ParkingEye Blinked

Between December 2023 and June 2025, I experienced a scenario very much like the video clip below (subtitles only, no audio).

It involved the car park management company ParkingEye; the [allegedly] independent appeals service POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals); the specialist legal practice DCB Legal; and the debt recovery and High Court enforcement company DCBL (Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd).


Check out the original video clip from the brilliant series Breaking Bad.


Believe-it-or-not, I was fined for parking LEGITIMATELY in a FREE car park.

My only mistake was not registering my vehicle using the official ParkingEye keypad. As you'll see below, due to confusing car park signage, I didn't see the instruction to register my vehicle. I nevertheless subsequently provided EVEN STRONGER evidence that I had permission to park on that day.

Yet both ParkingEye and their sidekick POPLA refused to accept the irrefutable evidence, and stubbornly insisted on fining me EVEN THOUGH I HAD DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL.

  What follows is a blow by blow account of how this protracted 'staring down' contest unfolded.

(if you intend reading all the text, it'll be easier to do so on a large screen, not a smartphone)


19 October 2023
I attended a hearing aid test with Hidden Hearing at Kingswood Health Centre, Bristol.


05 December 2023
I received the following Parking Charge Notice (PCN) for being in the Health Centre car park nearly two hours and not registering my vehicle.



That same evening, I submitted the following Appeal online:




15 December 2023


That same day, I approached Hidden Hearing for evidence of my appointment, and without hesitation they provided the following:


I immediately sent this evidence to ParkingEye, confident that the matter would now be settled and the PCN would be withdrawn.



04 January 2024
UNBELIEVABLY they rejected my irrefutable evidence, and suddenly made the issue no longer about whether I had an appointment on that day or not - but on the fact that I didn't comply with the instructions to register my vehicle USING THEIR KEYPAD. They also made the (tempting) offer to reduce the PCN to £20.

CLEARLY THE INTENTION HERE IS TO EXTRACT MONEY FROM THE PUBLIC REGARDLESS

ie. if they can't catch you parking illegally, they'll trap you with their 'you didn't use our touchpad' / 'private property' / 'terms & conditions' gobbledygook!





Obviously, I immediately (and naively) appealed to POPLA, believing they were a genuine independent appeals service (was I in for a surprise!)
 

19 February 2024
ASTOUNDINGLY this so-called 'independent' appeals service completely ignored the fact I had parked LEGITIMATELY in a FREE car park, and rejected my appeal with a long-worded 'assessment' of pure nonsense!




Interestingly, exactly an hour after receiving the above email, the following payment request from ParkingEye arrived (they don't appear to work too 'independently' do they?)



I emailed the following reply to ParkingEye and POPLA, and copied in BBC Newswatch (thinking they may be interested in a story):




Hilariously, POPLA asked me to complete a feedback form regarding their assessment. I did so - and then forwarded my feedback about their feedback questionnaire to BBC Newswatch ...






20 February 2024
POPLA astutely detected I was unhappy, and escalated my response to their complaints team.








22 February 2024
Surprise surprise, the POPLA complaints department replied with the same gobbledygook ('I didn't register my vehicle as instructed' / 'private land' / 'terms & conditions', blah, blah, blah) AND COMPLETELY IGNORED THE FACT I had provided the strongest possible evidence of having permission to park in the free car park that day.







On the same day, I received ParkingEye's response to my 19 February email, and I replied as follows:






22 March 2024
I received a LETTER BEFORE COUNTY COURT CLAIM from ParkingEye. It included information on how the Court expects parties to try and resolve matters before going to court. I therefore completed and submitted Annex 1 of the online Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims form.












12 April 2024
I received the following email from ParkingEye, stating nothing new ie. I had 14 days to pay £125 to prevent further action. Seeing as we had agreed to go to court, I ignored it.







10 June 2024
I received a NOTICE OF DEBT RECOVERY letter from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd; saying I needed to pay £170 to prevent this matter going to court. I replied saying this matter IS currently going to court, so please don't send me any more letters until court proceedings have concluded.








19 June 2024
I received another email from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd, saying the amount remains unpaid and I needed to pay up. I replied asking if they had missed my previous email, as I am currently in the process of contesting the legitimacy of this claim in court.





01 July 2024
I received a FINAL REMINDER letter from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd; saying I needed to pay £170 or else further action would be taken. I emailed back reiterating that I will only pay a fine if a court of law requires me to do so and explains exactly what crime I’ve committed.







15 July 2024
Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd emailed back saying they’re only doing their job and don’t get involved in court proceedings.






29 July 2024
I received a FINAL NOTICE OF DEBT RECOVERY from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd, stating they too recommended ParkingEye begin legal proceedings (hurrah!). They also tried to scare me, saying if I lose in court it could affect my credit rating.







26 August 2024
UNBELIEVABLY, I received a 'FINAL, FINAL, FINAL' letter from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd. I of course ignored this too, pleased the matter was finally going to court.






21 October 2024
TEDIOUSLY, I received a LETTER OF CLAIM from DCB Legal Ltd, saying I had to pay £170 within 30 days, or a court claim would be issued. I emailed them requesting we please bring this matter to court ASAP, as I was keen to see if the Court would support the fining of an innocent person.







