I Park issuing fine on land outside their control

tuscanchina1

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for any help given.

Complaint about I Park Services issuing false parking fine.

On 6th October 2025 at 3:16:55 PM my vehicle entered the Sens Close parking area outside the City Walls Medical Centre in Chester and the number plate was photographed by I Park. Although the single entrance and exit are monitored by I Park half of the car park is not under their control but belongs to the practice. I have since checked with the practice and confirmed that I Park have no control beyond their red marked bays.

As the driver was merely dropping off a sample for testing the driver turned left (as per the arrow mark) and drove through the I Park controlled area without stopping. The driver parked right outside the front door of the surgery in an area controlled by the practice not I Park and got out with the sample, locked the vehicle and went inside. As reception was busy the driver had to wait a couple of minutes to hand over the sample but then returned to the vehicle and drove out of the car park. At the exit my number plate was again photographed by I Park and time stamped 3:23:48 PM.

On 9th October 2025 I Park issued a Notice to Keeper (not received at the time for reason given below) with a false Parking Charge of £100 reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. The notice includes photos of my car entering and leaving the car park which is correct. The reason for issue is given as "Parking outside the confines of a marked bay", however no evidence that the driver stopped on I Park land is provided because it didn't happen. How can they legally try to charge for parking on any land which they have no control over? Are they breaking the code of conduct by requesting keeper details without cause?

I Park proceeded to issue a Reminder Notice on 6th November 2025 and a Debt Recovery Notice on 5th December. As the keeper of the vehicle in question all 3 notices were sent to my registered address in Milton Keynes. I visited my home in late September-early October but then returned to Chester to care for my elderly mother. My next visit to Milton Keynes was not until New Year which is when I discovered the 3 letters from I Park demanding money which is not due to them. The Reminder Notice advised me that as the registered keeper the right to appeal was no longer available as it had been more than 28 days since the Notice to Keeper had been issued although it did say that if I considered there were exceptional circumstances for appealing outside the time I should write to them. Then I read the Debt Recovery Notice which stated that I now owed £160 and that both internal and independent appeals were unavailable.

At this point I said something very rude about I Park and decided not to bother contacting them. This 'debt' is a total figment of their imagination and it didn't seem right that I should have to spend my time and effort trying to sort out the error made by them.

Unfortunately yesterday I received a Notice of Debt Recovery from a company called DCBL and this has been sent to my mother's address. Yet more illegally accessed personal data! This letter states that I am no longer able to appeal the parking charge and the next opportunity to dispute the charge would be in Court.

I would be happy to argue this case in court if it came to it but I really don't want my mother to face any hassle (she is over 100 years old) from debt collectors. I am also wary of having anything adverse put on my credit record.

Can anyone suggest how I should deal with this?

Woodstok2000

Others will advise on specifics, but it's also all detailed in the newbies thread on the front page of the parking section.

Nothing will go on any record unless you lose the case and then fail to pay any charges, which won't happen.

Jame4ters

Your mum will not receive any visits. Your credit record will not be impacted.

oldernonethewiser

How did a letter from DCBL get sent to your mother's address if the keeper is registered at another address and no one has been in contact with the company?

Nellymoser

Are the practice not prepared to complain to IPark about you receiving this pcn?

You must see correspondence regarding this pcn promptly. Viewing letters 3mths after delivery could cause you to miss the opportunity to defend a court claim and may result in a CCJ by default awarded against you.

Never leave these firms with two addresses for you. Decide which address would be best and email DPO of those firms involved of your correct address for service. See NEWBIES POST 4 - Debt letters scroll to Changed address?

Half_way

if the practices land is not in the area monitored by ipark then the practice may have very little leverage.

where is the location of this?

whos car park/land is used to access the practice?

Gr1pr

This thread reminds me of another recent GP practice thread of a similar nature, so do some searching

OR

It was on a recent TV programme about private parking problems

tuscanchina1

Unfortunately since I Park acquired their portion of the car park the practice has been inundated with car park issues and are no longer able to offer support. They have managed to negotiate a reduction in the short stay fees and have put up a new sign warning patients not to stop before the sign which marks the end of the I Park controlled area. The front door is beyond the new sign and is clearly not in the I Park area. The practice does have CCTV but unsurprisingly not from October.

I will follow the advice in post 4 and change my address. The problem about the two addresses is because there is no predictable duration for my stay in Chester since it depends on mum's health. It didn't seem worth changing anything other than monthly utility bills for MK. Obviously with hindsight that was a mistake but this is the first time I have ever had a problem with time critical mail.

tuscanchina1

I'm guessing they got mum's address through the utility companies or credit card though depending on how sneaky they are it could have been via a mail order company or Amazon. Very dubious though as I am on the electoral role etc in MK

Coupon-mad

Then contact I-Park and any DRA sending threatograms, and rectify your address (and repeat if you move house within 6 years of the event). Then ignore them.

See post 4 of the NEWBIES thread.

They were featured on Rip Off Britain (re a Medical Centre car park) last month:

Gr1pr

That is definitely the other case I was thinking about