Initial Parking PCN - St Mary's Church Bets-y-Coed

duffer1

Hi,

Literally just received this PCN (12th May 2026). The driver (who was not me) has a bank statement showing payment, and believes, but is not certain that it covers the entire period. There's a history n Google Reviews of this car park issuing PCNs which people believe are not valid.

Looking at the Car Park on Google Maps, it's not obvious to me that the signage at the entrance meets the BPA standard - in fact there is no obvious signage at the entrance to the Car Park.

I'm not sure whether to appeal on the basis the charge was paid, or on the basis that the signage was inadequate, or on the POFA basis (which I suspect has been complied with in this case). Any advice welcomed. :)

Gr1pr

Ideally we need to see pictures of the signage board and to know if they paid for 2 hours, or 90 minutes or less

It seems to me that Initial Parking believe that more money should have been paid

duffer1

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately the place is a three/four hour drive away, so don't have anything like that. Can't find anything on the internet regarding the actual hourly charges either.

I guess what I'm asking is what's the best initial response to the PCN.

Is it POFA valid, for starters?

Should I mention that the driver believes they paid, or not?

Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to take advantage of the expertise hereabouts. :)

Gr1pr

I believe that they complied with POFA, so the keeper may well be liable

Initial Parking have not stated that no payment was made, so i dont think there is any dispute over whether the driver paid or not ( so to me its a moot point, its insufficient payment, not non payment )

There are insufficient facts so far in order to determine any legal appeal points, hence why I asked for pictures of the contract ( the signage.) that the driver entered into

The driver thinks that the payment covered the entire period, Initial Parking say it didn't. !

Without sight of the contract, I don't see how you can expect us to hone in on anything other than the invoice pictures, which seem valid to me

duffer1

OK, so POFA compliant, which answers one question.

However, we don't know whether the right amount has been paid or not because there's nothing on the PCN which clearly states what the actual hourly charges are.

So unless I've missed something, the only way is to appeal and find out by Initial's response. As above I'm a bit wary of providing too much information within the appeal, so any advice on specifically that would be welcome.

The alternative is to take it on the chin and pay up, but the driver says that they believe they paid the correct amount and there's a history of complaints about this place elsewhere. I'm not minded to give up on something that seems unfair, hence posting here.

Coupon-mad

So unless I've missed something, the only way is to appeal and find out by Initial's response.

Agreed.

No paying! Not even when they reply, unless they say it was a major VRM keying error and if you think £20 is fair for a typo. I don't.

You never know, it might well be a 'keying error' so ask them firstly to check for that and secondly, state that:

we don't know whether the right amount has been paid or not because there's nothing on the PCN which clearly states what the actual hourly charges are. So we need a picture of the sign/contract and evidence of all payments made that day & time period (partially redacted machine/app logs with our own one not redacted) so we can identify our payment.

Gr1pr

Personally, I would phone the church or business ( or Londis on the other corner ) and ask them for a picture of the sign, dig it out, if its not showing up on GSV

duffer1

Just to come back to this - I've tried contacting the Church directly and they are being remarkably unhelpful.

I've literally just asked them to confirm what the hourly charges are, their response, we don't administer the car park.

However, a new wrinkle. The driver, who isn't me, says that the payment machine only displayed in Welsh, and hence there was legitimate confusion about what should have been paid.

As previous, I can't evidence this without actually travelling to the site, which is 3.5hours away.

If it comes to it though, and the driver is willing to swear to this in court (they will), isn't the burden of proof on the claimant?

I've still not put in an appeal yet, I should add, but looking elsewhere on the forum it seems that Initial don't provide anything beyond a standard 'you didn't pay enough' response until it gets to POPLA and they're obliged to provide actual evidence. At that time, you've lost the £40 discount of course…

So frustrating, this, I think it's very unlikely that the driver would deliberately underpay if the tariff was clear.…

Jame4ters

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82003389#Comment_82003389

You haven’t “lost” the discount if you get to POPLA as you won’t be paying either amount if you follow the advice

Coupon-mad

Did you get a reply to the appeal yet?

duffer1

I haven't put it in yet - I'll have to tomorrow though, that's the deadline…