Looking for opinion on PCN

Felgar14 · 25 February at 11:47PM

Hi Everyone, newbie here in the forum although I managed to successfully deal with these cowboys in the past once. However, a bit different this time and would really appreciate some advice if possible on how to tackle it.

Just over 2 weeks ago my partner and I were going to meet in another town (here in Scotland) to visit another family member. We were coming from different places and then had to drive our two cars separately. You can guess where this is going.

So, we decided to park in a retail park with a tesco, buy some stuff, leave the car in the same location as the family member lives in the area, and then go back to Tesco to do our groceries for the week and go back to our cars.

Just before last weekend, both my partner and I, living in the same address, received each a parking charge notice from Euro Car Parks with photos of the registration plates. Two different cars, two keepers, two charges, one address. If I pay by 27th of February it will be discounted but I don't feel like paying it honestly.

Fortunately, I passed my Clubcard in both instances and by some strange coincidence, I kept the ticket for the second visit.

The parking lot has a long stay area which is used by commuters as the train station is nearby, so, the parking lot is actually shared between long stay and shoppers. I knew there was a long stay area and I honestly thought we were parked in the long stay area rather than the shoppers area. I know the maximum allowed period is 2 hours and we actually parked for 4:45 because I though it was long stay.

Yesterday I called tesco help line but they weren't unable to cancel the ticket or request the cancellation.

After work I drove again to the retail park with the tickets and the shopping ticket to speak to the personnel and again, unable/unwilling to help.

I haven't contacted the CEO (I don't know if that's still a thing as it was in the past)

I then checked the parking lot and realised that if you turn left, you go to long stay area but if you continue straight, you end up in the shoppers area. There is actually a minuscule signpost once you have turned left which I didn't see on that day and there are some yellow panels with information that again, I didn't realise before.

I have today appealed in their website but unfortuntately they only leave a small box to write the appeal and had to reduce the wording several times. At the end I sent them the message below:

I am the registered keeper of vehicle XXX, appealing Parking Charge Notice xxxxx issued on 13 February 2026 for an incident on 8 February 2026.

Reasons for Appeal:

No Keeper Liability in Scotland:
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 does not apply in Scotland, so liability cannot be transferred to the keeper. The operator must pursue the driver.

Inadequate Signage:
The car park lacks clear signage to distinguish between long-stay and shopper areas, leading to confusion about parking terms.

Genuine Tesco Patronage:
The vehicle occupants were Tesco customers, as shown by Clubcard transactions and receipts. The car was parked for shopping purposes only.

Request:
Please cancel the PCN based on the above reasons. If rejected, I request:

Legal basis for holding the keeper liable,

A copy of the landowner’s contract,

Photographic evidence of signage,

A map of signage layout on the date of the event.

I had a longer message but the character limit was quite stringent.

What do you think of this? Did I miss anything or is there anything else I can do? If they still reject the claim, should I go with POPLA, I believe I will need to disclose who the driver was, am I right?

Thanks a lot everyone.