Postal PPC PCN and I said my partner was driving

Hello lovely well savvy people. Help needed please...postal PCN and I said my partner was driving.

I recently received a PCN from a private parking firm(DSFP) in the post. It was for £100 (reduced to £60 for 14 days) for an overstay in a carpark 1 month previous. The postcode was not local and when I looked it up I realised that it must have been when my partner took our young daughter on a trip to meet family. I asked him about it and he vaguely remembered that there had been some minor incident with our daughter on the way back to the car and that they had been slightly late. The letter from the PCN only mentioned the time of exit to the carpark so I had no idea the actual length of overstay but he guessed that it would not have been more than 10 mins or so.

I did a small amount of online research (oh how I wish id found the mountains of advice on this forum and read the newbies thread first!, but sadly found this later on) I came across some info saying that parking ‘charges’ should be fair and representational of any loss incurred by the PPC as a result of the offence. I used their online appeal form to write a simple response saying that my partner thought he could remember our small daughter having a minor accident which held them up slightly on their return and that a £100 fine was an excessive and unfair amount to charge for a short overstay. I’m so angry with myself now for having been so naïve. I realise now how stupid this was.

I inevitably received a further letter saying that my appeal had been denied and they detail in this letter the time of entry (16:10) time of ticket purchase(16:15) time of exit (16:31) and say I have a further 14 days to pay the reduced amount etc. They are an IPC member and as such I was directed to make any further appeal to the IAS.

I have since done my research properly and found that I could have dealt with this so much better in the first instance and I would very much appreciate any advice on what to do next. I’ve found the schedule 4 and POFA and realised that the first letter they sent was not within the specified 14 days since the incident. I received the first letter 31 days after the parking ‘offence’. The appeal response letter they sent was still addressed to me so I guess they are going down the pursuing me as the RK route despite mentioning my partner. Also they only mention the time of exit in their first letter, should it have had the other details they only supplied following appeal?

I am wondering how much what I have done already has shot myself in the foot? I did not mention my partner by name. Just that he remembered the parking event. But far from not naming the driver or giving excuses I have managed to do both. Should I just suck it up? Or is this in any way still salvageable?

Many Thanks to any one with expertise in this who can give me some advice .