Parkingeye PCN at Radisson Blu Stansted – 77-Second Overstay as a Paying Guest

xfusion1275

Hi all,

Looking for some sanity checks or advice from the regulars here on a frustrating £100 PCN from Parkingeye at the Radisson Blu Stansted Airport.

### What Happened
Back in June 2026, my 15-year-old son and I stayed overnight at the Radisson Blu before a flight to Austria. The package I paid for in advance included long-stay airport parking.

When we arrived, the satnav route supplied with the booking sent us straight into the hotel drop-off loop rather than the separate long-stay entrance. I kept the engine running and paused just long enough to ask a member of the hotel staff for directions to the right car park, then immediately drove over to the correct lot.

* Entry: 13:32:41
* Exit: 13:43:58
* Total time on site: 11 minutes, 17 seconds

The hotel front loop allows a 10-minute free drop-off window. Parkingeye hit me with a £100 fine for going over that limit by 1 minute and 17 seconds (77 seconds) while I was actively asking staff how to get to the space I’d already paid for.

### Appeals So Far
1. Parkingeye appeal: Standard automated rejection.
2. POPLA appeal (Ref: 6061976237): Refused. The assessor took a dead-pan technical view under Section 2.19b of the new Single Code of Practice. She decided that because the car stopped, it was "parked," which immediately ended any consideration period. Total common-sense bypass.
3. Hotel Management Escalation: Contacted Radisson Blu Stansted and their corporate customer support. They asked for the PCN copy, but then came back claiming that because POPLA upheld it, "there is nothing we can do from our side." They are insisting POPLA's word is final and refusing to instruct Parkingeye to drop it.

### Current Position
The hotel is hiding behind POPLA and pretending they don't have landowner authority over their own contractor.

Before deciding whether to hold out for Small Claims Court (and push the grace period / ANPR drive-in time defense) or try another angle, I'd love to hear from anyone who has dealt with 1-minute overstays at airport hotel loops or managed to get Radisson/Parkingeye to back down post-POPLA.

Thanks in advance!

HoneydewLemon

In your appeals, did you appeal as Keeper or did you admit or imply you were the driver?

If you made all of your appeal points in the third person (i.e. 'The driver did this...') and didn't imply you were the driver, then you may still have a good case to refuse keeper liability and decline to identify the driver due to airports not being relevant land under the POFA 2012 schedule 4.

xfusion1275

Thanks for the reply, HoneydewLemon!

Unfortunately, that angle won't work for my case - I admitted driver identity early on in the initial appeals (used "I" instead of "the driver"), so driver identity is already established. Also they have my face on the front facing CCTV images.

My main line of defence now rests on contract law arguments if they choose to issue a court claim:

1. De minimis threshold (77 seconds over the 10-minute drop-off allowance).
2. ANPR entry/exit camera timings vs. actual drive-in / orientation time.
3. Frustration of contract / seeking directions to a pre-paid bay as a genuine hotel guest.

Appreciate your input

xfusion1275

That was what I have found on Gemini btw. Clutching at all straws now….. SIGH

HoneydewLemon

OK, well I thought it was worth asking, with it being on airport land it's unfortunate that the driver was identified.

I'll leave further advice to people more knowledgeable than me, but I expect the best thing to do now is to ignore until you get a court claim.

Also, on point 3, there is a high bar for frustration of contract - as I understand it, it would have to have been either impossible or illegal for you to leave within the time allowance for this to apply.

Umkomaas

I expect the best thing to do now is to ignore until you get a court claim.

Good advice. Wait to see what PE’s next move is. Plenty of help and advice here if you do receive a claim.

For future advice (especially for anyone else dealing with a PE case), once POPLA is involved (and PE have had to pay the adjudication fee), they are extremely reluctant to budge even if the landowner requires a cancellation. Exhaust all landowner cancellation options before appealing to POPLA - especially at an airport site where PE cannot invoke keeper liability (obviously don’t identify the driver).

Car1980

Don't worry. Virtually all Parking Eye claims are discontinued now, especially ones sent via DCB Legal.

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145128#Comment_82145128

But you won't need any of that!

Hopefully, the claim will come from DCB Legal. No details/excuses are needed in defences of ParkingEye cases by DCB Legal.

Suggest you read @Umkomaas' DCB Legal discontinuances thread and pick out a few ParkingEye ones. You'll see.

Next time, DON'T ruin your nailed-on landowner cancellation by trying POPLA.

But FYI, if you insist the Hotel push back again and make some noise for you, ParkingEye will actually cancel.

xfusion1275

Thanks so much Coupon-mad, Umkomaas, and Car1980 – really reassuring feedback!

Update on the landowner front: I escalated back to Radisson Hotel Group corporate, and a representative named Devashish actually forwarded my complaint directly to the local Stansted hotel management team, instructing them to review the case again and assist.

I’ve replied back to that thread reinforcing that Radisson has full landowner authority to instruct Parkingeye regardless of POPLA. I’m waiting on the local GM/management team's response now.

If they refuse to push Parkingeye and Parkingeye eventually issues a claim via DCB Legal, I’ll follow the forum guidance and use the template defences to see it through to discontinuance.

Appreciate all the guidance here!

Half_way

Popla should make no difference, double down on the hotel and tell them they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents.

xfusion1275

We have an update from the General Manager at the hotel…..

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Thank you for bringing the below matter to my attention, can I please request you to withdraw the appeal and I will then approach the Parking Eye for support in getting these charges removed.

I will try my best to support on the below and get back to you with Parking Eye Update.