Appealing a ParkingEye parking charge: who hears it, and when
By Matthew Adeola, founder of Docketory. Law (Honours) graduate who has represented himself in civil proceedings, CCJ removal, and consumer disputes. Not a solicitor.
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Related service: Parking Charge Notice
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The short answer
For anyone in England and Wales with a parking charge from ParkingEye. Appeal to ParkingEye within 28 days of the notice reaching you, then to POPLA, free, within 28 days of a rejection. Docketory drafts and submits the appeal and the POPLA stage; it does not file anything at court or speak for you at a hearing.
A parking charge from ParkingEye is a private parking charge, not a fine. You appeal to ParkingEye first, within 28 days of the notice reaching you, and if it rejects you, to POPLA, free, within 28 days of the rejection. This guide covers England and Wales.
If the charge has already turned into a county court claim form, read A parking company has taken you to court instead. For any other parking ticket, check your ticket free.
Who is ParkingEye?
ParkingEye is a private car park operator, Parkingeye Limited, company number 05134454, registered in England with its office in Chorley, Lancashire. Its own site says it has operated since 2004 and manages more than 4,000 sites: retail parks, hospitals, hotels, pubs, and motorway services. It issues parking charges under a contract with each landowner, not under any Act or council power.
A council's penalty charge notice is issued under statute and has its own appeal route, covered in how to challenge a parking charge notice. A ParkingEye notice is a demand for a sum it says you owe under the terms on the signs. It is enforced, if at all, through the county court.
ParkingEye sends more of these than anyone. In the RAC's analysis of the DVLA's keeper data for the first half of 2024/25, it asked for 1.1 million vehicle keeper records. All operators together asked for 7.2 million. The DVLA gives a keeper's name and address only to an operator in the British Parking Association or the International Parking Community. That is why the trade body matters.
Which trade body is it in, and who hears an appeal?
ParkingEye's own site says it is a BPA Approved Operator, a member of the British Parking Association's Approved Operator Scheme. Charges from BPA members go to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) for an independent appeal. Charges from International Parking Community (IPC) members go to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). So a ParkingEye charge goes to POPLA.
Both trade bodies have worked to one code of practice since October 2024, the private parking sector single code. So the rules on charges, discounts, and appeals are the same whichever body an operator belongs to. Our guide to the single code sets them out.
How long do I have to appeal to ParkingEye?
ParkingEye's appeal page says appeals "should be submitted within 28 days of the delivery of the Parking Charge". So the clock runs from the day the notice reached you, not the date printed on it. The single code requires an operator to allow 28 days to appeal. It must answer within 28 days, or acknowledge the appeal and say when it will answer.
The notice carries two dates to note. The first is the 14-day discount. The code says an operator must offer at least 40% off for payment within 14 days of the notice being issued. A £100 charge is £60 in that window. The second is the 28 days to appeal. You cannot do both: ParkingEye says you cannot appeal a charge that has already been paid.
What does the Protection of Freedoms Act add?
Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 lets an operator pursue the vehicle's keeper when it does not know who was driving, but only if its notices met the Act's conditions. The Act applies in England and Wales only, which is why this guide stops at the border.
Whether a particular notice passes the Act's test is a question of the dates, and one the free check asks.
What happens if ParkingEye rejects it?
ParkingEye's rejection comes with a POPLA verification code. From the rejection you have 28 days to appeal to POPLA, free, using that code. POPLA cannot take an appeal ParkingEye has not assessed first, and payment never goes to POPLA. POPLA decides on the evidence both sides send, and its decision is final.
If POPLA allows your appeal, the charge is cancelled. If it refuses, it says to pay within 28 days of its decision, or the charge can increase or go to debt collection. ParkingEye's own page asks for payment within 14 days of a refusal. Under the code, once a charge is overdue the operator may add a sum of up to £70. After that, the next letter can be a letter before claim, then a county court claim. Our court claim guide covers that stage and its deadlines.
What did the Supreme Court decide in ParkingEye v Beavis, and what does it not decide?
In ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, decided on 4 November 2015, the Supreme Court upheld an £85 charge for overstaying a two-hour limit at a retail park. By six to one, it held that the charge was not a penalty, and not unfair under the consumer regulations of the time. ParkingEye and the landowner had a legitimate interest in charging overstayers, beyond any loss.
The driver had overstayed by almost an hour, and the signs said overstaying would result in a parking charge of £85. The court found the charge "neither extravagant nor unconscionable".
What the case does not decide is whether your charge is due. It settles that a clear charge on clear signs can be enforced in principle. It does not say every notice is valid.
What to do next
Note two dates: the day the notice was issued, which starts the 14-day discount, and the day it reached you, which starts the 28 days to appeal. Do not ignore the notice. Then check your ticket free: the check says whether the notice is worth appealing and what it would cost.
Docketory drafts and submits the appeal to ParkingEye and, if it rejects you, the POPLA appeal, from £14.99, or £24.99 in all with the POPLA stage, under private parking charge appeals. It does not fit a charge that has become a court claim with a hearing date, which the court claim guide covers. Nor does it fit a council penalty charge notice, which has its own guide.
Sources
- ParkingEye: About us
- ParkingEye: Appeal a parking charge
- ParkingEye: home page
- POPLA, FAQs
- RAC, 25 April 2025: Private parking firms on track to issue nearly 14.5m tickets to drivers in a year
- GOV.UK: Request information about a vehicle or its registered keeper from DVLA
- Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, version 1.1 (IPC, PDF)
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4
- Supreme Court: ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67
- Supreme Court: ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis, press summary (PDF)
Docketory publishes general information based on real disputes. Identifying details are changed and patterns from multiple cases may be combined. This is not legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, contact a solicitor or Citizens Advice.
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More guides on this topic
A DCBL, BW Legal or ZZPS letter about a parking charge
A letter from DCBL, BW Legal or ZZPS about a private parking charge is a demand, not a court claim: who they are, the £70 cap, and what follows if you do nothing.
APCOA parking charge or PCN: who hears the appeal, and when
An APCOA notice is either a council's penalty charge notice or APCOA's own private parking charge: which is which, who hears the appeal at each stage, and the 28-day and 14-day dates.
Euro Car Parks appeal: who hears it, and when
A Euro Car Parks parking charge is appealed to Euro Car Parks first, within 28 days, and then to POPLA, free: who hears it, and what the CMA is looking at.