 

In the case of Hatters Way Retail Park based in Luton, the managing agent was Savills. If you're a genuine customer who should not have been issued with a parking ticket, then you can contact Savills as follows, explaining that you're a genuine customer and mention the businesses you visited, including the ticket number(s) and your car registration: 

Tel: 0845 838 7627. 
Email: savillsuk@elogs.co.uk and complaints@savills.com

POPLA refused two parking tickets from Highview Parking (GroupNexus) — MoneySavingExpert Forum 

grassmarket

ak_83 said:

If you're a genuine customer that is caught by a private parking company in a retail park or site, then you must contact the landlord or managing agent that holds the contract with the parking company. You will often see the name of the managing agent on the sign boards as you enter the retail park. 

In the case of Hatters Way Retail Park based in Luton, the managing agent was Savills. If you're a genuine customer who should not have been issued with a parking ticket, then you can contact Savills as follows, explaining that you're a genuine customer and mention the businesses you visited, including the ticket number(s) and your car registration: 

Tel: 0845 838 7627. 
Email: savillsuk@elogs.co.uk and complaints@savills.com

POPLA refused two parking tickets from Highview Parking (GroupNexus) — MoneySavingExpert Forum 

That’s fine for retail parks I suppose, but can be very difficult to identify landlord/agent for private residential parking. In my experience everyone passes the buck or doesn’t respond.