Parking notices

I believe if it is a private company they cannot issue fines, but challenge this. Check if there are any notices displayed about the length of parking times; sometimes parking is free for the first 2/3 hours.

I had one for a hotel I stayed in you out your reg in and secures your parking mine mustn’t have taken. I didn’t have to pay.

Over the years I have had two and paid them 🙈
The first one was Lidl, where I shopped in Lidl first and then went off to look at the surrounding shopping mall.
I tried to fight it. Showed my receipt etc but I had spent the majority of the time shopping elsewhere.
The second one, last year, was when I parked in the local Asda car park. Popped across the road, to have a very long manicure and pedicure. Then spent more time going to the Post Office, the Card Factory and the charity shops. I could have kicked myself as I had not learned from the Lidl incident.
I assumed that the Asda car park belonged to them. It does not.
It is owned by a private company as is the large Co-op Store and our B&Q.
There are notices in each car park that say they are private.
I was too worried to ignore the ticket but some people have done so.
So annoying!

If it’s a private company , check out Martin Lewis s website. There’s lots of advice about private parking companies. Ive challenged a few private penalty notices with success. One was a pub asking for your registration number which I did and there was a glitch in the system. Another was staples who took forever printing my fil order of service . There was an issue with the printer and the manager had to sort it out . I went back to the store and the manager recognised me and cancelled the notice .

Our local Aldi are always handing them out. In my town, shoppers can park for an hour and a half free in their car park as long as you register car number plate before leaving. Unlike Sainsbury's and Waitrose there's no minimum spend. The other two it's £10 for 2 hours. Our Aldi is fairly new, so whether it's a teething problem. There always seems to be complaints on "Next Door" as to people getting a ticket in the Aldi car park. I always keep my receipts from.both Aldi and Sainsburys for a while. I've had parking tickets from both and those get waived on the production of those receipts. The company that administer the Aldi car park want the receipt sent to them, which means I have to waste a stamp which annoys me no end, along with some verbal finger wagging in the letter about following the correct procedure which I do

My local Lidl and Waitrose allow 90 minutes free parking with no evidence of shopping there . Which means often the car park is full and the shop empty as people use the carpark to pop into town .

It's all so annoying, isn't it?

I parked in a disabled bay, put my blue badge in the window but didn't open it out. I was in the shop for 10 minutes. I ignored the 1st letter, which claimed I hadn't shown a blue badge. It showed a photo of my car with the badge displayed! I got a 2nd letter, stating that the "fine" had increased to £100. I ignored it. Today, a letter from a debt company arrived. The "fine" is now £170. I checked on Martyn Lewis's website and it says that this particular debt collector agency cannot send bailiffs, seize any goods, nor take anyone to court. I'm ignoring that, then, too.

We'll see, but the fact that I've got a photo showing my blue badge in the window, makes me think I won't have to pay up.

I had one for a retail park years ago, I didnt pay it and eventually they gave up, but I am not sure if the rules have changed since then.

If someone owns the land and sets cconditions for you parking there, why shouldn't they penalise you when you trespass over that time.

Yes I have and it was a nightmare. I won't even attempt to tell the whole story but the one thing I would say is don't ignore it. As someone has already said, Money Saving Expert has a section you can refer to and if you google "challenge parking charge" there are quite a few sites you can access that deal with these charges.

If we are to believe those who say that they can't enforce them, or just ignore them then there wouldn't be all these sites with detailed instructions on how to challenge them, appeal them or heaven forbid, go down the legal route.

These private parking companies have contributed to clogging up the court system as they issue tens of thousands of claims every year - so ignoring it could mean your land up with a CCJ without even knowing it.

I was sent a fixed penalty notice for parking at an airport. They sent me a photograph of a car that was clearly not mine. The number plate was dirty and had been mis-read by a computer. Far from being a simple matter of informing them that it was not my car, I had to swim through manure to prove it wasn't my car. I had to send them photographs of my car taken from the front and back to show both number plates and write a detailed account of where I was, including "corroboration where possible" when the photo of the car that wasn't mine was taken.

Finally, the only indication that the case against me had been dropped was the fact that I heard nothing more once I sent in all the required information.

HowVeryDareYou2

Has anyone ever had a parking notice - NOT the council or police, but a retail park? If so, did you pay it/liaise with the company/ignor it?

Yes. My partner had one. He spoke to the manager of the shop he had gone to. Took photos of the parking notices ( some were obscured by trees and the writing was too small to read anyway). And contacted the MP for that area. Turns out even the staff at the shop got fines occasionally. He didn’t pay.

M0nica

If someone owns the land and sets cconditions for you parking there, why shouldn't they penalise you when you trespass over that time.

Because they’re often quite sneaky about it…

HowVeryDareYou2

Has anyone ever had a parking notice - NOT the council or police, but a retail park? If so, did you pay it/liaise with the company/ignor it?

I have and did ignore it for some weeks but ended up with a County Court Judgement (CCJ).

The “offence” was last year in an almost empty out-of-town car park on private land. The fine progression was the same as yours.

I was just ten minutes over the time in a car park I had never been to before. Genuinely, I had not seen any parking notices. I had spent around £700 on new made-to-measure curtains, carpet and other items for a bedroom I had just had newly decorated. It had taken a long time to chose in different shops. After ordering the items, I had stopped for coffee. Had I known I was about to clock up a fine I would have forgone the coffee and left.

I believed the notice was unenforceable and ignored the letters until I received a court notice from H.M.Courts & Tribunals for £170 plus costs. At that point, I appealed.

My appeal, complete with receipts showing the times of the sale transactions, was lodged in plenty of time but HMC&T was so tardy in processing it that the CCJ was made anyway.

Now I’m stuck with it. Even though HMC&T accepted my appeal and quashed the fine I’m told I have to pay over £300 to have the CCJ removed from the records - which I am not prepared to do.

Fortunately, I shan’t ever need credit. My excellent credit score took a tumble as a result of the CCJ but is slowly climbing back to where it was and is now registering as very good.

My advice is to start the appeal process now.

Thanks for all your replies. I'll have a think and possibly start an appeal tomorrow. I hadn't broken any rules of parking there, though.

MayBee70

M0nica

If someone owns the land and sets cconditions for you parking there, why shouldn't they penalise you when you trespass over that time.

Because they’re often quite sneaky about it…

That is an entirely different issue.

Are you sure?

You said you hadn’t “opened it up”. Technically then is the “offence” one of not showing the badge so it could be clearly read through the front windscreen?

This says that: The badge is intended for on-street parking only.

Off-street car parks, such as those provided by shopping centres, hospitals or supermarkets are covered by separate rules.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england

This says:

While Blue Badges provide significant parking concessions on public roads managed by local councils, they offer no automatic privileges in private car parks. This includes:

• Supermarket car parks (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, etc.)
• Hospital parking facilities
• Shopping centre car parks
• Private business premises
• Airport parking areas
• Railway station car parks

www.bluebadgecompany.co.uk/blogs/blog/blue-badge-parking-rules-2025

Lodge an appeal in good time so you don’t end up in the situation I have.

I would strongly urge you to use one of the template appeal letters that you can find on the parking charges websites. They cover exactly what will and won't be valid for the appeal procedure.

It’s not a fine but a charge. When you park in a private car park run by a parking company you enter into a contract with them. If you breach the terms and conditions then you will get a charge and if you don’t pay could ultimately end up in court. If you think the charge was wrongfully issued then take it up with POPLA which is a free service.