PCN from Parking Eye from Holiday Inn Preston South - Company Car

Gr1pr

My local Morrissons was refurbished in the last 2 years, car park repainted,  especially the disabled bays near the door or foyer entrance,  ECP monitor the parking,  so their signs are up and are fairly new but they have been the contractor for many years 

You cannot see any signage from most of the disabled bays, perhaps one ECP sign for a block of 8 to 10 bays

Definitely doesn't comply with the requirements for adequate signage that can be read from the drivers seat 

recordplayer

Hello,

I revisited the site today, on foot, to take some photographs of the site.

There is signage near the entrance, but it would be hard to state that it was in any way legible (or even visible) from the seat of a car, it is high up, small, and illegible from the drivers seat of a car. I took the photo from where the CCTV camera captures ingoing and outgoing cars, and the wording on the sign is illegible, in a low car it would be illegible until you were past the point where the photographs are taken, and would not be visible from the drivers seat as it would be obscured by the top of the windscreen.

The actual signage by the chargers is on a high post, and is not visible from the first 6 chargers, let alone legible, so if you got out of the car, plugged in the charger and then returned to the car, as most people do, you would not see the sign. the sign opposite is too small to be legible from the location, so again there is no contract being formed as nothing is being presented at that location.

The issue right now is that the site owners (either Holiday Inn or Parking Eye) have added labels to the chargers, which have been stuck on, now telling drivers they must register or risk a parking fine (the wording is fine, not invoice). 

This signage was not present on the day invoice I have received accuses me of breaching their terms. 

I am sure this is in response to many people claiming and challenging these invoices on the basis that signage was not present.

Am I within my right to demand to see photographic evidence that this signage was present on the day that the PCN accuses me of the breach?

Clearly these labels must have been added after the chargers were installed, so there must be a work order issued to have these installed.

Here is a shot of the stall lengthways, the signage is on the post, upper right of photo, and clearly illegible from the parking space.


I will be writing to the Holiday Inn Preston South general manager, Lisa Andrew, to see if she would be willing to void the invoice.

Thank you all for your continued support

Gr1pr

Those warnings mentioning the word FINE are definitely not Parking Eye signs, because private parking companies are banned from using certain words, especially the legal word fine  have a look at the joint Code of Practice 

Parking Eye clearly need better and more visible signs,  preferably at each charger point 

So Lord Dennings Red Hand Rule 

So frankly,  the signage is woefully inadequate and misleading,  so I dont agree with your assessment of the wording being fine, its incorrect,  too small and not provided by Parking Eye 

recordplayer

Gr1pr said:

Those warnings mentioning the word FINE are definitely not Parking Eye signs, because private parking companies are banned from using certain words, especially the legal word fine  have a look at the joint Code of Practice 

Parking Eye clearly need better and more visible signs,  preferably at each charger point 

So Lord Dennings Red Hand Rule 

So frankly,  the signage is woefully inadequate and misleading,  so I dont agree with your assessment of the wording being fine, its incorrect,  too small and not provided by Parking Eye 

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly, your knowledge on this matter is invaluable.

Sorry, I was highlighting the wording said 'fine' not 'invoice' , not that I thought that the wording was fine, which it clearly is not it is substandard, which you highlighted. I am glad this kind of poor signage has already been highlighted by your reference to 'Lord Dennings Red Hand Rule' (that had me running to Duck Duck Go to look up).

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and time in assisting me with this.

Castle

Gr1pr said:

Those warnings mentioning the word FINE are definitely not Parking Eye signs, because private parking companies are banned from using certain words, especially the legal word fine  have a look at the joint Code of Practice 

Parking Eye clearly need better and more visible signs,  preferably at each charger point 

So Lord Dennings Red Hand Rule 

So frankly,  the signage is woefully inadequate and misleading,  so I dont agree with your assessment of the wording being fine, its incorrect,  too small and not provided by Parking Eye 

As above and furthermore, the sign/sticker also fail to specify the amount and who will be issuing the "parking fine" as the only name on the sign/sticker is Tesla, and that's just a trading name.

Car1980

As I've said before, give me any parking site in the country and I'll at least halve the income they derive from it from PCNs.

recordplayer

Thank you all for your ongoing support, advice and assistance in this matter.

I sent a letter to the hotel's General Manager via e-mail, detailing the issuance of the invoice, the reason for the vehicle being there, that the vehicle operator on the day met all the operating requirements, that the signage indicating a contract had been made by entering the car park was flawed, that trying to read said signage from the would have forced the vehicle operator to operate the vehicle in an unsafe manner with respect to pedestrians and other patrons, and that the new labels are flawed, citing the 1956 case law ruling pointed out by Gr1pr . I have pointed out that the hotel is part of a Global chain with an excellent reputation and I am sure that they would not want to be considered to be party to a scheme which put profit above patron safety and brand integrity. I have furthermore highlighted to the general manager that she has built her reputation on professionalism and integrity, including at her previous postings, and sure that she would want to continue to adhere to her stated goals of promoting her employers premises in a professional manner with integrity. I have asked that she responds at her earliest convenience and can confirm that they have instructed Parkingeye Ltd to cancel charge.

