Parking Charge Notice EMA BP Petrol Station VCS

irishchristof

So I received a PCN from this lot for stopping for (according to their evidence) 12 seconds before leaving swiftly.

obviously I don’t want to be paying £100 for this, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to put on my appeal to them? 

Worth noting that I feel they’ve already lost credibility as this is a final reminder and I was never even sent a first reminder or notice of the charge.

A parking charge notice isn’t the same as a penalty charge notice is it?

[Image Deleted by Forum Team]

DE_612183

you can appeal - but don't let them know who was driving - respond as the keeper.

Have you read the newbies thread?

irishchristof

DE_612183 said:

you can appeal - but don't let them know who was driving - respond as the keeper.

Have you read the newbies thread?

Yes I read through it first. Do I just send them an appeal letter like this:

Re PCN number:

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. Since your PCN is a vague template, I require an explanation of the allegation and your evidence. You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date as well as your images of the vehicle.

If the allegation concerns a PDT machine, the data supplied in response to this appeal must include the record of payments made - showing partial VRNs - and an explanation of the reason for the PCN, because your Notice does not explain it.

If the allegation involves an alleged overstay of minutes, your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner.


FYI: they have no option for appeal on their website. I genuinely never received a letter about this before and now they say it's too late to appeal, unless there are exceptional circumstances. But looks like my only way to appeal would be via a letter!

Umkomaas

A parking charge notice isn’t the same as a penalty charge notice is it?

It isn't the same. Private parking firms like VCS cannot issue penalties. There are dozens of similar EMA/VCS cases on the forum, none of which, to my recollection have resulted in them winning any case in the county court (and I don't recall many getting that far anyway). Use the Search function on 'VCS East Midlands Airport EMA' (tick 'Newest' not 'Best Match' in the drop down box) then read some of those and follow advice therein. Come back to this thread if you need any clarification. 

While it's an unnecessary ball-ache, you can beat them with some application. 

ChirpyChicken

I would not bother sending that appeal it wont do anything

eddddy

I'm no expert on this, in any way - but presumably EMA is East Midlands Airport, which has it's own byelaws. So it's not relevant land as defined in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

Which would mean the keeper of the vehicle can't be held liable for any charge, only the driver.

So if you refuse to identify the driver, no action can be taken.

Or have I got that completely wrong?





Edit to add...

There's probably enough info shown in that photo for the company to work out who you are. So maybe you want to edit your initial post to make it clearer that you were not the driver.

irishchristof

Sorry I'm struggling, others seem to be different to mine and they have evidence that the registered keeper wasnt driving as they were the person being picked up.
Given that there isnt an easy way to appeal, should I ignore this and wait until Letter of Claim?

Coupon-mad

irishchristof said:

So I received a PCN from this lot for stopping for (according to their evidence) 12 seconds before leaving swiftly.

obviously I don’t want to be paying £100 for this, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to put on my appeal to them? 

Worth noting that I feel they’ve already lost credibility as this is a final reminder and I was never even sent a first reminder or notice of the charge.

A parking charge notice isn’t the same as a penalty charge notice is it?

Sorry I'm struggling, others seem to be different to mine and they have evidence that the registered keeper wasn't driving as they were the person being picked up.

Given that there isn't an easy way to appeal, should I ignore this and wait until Letter of Claim?

Either approach ends up the same because the appeal is sadly futile. Nothing you try changes the way to win.

Up to you if you bother with appeal. You'd win in court because 12 seconds in a petrol station is clearly not a 'no stopping' zone and isn't long enough to 'agree' a contract on a sign you couldn't have read that quickly!

However, no paying. By allegedly going straight to Final Reminder they've denied you the discount even if you'd wanted to pay!

Abject scammery: very typical conduct

See the 'MSE GUIDE' linked in the banner at the top of the page with the red 'MSE Link' if you want to corroborate our advice. The Guide is Martin Lewis approved and confirms what we are saying. It's also in bitesize chunks which should help,

Now to action: This month, we need you:.

PLEASE bookmark this thread below and do Public Consultation if you haven't done it yet. See this thread: -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

We need every poster to come back & complete this vital Consultation before the deadline! Just 2 weeks left but please don't rush it. You can do some then save it and come back to it as you have time.

Coupon-mad

irishchristof said:

Sorry I'm struggling, others seem to be different to mine and they have evidence that the registered keeper wasnt driving as they were the person being picked up.
Given that there isnt an easy way to appeal, should I ignore this and wait until Letter of Claim?

Did you receive the Letter of Claim yet?

Did you manage to do the Consultation?

Deadline extended to next Friday:

FIGHTBACK ALERT:

Please do the government's Public Consultation. We need every poster to complete this vital survey before the deadline next week.

See this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-now-extended-closes-friday-26th-september/p1

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that. It doesn't matter; no knowledge is needed except re your own experiences so you can call out a scam industry and you'll protect millions of motorists and help change the law. 

I've written some guidance to help focus new posters on the issues. I've covered almost every question, providing ideas if you agree with our stance on things like DRFs, which we say must be banned.

Ordinary people like you are falling victim to this scam over 18 million times per annum. Motorists need your voice added please.

CLOSES ON FRIDAY 26th SEPTEMBER.