Britannia Parking - Poole Quay

Loxleyroad1

Hello,

I received a notice to keeper for an alleged contravention on 31/03/26. The notice did not arrive in the post until 16/04/26 so outside of 14 days. I lodged an appeal using the template from the newbies forum which as helped me in the past (not that I get a lot of these, I ensure that my drivers are very cautious with parking and paying correctly). I pointed out the failure to comply with the 14 days requirement (there was no windscreen PCN).

Re PCN number: xxxxxxxx

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement.

You have failed to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 namely, but not limited to, failing to deliver the notice within the relevant period of 14 days as prescribed by section 9 (4) of the Act. You cannot, therefore, transfer liability for the alleged charge from the driver at the time to me, the keeper. The 'alleged' contravention is dated 31/03/2026 and was not issued until 08/04/2026 and not received by myself, the keeper, until 16/04/2026..

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. Since your PCN is a vague template, I require an explanation of the allegation and your evidence. You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date as well as your images of the vehicle.

If the allegation involves an alleged overstay of minutes, your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner.

Received a reply to the appeal:

Issue date: 08/04/2026
Thank you for your appeal.
Please be advised we have been unable to locate a payment for this site which corresponds to the
vehicle registration in question.
Please provide evidence of the payment which includes the vehicle registration, date, location and
amount of the payment, so we can review this further.
Please be aware that you have been notified under paragraph 9(2)(b) of schedule 4 of the
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 that the driver of the motor vehicle is required to pay this parking
charge in full.
You are advised that if, after 28 days from the date given, (which is presumed to be the second
working day after the date Issued), the Parking Charge has not been paid in full and Britannia
Parking do not know both the name and current address of the driver, we have the right to recover
any unpaid part of the Parking Charge from the registered keeper. This warning is given to you
under Paragraph 9(2)(f) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is subject to our
compliance with the applicable conditions under Schedule 4 of that Act.
Should we be provided with an incorrect address for service, we will pursue the registered keeper
for any Parking Charge that remains unpaid. Therefore, after 28 days if you have not provided us
with the driver’s name and address you will be liable to pay the Parking Charge, regardless of
whether you were the driver at the time or not.

Contrary to their notice, payment was made, however I do not know what grace period is agreed between the landowner and Britannia and since the driver had to download a new app to pay for the parking, there was some delay between entering the parking and making payment. Because of this, I imagine that proof of payment may not be very helpful to this case. Nevertheless, I would draft an appeal something like below:

Good day,

I refer to your reply to my appeal of the parking charge number xxxxxxx. I note that your reply did not include any reference to your failure to deliver the notice to me within 14 days of the alleged contravention. If you have proof of sending this in order to meet that 14 day obligation, then I would like to see that please. 

If not, I reiterate that you cannot transfer liability for the alleged charge from the driver at the time to me, the keeper. There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn.

I have respectfully asked for proof of the signage at the location in question which you have also not provided.

The PCN states that the driver "failed to make a valid payment". This is factually incorrect. Payment was made at 10:01 for the amount of £3.90 as per the attached receipt.

I would like to point out now that the PCN is invalid on two fronts:

• Failure to deliver the PCN within 14 days of the alleged contravention.
• The alleged contravention did not occur as stated.

Regards,

Is this a good defence? Is there anything that should be added or that needn’t be said?

-regarding the 14 day requirement: I did not see any postage date on the envelope. Am I required to provide proof of the PCN’s failure to arrive on time, or is Britannia required to prove that they sent it on time?

Maybe this is a bog standard case in the opinion of veterans in this forum, however I have learnt from reading many posts on here that the devil is in the detail!

Many thanks for any advice that can be offered.

Coupon-mad

But you never reply to an appeal rejection. That's not the next step in the NEWBIES thread.

Gr1pr

Incident date 31/03/2026 so what was the issue date from the pcn. ? Was it 8/04/2026

The letter was presumed to be delivered 2 business days after posting, meaning after the issue date

Yes the onus is on you to prove late arrival

cooldude255220

Firstly, it would help if you posted a suitably redacted copy of the NtK so we can see what we're working with.

