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

Umkomaas

grassmarket said:

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.

On a more general 'identifying' basis, I post this from time to time, which might help to nail down the identity of the landowner (or their agent). No absolute guarantee that it will work, but unless it's tried, no one will know!

SOME IDEAS FOR DETERMINING WHO OWNS THE LAND 

1. Google searches

2. If a retail park, check on any signage which lists the on-site outlets

3. Ask retailers on the site if there is a managing agent

4. Ask retailers on the site to whom do they pay rent

5. Contact the local authority and ask who pays the non-domestic/business rate for the car park (some councils have a spreadsheet on their website)

6. Contact the local Valuation Office and ask if they know. They often have a website which might provide the information 

7. Contact The Land Registry and for around £7 they should be able to provide definitive detail

8. If you haven't already done so, give us the name of the car park/site/location, we may have seen other cases there.

Woppy1972

It’s been a bit quiet recently with family & friends avoiding PCN’s.

Had this one come up. Standard response from Sainsbury’s, ‘not our problem guv’ from Simon Roberts CEO Exec Office. Using the great resources from this site a polite but robust response got their attention.

Thanks everyone for your contributions to this site. 

//////////////

Dear Woppyman. 

Thank you for your email. 

As a gesture of goodwill please be advised that I have requested the PCN be cancelled. 

However, please also be advise that we do expect all customers to adhere to the clearly signposted terms and conditions of using the carpark. The onus does lie with the customer to ensure that these are adhered to at all times. 

If I can be of any further assistance in this matter or any other then please contact me on the details below.

Kind regards 

xxxxxxxxxxxxx | Executive Office 

J Sainsbury plc | 33 Holborn London EC1N 2HT 

@sainsburys.co.uk| 0345 0130490 / Pronoun:She/Her

My Working Hours - Monday 8am-4.30pm,Tuesday & Wednesday 8am-3.30pm, Thursday 8:00am-2.30pm, Friday 8am-12pm 

Upcoming Annual Leave -  

/////////////////////////

From: Woppyman

Sent: 21 May 2025 16:30

To: @sainsburys.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Your Sainsburys Case

Dear Ms xxxx,

Firstly thank you for looking into this matter on behalf of my mentally disabled brother-in-law.

Whilst you have made Sainsbury's position clear, this appears to be a ‘template response’ using identical wording as has been sent to many of your customers who have fallen foul of the confusing and complex parking arrangements at your sites. 

I would respectfully ask you to reconsider this position based on the following information;

• My mentally disabled brother-in-law was shopping on behalf of my mother-in-law who has recently had a brain tumour removed. It is my hope that Sainsbury's values their disabled customers and is willing to do the right thing when a disabled customer has an issue whilst shopping in your store.
• You state that as this parking charge notice has been issued by a 3rd party company you are unable to assist my disabled brother-in-law. Please could you pass this case to someone who is able to assist. Perhaps Lucy Winlow in your Exec Office who has previously cancelled unfair parking tickets issued at this site for others?
• Sainsbury’s owns the land and also has entered into a contract with Euro Car Parks to enforce parking restrictions on their behalf. It is absolutely something Sainsbury's can cancel if they wish to do so and they have done so before. I would hate to think this was a case of Sainsbury's not being willing to put the effort into cancelling this charge for a disabled customer.
• Sainsbury's Exec Office has previously stated to other customers at the Horsham site that they were unable to cancel Parking Charge Notices and then changed their position. Please review this thread which is about a similar case where Sainsbury's Exec Office intervened and cancelled a Parking Charge Notice. Link here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6439013/sainsbury-s-horsham-euro-car-parks
• There is also the case where Lucy Winlow from Sainsbury’s Exec Office cancelled a parking charge, link here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6524329/euro-car-parks-sainsburys-notice-to-keeper/p4
• Your competitors take a much more customer orientated approach to this issue. For example my wife forgot to enter her registration number on the system in Aldi last month. Aldi have a link on their website where you can upload a picture of the receipt and they immediately cancelled the Parking Charge Notice. Please see attached an email from Aldi - this is the kind of response I would expect from a company that values their customers.
• I attach a copy of the actual PCN and also a copy of my disabled brother-in-law's bank statement that proves he was shopping at the time the parking charge was issued.
• Euro Car Parks and in fact all parking enforcement companies are completely unregulated and operate in a manner completely biased to earning maximum profit. Trying to get a fair outcome from these organisations and the so-called independent bodies that are in reality owned by the parking enforcement companies is next to impossible.
• This was recently highlighted in Parliament by MP Sir Greg Knight who stated “Rip-offs from car park Cowboys must stop''; unfair treatment; signage deliberately confusing to ensure a PCN is issued; ''years of abuse by rogue parking companies''; bloodsuckers; ''the current system of regulation is hopeless, like putting Dracula in charge of the blood-bank''; extortionate fines; rogue operators; ''sense of injustice''; unfair charges and notices; wilfully misleading; signage is a deliberate act to deceive or mislead; ''confusing signs are often deliberate, to trap innocent drivers''; unreasonable; a curse; harassing; operating in a disgusting way; appeals service is no guarantee of a fair hearing; loathed; outrageous scam; dodgy practice; outrageous abuse; unscrupulous practices; ''the British Parking Association is as much use as a multi-storey car park in the Gobi desert''; and finally, by way of unanimous conclusion: ''we need to crack down on these rogue companies. They are an absolute disgrace to this country. Ordinary motorists and ordinary residents should not have to put up with this''.  
• This can be read in the transcript here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-02-02/debates/CC84AF5E-AC6E-4E14-81B1-066E6A892807/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill

I would like to avoid this escalating into a situation where I am defending this unfair claim in Court and using Sainsbury’s unwilling attitude to assist a disabled customer as part of my defence. It is the modus operandi of parking management firms to bombard individuals with threatening letters which my brother-in-law would find extremely distressing. However this does not mean we will be paying this unfair and unreasonable parking charge.

I urge you to intervene in this matter as your department has done before, or if you are personally unable to assist maybe seek the help of your CEO Simon Roberts. You are welcome to forward him a copy of this email as I'm sure he is deeply interested the reputation of Sainsbury's and their approach to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Looking forward to you and the company you represent doing the right thing and cancelling this invoice to meet the high standards in customer care that I believe Sainsbury’s aspire to.

Yours sincerely

Woppyman

On behalf of Mr x

Sent from Outlook for iOS

///////////////////////////////////

From: @sainsburys.co.uk>

Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 1:04:02 PM

To: Woppyman

Subject: Your Sainsburys Case ID

 

Dear Woppyman

Thank you for your recent correspondence which has been received into the Executive Office, I have been asked to look into your complaint and respond on behalf of Sainsbury's. 

Whilst I can appreciate your frustration in regards to the parking charge notice you have received, I apologise that as this is issued by a third party, and not by Sainsbury’s directly, I am unable to offer any assistance in regards to this matter. 

Should you wish to dispute the notice you have received may I kindly refer you to the company that have issued the parking charge notice in order to do so. 

Whilst I appreciate this may not be the response you were expecting, and would like to apologise for any disappointment, I trust this makes our position clear.   

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me on the details below. 

Kind regards 

 | Executive Office 

J Sainsbury plc | 33 Holborn London EC1N 2HT 

@sainsburys.co.uk| 0345 0130490 / Pronoun:She/Her 

bieneliene

fivestarsamz said:

Got a PCN from UKPC at Beckton Triangle Regent Park for 'parking in a disabled bay'. Google Street View shows that specific parking bay to not have any 'Disabled sign' painted in that bay but did have it in the the rows next to it. After an email to the managing agent, the PCN is now cancelled.
Did not need to make my own thread for this one as all the information was available in the newbie's thread. Thank you to all who run this forum!

Are you able to share the email address by any chance? I’m in the EXACT same situation currently and struggling to find details of the landowner please. Thank you!

Two_Sugars

Using 'Plan A' of complaining, our PCN (from Highview Parking) was cancelled:

For: Epping Forest Shopping Park, Langston Rd, Loughton IG10 3FT
By: Savills (I think as managing agent on behalf of landowner)
Via: Emailing SMRCarParking@savills.com. 
Debt collector letters ignored: 2

Due to tardiness on our part we had not done the appeals route, so just an e-mail complaint (no chats with shops etc).

E-mail correspondence here: 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6597265/pcn-epping-forest-shopping-park/p2

Thanks to all previous posters and the key contributors for drafting NEWBIE FAQ guides etc!

Coupon-mad

Two_Sugars said:

Using 'Plan A' of complaining, our PCN (from Highview Parking) was cancelled:

For: Epping Forest Shopping Park, Langston Rd, Loughton IG10 3FT
By: Savills (I think as managing agent on behalf of landowner)
Via: Emailing SMRCarParking@savills.com. 
Debt collector letters ignored: 2

Due to tardiness on our part we had not done the appeals route, so just an e-mail complaint (no chats with shops etc).

E-mail correspondence here: 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6597265/pcn-epping-forest-shopping-park/p2

Thanks to all previous posters and the key contributors for drafting NEWBIE FAQ guides etc!

A great example of a retailer complaint is in that thread.

loafer1989

does anybody have the details for mcdonalds at all please to email?

Thorndorise

1505grandad said:

Although a landowner cancellation of sorts this is different in that I headed-off a potential pcn from SiPS parking at the Horton hospital Banbury (ANPR).

My granddaughter (in a family members lease car) was taken to the hospital, after consulting an out of hours doctor, for treatment. The machines in the car parks were faulty and would not accept cards so they managed to find £6 in cash. This bought 4 hours parking which seemed more than adequate.

However the treatment lasted longer than anticipated so, unable to pay extra, they left approx. 75 mins over.

