No appeal without saying whether the keeper drove or not - please advise

Chr1sC

Thanks Coupon-mad

I will look into the constituency MP and how to contact them. In the meantime, I propose that the keeper send the following in response to the email dated 21st January.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am the registered keeper of the vehicle referenced in Parking Charge Notice 243XXXXX. I have already submitted an appeal for this charge on 1st January 2026 within the required timeframe. No admission is made as to the identity of the driver, and I will not be naming the driver.

My appeal dated 1 January 2026 has not received a formal rejection nor a POPLA code, to which I am entitled under the BPA Code of Practice. You are required to either cancel this charge or issue a POPLA verification code without further delay.

I will restate and expand my appeal in full below.

1. No evidence of a breach

Your photographs show only vehicle entry and exit. No photograph has been provided of the vehicle actually parked, nor of any signage either at the entrance or in the vicinity of the vehicle. This is insufficient to establish a breach.

The burden of proof rests with you.

2. No contract formed – inadequate signage

The signage at the location is inadequate and not sufficiently prominent, clear, or legible to form a contractual agreement.

• Terms must be displayed before the driver commits to parking, not after
• Signage must be visible and legible on approach to the site
• The existence of terms and conditions must be apparent to a reasonable driver
• If a driver cannot see or read the terms before entering, no contract is formed — regardless of what signs exist elsewhere on site

In the absence of clear, prominent signage at the point of parking, no contract can be said to have been formed.

3. Failure to meet BPA Code of Practice

In addition, the terms are not made clear in accordance with the BPA Code of Practice.

For entrance signage:

• A sign must be present at every entrance to the controlled land
• It must communicate the core terms (time limits, charges, payment methods)
• It must clearly indicate the driver is entering private/controlled land
• It must be visible, legible and unambiguous

This site does not meet those standards. The signage fails the BPA’s requirements for clarity and prominence, rendering the charge unenforceable.

4. Unlawful payment surcharge

An additional £1.95 payment handling fee is imposed via your website but does not appear in your letters. The parking charge is therefore not a single stated sum, which is contrary to the BPA Code of Practice. This additional mandatory fee also constitutes an unlawful payment surcharge under consumer protection legislation. The entire charge as presented is therefore neither transparent nor enforceable.

5. Disproportionate and punitive charge

The amount demanded is punitive and unconscionable. ParkingEye v Beavis does not apply in cases where signage is unclear and no legitimate commercial interest has been established. In this case, the alleged breach arises solely from unclear signage.

6. No keeper liability established

If you are attempting to transfer liability to me as the registered keeper, you must demonstrate full compliance with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. If any requirement has not been met, keeper liability does not apply and the charge must be cancelled.

7. No evidence of landowner authority

You are put to strict proof that you have a valid and current contract with the landowner authorising you to issue Parking Charge Notices and pursue charges in your own name at this site.

Required action

For the reasons above, I require that this Parking Charge Notice be cancelled immediately.

If you reject this appeal, you must provide:

• A POPLA verification code
• A copy of the landowner contract
• Evidence of BPA Code of Practice compliance
• Photographs of all signage relied upon

Any further processing of my personal data beyond this appeal is not consented to.

Yours faithfully,

Registered Keeper

Coupon-mad

I wouldn't restate your appeal at all because that makes them see this as a late appeal. You need to be much more pushy!

Read the Azure /ZZPS examples here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-2025-now-let-039-s-see-what-happens

Chr1sC

Thanks Coupon-mad

I know people get quite annoyed on these forums when they feel they've provided all the relevant information and believe people haven't tried hard enough to find the relevant information for themselves, so apologies if that is the case here.

I couldn't find specific references to Azure and ZZPS in the link where I could see how to use that information in relation to this case. There are a large number of pages and I don't really know what I'm looking for.