Secondly, unfortunately you're facing an uphill battle with the 14-day rule.

The notice is dated 08/04/2026. The notice is deemed to be delivered (unless the contrary is proved) on the second working day after posting.

The 1st working day after posting is 09/04/2026. The second working day after posting is 10/04/2026.

It is therefore presumed to have been delivered on 10/04/2026, which is on or before 14/04/2026 and therefore inside the permitted 14-day period for delivery.

Because there is a statutory presumption that the Notice was delivered in time, the burden is therefore on you to prove that the Notice was actually delivered late.

Brie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988902#Comment_81988902

Well assuming delivery was to the Poole/Bournemouth area that is currently taking up to a month for first class. How to prove it for an individual piece of post though may be difficult.

Proof of payment is more important. Particularly given that there's been numerous reports of this same problem being experienced by people parking around Poole quay.

Loxleyroad1

Thank you very much for your replies. Here's the PCN in question.

That's a shame about the 14 days. I've also just seen that they sent a certificate of postage dated the 8th, although I can't see how that can be true. 8 days to go from Bournemouth to Bournemouth must be a record! Surely not legitimate!

Thanks coupon-mad. I'd missed that in the newbies thread about replying to the appeal rejection, I've had a look through and still don't see that to be honest. I take it that the next step would be POPLA appeal? Britannia did not provide a popla code or any further options apart from replying to them of course.

Payment was made by the driver from 10:01-12:01. (Not great I know. But things happen when you go somewhere with family. Last minute nappy changes etc. and as I mentioned, they needed to download and set up a new app in order to pay) So I'm thinking the defence will have to be focused mostly on poor signage (it certainly was, the driver wasn't actually aware that this was a private car park) or other non-compliance by Britannia?

Thanks again

Coupon-mad

I'm on your side 100% but does a driver really need to 'know' it's a private car park? That always makes me smile.

in England & Wales, all land is 'private land' if not owned or run by a council or other authority. It isn't a special phrase with much meaning. Your garden path is private land. Local school, local church, pub, whatever business. All private land, All retail parks are private land, which IMHO goes without saying really and isn't relevant given the driver read a sign and knew to use the app.

Having said that, the defence is reasonable: the app took time to download & use which takes several minutes on arrival, then with a baby, you need more time on returning to the car to load your bags and strap the children safely in.

Nobody except Will Hurley and his creepy (reportedly snogged a pupil & sacked) PE teacher mate would think those few minutes unloading bags then strapping children in (plus the time to leave the bay, queue & drive out of the exit road) was an "overstay" worth a hundred quid.

What happened when the family complained to the property agents whose name is at the entrance to the retail park?

Loxleyroad1

That's reassuring. I was starting to worry.

Yes, a fine is one thing, but £100 is quite ridiculous.

Unfortunately I have yet to identify who owns the land, however via google search it looks to be owned be a real estate conglomerate or something and isn't associated with any specific business that can be complained to...

Coupon-mad

But it's the property agent that you want.

Loxleyroad1

Wait, now I'm confused. Apologies if I'm being a bit thick 🤦🏼

When looking it up, since it's basically an empty plot currently set up for parking, the property agent appears to be Britannia Parking. So a complaint should be directed at them?

I did a bit more research and can see that the landowner is a company called Quayside Poole limited, owned by development firm Fortitudo, owned by a Richard Carr.

Or complain to both? Maybe I'm being defeatist but can't imagine there's much incentive for them to help...

Gr1pr

Sometimes a Landowner wll employ a private parking company

Or

They employ a management company or landlord or agent to rent out the land, or property, or shops, that agent usually contracts with a private parking company

Any of the above can cancel the pcn invoice from a private parking company, but often its the agent or landlord or business that you complain to an obtain the cancellation

Every site is different, but the basics remain constant, contract law etc

As for postal delays, it's been all over the news in the last few years, especially last year with a 21 million pound fine against Royal Mail

The private parking company had the reasonable legal presumption that it would be delivered in 2 business days, so you are extremely unlikely to win based on late delivery, unless you have concrete proof, nothing to see there IMHO