Parking Charge Notice from a private car park: is it a fine, and do you have to pay?

Written by Nathan Deeble, OneLetter founder · How we check this · Last reviewed: September 2026 · Checked against gov.uk · Information only, not legal advice

Private parking charge notice: the essentials

Who sends it

A private parking operator, usually a member of the BPA or the IPC, not a council

Maximum amount

£100 under the industry code (an unpaid tariff can have up to £60 added instead)

Discount

At least 40% off (typically £60) if paid within 14 days of the notice

Appeal deadline

28 days to appeal to the company; then 28 days to POPLA or 21 days to the IAS

Keeper liability

Only in England and Wales, and only if the notice meets the Protection of Freedoms Act rules

Points, record, clamping

None. No points, no criminal record, no clamping or towing on private land

Why it looks like a fine (and why it is not one)

When you drive into a private car park, the signs are an offer: park on these terms or leave. Staying is treated as accepting them. If the operator says you broke a term (overstayed, did not pay, parked outside a bay, did not enter your registration) it issues a Parking Charge Notice claiming the sum shown on the sign. That is a contract claim, not a penalty. The Supreme Court settled in 2015, in ParkingEye v Beavis, that a charge of £85 for overstaying at a retail park was enforceable, so the charge is real money even though it is not a fine.

Since 1 October 2024 all operators in the two trade bodies, the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community, work to a single code of practice, with existing sites given until the end of 2026 to bring signage into line. The government has been promising a statutory code with a single independent appeals service since 2019; a version was issued in February 2022 and withdrawn four months later after a legal challenge, and a fresh consultation closed in September 2025. As of September 2026 that statutory code is still not in force, so the industry code is what governs your notice.

The numbers on the notice, decoded

Figures from the Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, clauses 8.1 to 8.4 and Annex F.

Are you liable as the keeper, if you were not driving?

Operators get the registered keeper's name and address from the DVLA for a small fee. In England and Wales, Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 lets them hold the keeper liable for the charge, but only if every condition in the Schedule is met. The one that fails most often is timing. Where there was no ticket on the windscreen and the first you hear is a Notice to Keeper in the post (typical for camera-controlled car parks), that notice must be delivered within 14 days of the parking event, and a posted notice counts as delivered on the second working day after posting. Where a ticket was put on the windscreen first, the keeper notice must arrive no earlier than 28 days and no later than 56 days after it. A notice outside those windows, or missing the wording the Act requires, cannot make the keeper pay; the operator would have to prove who was driving.

You are not obliged to name the driver. If you do, liability transfers to them. If you do not, and the notice is compliant, you can be pursued as keeper. In Scotland and Northern Ireland Schedule 4 does not apply at all: there is no keeper liability, and the operator must show who drove.

Grounds that must win: the code's Appeals Charter

The single code contains an Appeals Charter that operators are required to apply when you appeal in time and provide evidence. Two lists matter.

• Charge must be cancelled: you paid for the full period before leaving a camera-controlled (ANPR) car park; you paid but made a minor keying error entering your registration (a 0 for an O, an I for an L, a 1 for an I); the vehicle had broken down and was being recovered; you were directed onto the land by the landowner, the operator or the emergency services; there was a genuine emergency; the operator broke the code in the way it issued the notice; or the vehicle was an emergency, health-worker, breakdown or funeral vehicle on duty.
• Charge must be reduced to £20 (payable within 14 days, first charge only, no independent appeal lodged): you paid but made a major keying error such as entering another car's registration; you or a passenger fell ill, a medical appointment overran, or childcare caused the delay; the vehicle broke down; you hold a valid permit or Blue Badge but did not display it; the payment machines were out of order with no other way to pay; or you were entitled to park but forgot to enter your registration at a terminal.
• Consideration and grace periods: at most public car parks the code requires at least 5 minutes to read the signs and decide, and at least 10 minutes' grace after paid or permitted time ends. A charge issued inside those windows should not stand.

None of these are goodwill. They are rules the operator signed up to, and quoting the clause in your appeal (Annex F of the single code) makes it much harder to refuse.

Pay, appeal or ignore? A straight answer

• You clearly broke the terms and none of the Charter grounds apply: pay the discounted amount inside 14 days. It is the cheapest exit and it ends there.
• You have a ground, or you are not sure: appeal to the operator inside the discount window. If they reject you, the discounted rate must be held for 14 more days, so an early appeal costs you nothing.
• You appealed and lost, and you still think you are right: escalate to POPLA or the IAS within the deadline. It is free, but the discount is gone at this point, so it is a decision about £100, not £60.
• Whatever you do, do not pay and appeal at the same time. Paying ends your right to appeal, and the money is not coming back.
• Do not ignore it. Ignoring is the only path that adds a £70 collection fee and, eventually, a county court claim.

How to appeal, and what to put in it

Appeal online using the reference on the notice. Keep it short and factual: what happened, which term you are said to have broken, why you did not (or which Charter ground applies), and the evidence. Attach the payment receipt or bank statement, photographs of the signs from where you parked, the breakdown or medical evidence, the permit or Blue Badge. Ask, in terms, for the Appeals Charter to be applied and quote the clause. In England and Wales, do not say who was driving unless you want liability to move to that person; write as the keeper, or simply as the person appealing.

If the operator rejects it, the letter must tell you which independent service to use and the reference number for it. That is the point at which most people give up, and it is exactly the point at which the operator has to prove its case rather than just assert it. The next page explains what the rejection letter means and how the independent appeal runs.

What happens if you ignore it?

A private parking charge you ignore does not go away and does not go to court on its own. First come reminders, then the discount lapses to the full £100, then the debt is passed to a recovery firm such as Debt Recovery Plus, DCBL or ZZPS, which adds £70. Their letters have no power behind them, but the next stage does: a Letter of Claim giving you 30 days, then a county court claim form. Respond to the claim form and a judge decides, usually on paper, on the signage, the notice and the evidence. Ignore the claim form and judgment is entered by default, a County Court Judgment that stays on your credit file for six years unless you pay it within 30 days. The company has six years from the parking event to bring a claim, so silence does not run the clock out in any useful time.

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