Worth appealing?

Megjames

Hi everyone. I've rec'd a parking fine from Parking Eye for overstaying in a McDonalds car park. I went to tesco with my baby and we went to McDonalds for lunch. He seemed unwell and after we ate, I breastfed him and he fell asleep. I spoke to the staff and they confirmed I was welcome to stay and they even brought me over a coffee and apple pie! (table service!). He slept for quite a while and I didn't want to wake him as he had a high temp. This was a Sunday and I have bank statements to show two transactions paid to McDonalds but they showed up a couple of days later because of the weekend. I could probably ask the bank to confirm the transactions were Sunday but I haven't yet done that. I appealed directly to Park Eye confirming the above but my appeal has been rejected. I overstayed a 3 hour window by 30 mins. I feel this was an honest mistake and considering the circumstances, I hoped they would remove the fine as a gesture of goodwill. I wondered whether anyone could advise whether they think I have any chance of winning an appeal to POPLAR or should I just pay the fine on my credit card! Many thanks in advance for reading and comments.

Coupon-mad

Should be winnable at POPLA, using a POPLA appeal like the final version in post #21 here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5571043

You will need to edit and amend the 'grace periods' argument there to explain you were breastfeeding the baby, having been invited to stay longer by the McDonalds staff, saying that you spoke to the staff and they confirmed you were welcome to stay and they even brought over a coffee and apple pie, so the delay was caused with the full permission of the retailer principal.

BTW, did you try ringing that McD's branch and simply asking the Manager to cancel, or going back in with your baby and the offending PCN and demanding they cancel it (please)?

Do that first, BEFORE POPLA.