I am now awaiting a response to see if this whole situation can be stopped at this stage without having to deal with Parking Eye Ltd. and POPLA at all. If the hotel does not agree, then it is onto beating this at POPLA with the continued support of this forum.

Thank you so much for your continued support and assistance in this matter.

recordplayer

Castle and Car1980, thank you so much for your points and posts. 

Castle, thank you for highlighting that, was oblivious to that requirement on the labels, but that further highlights the fact that these labels give them no defence and are misleading.

Car1980, I fully support your endeavour, I hope you can achieve that aim. If there are any sites on the Fylde coast where you need photos / research from operators who are employing underhand tactics, please let me know, I have staff all the time in the area with clients who I would happily ask to make a detour to collect evidence / photos. Least I can do to share the intelligence with forum members. 

recordplayer

Hello,

I have received a response from Holiday Inn Express Preston South, I have enclosed the e-mail which I sent and the response, with redactions in line with the rules of this forum.

[Text removed by Forum Team]

On 23/08/2025 this company received a PCN (invoice) from Parkingeye Ltd., claiming to be operating on your hotel's authority, stating that the operator of the vehicle entered into a contract with with them by entering your car park on the 18/08/2025 and remaining there for 36 minutes whilst using the Tesla supercharger facility.

I am writing to you to request that you instruct Parkingeye Ltd. cancel this charge. The vehicle was parked there purely to charge the car, which those bays were provided for, the operator did not leave the car during charging, and exited the car park as soon as the desired charge level had been achieved. On the date that the operator of the vehicle was at your site, the operator did not see any signage on the chargers, and upon revisiting your site, a colleague found that new labels have been affixed to the front of the chargers, but these labels do not comply with the case law established by J Spurling Ltd. Vs Bradshaw (1956) EWCA Civ 3 also known as Lord Denning's "Red Hand Rule", it should also be noted that the wording on these labels is deliberately misleading, and whomever installed them should re-examine the wording and remove them until they can be written in a compliant manner. My colleague also noted the size, height and location of the signage and reported that the signage on the entrance is highly ambiguous, and cannot be read clearly by a driver upon entering the car park and operating the vehicle in a safe manner. I am sure that it is vitally important to yourself, and a Global hotel chain you represent such as IHG that you would not wish motor vehicle operators to be distracted by difficult to read signage in pursuit of profit.

This company deploys staff regularly throughout the UK, and it would be unfortunate if, due to poor treatment in this incidence, we were left with no choice but to remove IHG from the list of hotels which our staff can use during travel.

I know that IHG has always endeavoured to look after it's clients to the very highest standards and has always had their well being as their highest priority, and I am sure that you would appreciate that supporting a company such as Parkingeye Ltd. under these circumstances and with these considerable ambiguities would only be detrimental to IHG's reputation. 

I know you pride yourself on your attention to detail, level of professionalism and courtesy which you extend to the patrons of your employers, just as you did during your tenure at The Village Hotel in Blackpool, and I am sure it would be a matter of professional pride that you would ensure that you conducted yourself with integrity and honesty in any dispute regarding the hotel you represent.

I look forward to receiving a response from you regarding this matter and confirming that this charge has been cancelled.

Yours sincerely,

The response from the hotel :-

Dear YY. XXXXXX,

Thank you for your email regarding the Parking Charge Notice issued by Parkingeye Ltd.

Please note that the hotel cannot cancel or overturn Parking Charge Notices. If you wish to appeal, you must follow the process outlined on the notice itself and liaise directly with Parkingeye.

In relation to some of the quotations you have made regarding the Parking Charge, I am unable to comment or assist. 

For clarity, there are multiple signs within the car park. In addition to this signage is on each Tesla charging station. Tesla has also confirmed that the information is available in both the Tesla app and the in-car vehicle system, and they have provided us with images to verify this.

If, however, you are politely requesting that I ask our administration colleague to contact Parkingeye on your behalf to see if they can provide assistance on this occasion, please confirm so that I can review whether this is possible.

Kind Regards

[Text removed by Forum Team]

It would appear that the hotel is very much taking the side of ParkingEye Ltd. in this matter, and has clearly not done research to understand that the prompts on the screens of Model S & X cars are different to those on the 3 & Y (different hardware and many S & X models have free charging).

I can now see little choice but to contact Parkingeye Ltd. and request a POPLA code to initiate an appeal.

I understand the correct format is to use the Edna Basher template letter in the stickies? Am I correct in this assertion? 

Sorry the update doesn't bring better news but that is approach A which has failed to yield a positive response, so onto approach B and tackling Parkingeye Ltd. again.

Thanks you all for your ongoing assistance and support.

Gr1pr

The hotel chain signed a contract with Parking Eye and the handbook allows them to cancel pcns, even if she can't,  somebody can

She clearly doesn't understand the various topics involved so appears to be taking the easy fob off route,  which is typical these days.  Like you, it disappoints me too

Yes use the Edna Basher template and rely on no hirer liability due to non compliance with Pofa2012,  unless they complied with it,  which I doubt 

Good luck