Popla appeal - no signs at entrance

Motoguito

Hi all, 

We entered at car park early in the morning around 6am, the gate was wide open, and there were no signs at the entrance. At the back of the car park we saw a sign saying car park was closed before 8am so we left. 

The car park is at Oxwich Bay (Gower, Swansea)

There was a camera. We got a parking notice. Company is Eternity Fire and Security. I've appealed it, got rejected, and then escalated it to POPLA. EFS's evidence shows no photos of the entrance where the signs are absent.

As the gate was wide open, surely it should have been closed if the car park was closed? 

Any unsuspecting motorist is lured in before seeing the signs.

Do they have a case?

Many thanks. 

Coupon-mad

How many minutes did they get the car there?

Is POPLA even an option? I didn't think Eternity were a BPA AOS member but could be wrong.

You don't pay unfair parking charges. You didn't park. No paying AT ALL AT ANY POINT.

Either appeal further or don't bother (ignore the letters - the £170 threatograms shown in pictures in post 4 of the NEWBIES thread).

Motoguito

Thank you for your reply. 

We were in there 05:47 till 06:04am. So 17 minutes. We originally thought we'd wait till it opens so we could pay for the day, but local came along and said there was a camera in the tree and said we'd be fined, so we left.

I appealed the fine and Eternity refused it, and the next option in their correspondence was to take it to POPLA.

I got an email today saying Eternity had submitted evidence, and I had 7 days to comment on it. POPLA are currently reviewing it.  I commented that the Eternity evidence shows no photos of the entrance, which is my point, there were no signs to alert us we were about to be fined. The signs are at the back of the car park, impossible to see from the entrance. 

So, if POPLA say I have to pay Eternity, I plan to go to citizens advice to ask their view, you think I can just ignore the letters?

Motoguito

No signs at entrance about the parking fine and gate wide open at 5:45am thought car park supposedly closed till 8am. 

Coupon-mad

Please get a pic of the signs and the camera hidden in a tree and foliage.

You may or may not win at POPLA but you don't pay anyway. You should gather evidence photos now. Show us too.

Wait for your POPLA decision but stick around more this month. We need you!

PLEASE bookmark this thread below and do the government's Public Consultation if you haven't done it yet. Their proposals are wrong. We must stop them.

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.

We understand that you may need some pointers. It looks laborious, we get that.

So to try to help, I've written some guidance on that thread.

Any questions on the Consultation please ask - on the dedicated thread - but I've covered up to question 20 already in that first post, openly telling everyone what I'm going to put and/or what sort of evidence you might wish to use for your response, if you agree with what we'll be saying from our experience.

Whilst your answers must of course be your own, there are vital points to safeguard motorists interests to make, that many people may not think of without our guidance because we see cases every day and we know the legal background. However, people like you have lived & breathed the intimidation, greed and unfairness first hand so your voice is needed!

In your case (if you lose at POPLA) include details about how unfair and biased that felt and attach the decision as evidence when saying that we need a SINGLE appeals service, not two broken, non-impartial ones.