Emailed several depts. (PALS useless) and eventually received the following from Transport (RTH) OUH:-

"Transport (RTH) OUH​

You                                                                                                                                                  Tue 18/03/2025 13:18

​PALS (RTH) OUH

​Hello XXXXX

......

We shall see!!.

I love this, great to be proactive. We had to attend Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk and I did the same thing when having to take my son to A&E on Sunday, none of the machines were taking card or phone payments (contactless or inserted card) - the ANPR system also seemed on the wonk as it asked for the entry time (whole point of ANPR allows the look-up).

I called the out of hours number, Hospital staff stated it was an ongoing issue with the machines, please ring one of the other numbers on the machine the following day to pay (even though the sign clearly stated pay on exit).

Naturally worried about a PCN, I emailed the email address this (as no one was picking up the phone)., Not sure if they are Hospital staff or an employee of parking Eye with an NHS trust address; Travel.Plan@esneft.nhs.uk

Good evening

A family member required a visit to the paediatric A&E at Ipswich Hospital on Sunday pm. They were seen promptly and prior to leaving it became apparent that the car park payment machines were all out of order.

The Car Parking Helpline was attempted, both the attendant (no answer made), and the evening and weekend number - the latter was answered and the member of staff informed the caller that none of the machines were in operation. This is despite the 'engineer' from Parking Eye attending the site from Colchester on Friday or Saturday to inspect them, removing the signs saying 'out of order' and stating they were working - the advisor clearly stating that they were wrong to remove the signs and that the machines were all out of order.

The payer had a valid method of payment, and despite entering the VRM of the vehicle (into machine 10 or 0277 in Car Park D), it was not recognised on the ANPR system, thus requested an entry time, once entered - payment was attempted but not taken as the machine would not accept any form of payment (at time to exit).

The advisor on the above number advised that the payer would need to call the 3rd number on the list to make payment the following day, thus causing frustration of the parking contract.

The third number was attempted several times, however was not picked up, and no message could be left (no answer phone service) - I am writing as the vehicle's keeper to request that the fee for the short time we were at the Hospital be waived in the first instance due to frustration of contract. I look forward to hearing back from you promptly.

Yours faithfully

I had a reply asking for my VRN, which I duly gave, they replied with...

Good afternoon 

I have added your car registration to our exemption list at Ipswich for sunday 22nd to 23rd, so you do have to pay.

Kind Regards 

The Travel Plan Team

Whilst 'exempted' I guess that won't stop any numpties at Parking Eye ignoring that and trying it on, We shall also see!

Tigwig

I parked outside KFC Poole  in Wessex Gate Retail Park on a Sunday evening after seeing a show at the Lighthouse Theatre and went in for a sit-down meal on 22nd June, 2025.  On 7th July I received a Parking Charge Notice from Euro Car Parks, fining me £100 for entering the site at 19.39 and leaving on 21.16 which broke their 1 hour limit after 8pm rule (3 hours before that).  This is displayed on a board as you enter the site - no way can a driver read the details as he drives past it.  I can find no other board displaying the timing restrictions elsewhere on the site. KFC is at the far end of the site and there is no parking information in that area.  Obviously one hour for a full meal is too little time.
So on 8th July I drove to KFC and saw the manager.  She had clearly met this problem before and said that she would get the fine cancelled.
Great!  I now await any developments: I hope there are none.

Umkomaas

Please confirm when the charge is cancelled. If it isn't, please start a new thread if you want some forum help in fighting it. 👍

KXL88

Dined at McDonalds Bow couple of weeks ago.

Parking overseen by MET Parking Services

Noted that parking condition was 'must remain on site'

Ordered my food from the self-service kiosk, overheard parking warden asking some patrons if they arrived by car, if yes, 'what's the reg.' I offered my reg, warden stated it was ok, as I saw you just arrive (points to my car) and that it was noted. It wasn't!

Few weeks later get a PCN from MET Parking Services for breaching their parking T&Cs as 'occupants left the premises.' Along with the customary £10 admin fee for lease company forwarding these. These can be refunded if the PPC cancels it with proof. Logged into MET site, and yes there's just several pics of my vehicle 10 mins apart, expected a pic of me 'leaving the premises'

 

Went in person to speak with the McDs manager, explained, he went to check CCTV, I indeed was speaking to the warden on the day, proof enough for him I was onsite, so he canceled it.

Checked a day later, the PCN no longer exists on their MET parking site, assuming its been cancelled, but how to get proof this indeed was cancelled for the purposes of refuding my lease company's admin fee? 

I wrote a complaint to MET parking services that I am DESPERATE to pay this parking fine, but this is no longer possible etc. And they responded rather quickly with

'Good afternoon,

Thank you for your correspondence. We can confirm that the above parking charge has been cancelled and is now closed.

It follows that the charge is no longer due.

Kind regards

Customer Services

MET Parking Services Ltd'