For example, I reviewed the first 7 pages of the 35 in the link. I found this example: "https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6559719/2024-northampton-new-azure-parking-parking-charge" but it's quite old and relates to quite different circumstances.

Is there a specific example that you think is relevant for me to recommend that the keeper uses?

I have redrafted a much shorter response for the keeper to send to Azure/ZZPS below based on what I think you are suggesting:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am the registered keeper of the vehicle referenced in Parking Charge Notice 243XXXXX. I have already submitted an appeal for this charge on 1st January 2026, within the required timeframe, which has not received a formal rejection nor a POPLA code, to which I am entitled.

Blocking my right to independent appeal is another breach of the BPA Code of Practice and I urge you to cancel this charge without further delay.

If this is not brought to an immediate conclusion, then due to the nature of the conduct and breaches I will be left me with no choice but to raise this with the BPA and my constituency MP to seek resolution.

Yours faithfully,

Registered Keeper

Any advice is greatly appreciated,

Thanks very much

Coupon-mad

Sorry - go to page 13 of that link!

Car1980

Personally I'd prefer to leave it and hold on to the stack of evidence as proof of unreasonable behaviour for any court claim. Trying to get a Popla code wouldn't be much help if they rejected your appeal, which is always more likely.

Chr1sC

Thanks very much for the advice so far,

I have reviewed other examples and the guidance provided and would like to request feedback and suggestions on a proposed course of action.

Assuming I know nothing about the best way to fight this is a safe assumption and I’m appreciative of knowing if I’ve made mistakes.

There’s a mixture of guidance across this and other forum posts which are potentially relevant to this issue.

The options, which aren’t mutually exclusive, seem to be:

• Be much more pushy
• Leave it and hold on to a stack of evidence
• Make a formal complaint for missing 35 day official appeal response
• Complain to BPA
• Complain to MP asking them to complain to BPA
• Complain to DVLA

Anything I’ve missed?

For the registered keeper, the do nothing until court option feels extremely uncomfortable and stressful, therefore I am suggesting they make a pushy formal complaint, potentially backed up by a complaint or complaints to others if this is felt to be valuable.

Does this seem a good and suitable option?
Is there value in additional complaints to BPA, DVLA and or MP?
Which of these additional complaint options is or are valuable and why?
If this does not seem a good approach, what would you recommend and why?

My proposed draft email for the keeper to send in response to the email received on 21st January is:
Dear Luke,

This is a formal complaint sent on X April 2026.

You must resolve this issue swiftly and compliantly or else this issue will be raised to my constituency MP/ BPA/ DVLA [delete as appropriate]

On 1st January 2026 you received my appeal as registered keeper for PCN 243XXXXX. More than 35 days have passed since my appeal, and you have failed to respond as required to that appeal. You should have either cancelled the PCN or rejected my appeal and provided a POPLA code. You have done neither. This is in breach of the BPA code of practice.

During this time, you have sent multiple intimidating debt resolution letters which are further breaches of the BPA code of practice. In response, I confirmed that I have already appealed.

You subsequently sent the below email which does not provide any additional evidence to support the charge, and breaches the BPA code of practice by requiring additional correspondence to obtain a formal response and a POPLA code.

If any breach of contract was evidenced, in order to transfer liability to me as the registered keeper, you would need to demonstrate full compliance with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Keeper liability does not apply and the charge must be cancelled if this has not been met. As well as breaching the BPA code of practice, you have not established keeper liability and therefore this charge must be cancelled.

Any further non compliance will be raised to my constituency MP/ BPA/ DVLA [delete as appropriate]

Kind regards
Registered Keeper

Thoughts on this proposed approach and communication - regardless of how extensive the changes required - are very welcome.

Thanks very much

Coupon-mad

Yes that'll do except end by saying that you will be complaining to the BPA and your MP by 21st April if they do not cancel.

Le_Kirk

But don't finish with "kind regards" maybe "yours faithfully" or, as you are writing to a named person, "yours sincerely"