05 December 2024
I FINALLY received a Court Claim form.






10 December 2024
I completed and submitted my Defence online; and chose to waive making a counter-claim.






13 December 2024
I received an acknowledgement from the Court.






08 January 2025
I received an email from DCB Legal saying their client wished to proceed to court (hurrah!); with an attached copy of their completed Small Claims Court Directions Questionnaire. Interestingly, when asked in which County Court they'd prefer the hearing to take place and why; they (naturally) chose their local court (Runcorn, near Manchester), yet didn't give a reason why.











10 January 2025
DCB Legal requested I call them via an automated telephone message that kept me waiting a full 15min! I eventually spoke to a woman who said 'our client may be prepared to settle this case’, etc. I said I’m not prepared to pay a penny, because it was a free car park and I was a legitimate user. She insisted the car park is 'private property' and 'yes, I was being fined for not using the keypad'(!). I said I wanted to go to court, and she said fine, she'd initiate proceedings.



31 January 2025
I received my Court Directions Questionnaire; and completed it requesting the hearing take place local to me (Bristol), because, I said: 'I was not only being greatly inconvenienced, but I strongly believed I was being scammed by the Claimant'.






25 February 2025
I received the email below notifying me of a telephone mediation appointment to take place with a Court mediator.



17 March 2025
Received an automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. I ignored it, as the Court mediation meeting had been scheduled, and I was in no mood to have DCB Legal waste any more of my time.



27 March 2025
Received yet another automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. I ignored this one too, as the Court mediation meeting had been scheduled, and I was still in no mood to have DCB Legal waste more of my time.



31 March 2025

Mediation phone call

• Court mediator called me at 10:41. He sounded very young (perhaps a junior mediator due to the silliness of this case?)
• He outlined the issue as he understood it. I agreed it was all correct, yet there was MUCH more to the story. He let me speak and I explained everything succinctly, outlining all the details of my experience so far.
• He rang off to speak to the ParkingEye solicitors; and called back literally 10min later (sounding a little despondent, as no doubt he too must have been bludgeoned with the 'private property' / 'terms & conditions' / 'blah, blah' gobbledygook 😂). He said ParkingEye were standing their ground, yet were willing to reduce the current fine of £270 to £135 (£100 fine + £35 court fees).
• I said no thank you, as I needed a judge to explain to me what law I'd broken, before admitting to any wrongdoing.
• The mediator said that was fine, and I should look out for court proceedings documentation.
• I asked if the Court might pass judgement based on documentation alone, without an actual hearing. He said yes, but to ensure I turned up if it did go to court, or the other side would be favoured.

16 April 2025
I received ANOTHER automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. What for (?) - we were waiting for the Court to initiate proceedings! If DCB Legal had treated me with respect and phoned me normally, I would have picked up - yet because they continued treating me with contempt with their automated phone calls, I ignored this one as well.



23 April 2025
I received notification that court proceedings had been transferred to Bristol County Court (hurrah!)


08 May 2025
Received an automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. I ignored it, as court proceedings were moving ahead, so what was there to discuss?


23 May 2025
Received another automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. I ignored it.


28 May 2025
Received yet another automated call from DCB Legal requesting I call them back. I ignored this one too, as in my opinion there was nothing left to discuss.


29 May 2025
Seeing as I wasn't calling them back, DCB Legal finally emailed me, saying that in an attempt to 'meet the Court’s overriding objective’ they’d be happy to settle for £100! I replied saying the way I understood it, 'the Court's overriding objective is to ensure justice and fairness for UK citizens', so no thank you.





29 May 2025
On the same day, I received the Bristol County Court Track (Hearing) document. It included the date of the court hearing (30 July), and stated I had to submit my case in writing before 09 July, and send a copy to ParkingEye. I decided to wait until the last minute before doing so, to possibly see ParkingEye's submission before I prepared mine.



06 June 2025
I received a proper phone call from DCB Legal. They hadn’t seen my email reply (of 29 May, above). They looked for it, found it, read it - and asked me once again if I’d be prepared to settle for £100. I said no, because this whole affair appeared to be a scam. They said it’s not a scam, it's [...wait for it...] 'private property' / 'terms & conditions' / 'blah, blah, blah'. Nothing was accomplished by the phone call. They reiterated I had to submit the court documents; and I said yes I was aware, goodbye.


21 June 2025
I prepared my Witness Statement

 


27 June 2025
After 18 months of staring at each other, ParkingEye blinked!





Final thoughts

As delighted as I am that I didn't have to pay a fine for doing absolutely nothing wrong, I realise that's probably more due to luck than anything else.

The main reason ParkingEye withdrew the claim is most likely because it wasn't worth their while chasing a £270 fine in Bristol. DCB Legal probably charges that much per hour!

If this had gone to court, there is absolutely no guarantee I would have won (no matter how innocent I knew I was). ParkingEye is a very influential organisation. During the course of my ordeal I did some research and discovered the following:

• ParkingEye reported a turnover of £57.5 million for the financial year ending December 2023. This represents a significant 17% increase from their previous reporting period. This growth trend appears to have been consistent for several years, indicating strong business performance.
  
  
• ParkingEye is frequently involved in legal disputes over alleged unfair treatment of parking customers, primarily through county court claims. The company's litigious behavior has been notable since 2012, when it began enforcing claims more aggressively to deter motorists from ignoring parking tickets.
  
  
• ParkingEye reportedly issues up to 1,000 court claims per week, making it one of the most litigious private parking operators in the UK.
  
  
• While ParkingEye claims it wins most cases, motorists who prepare thoroughly and challenge the legitimacy of the charges sometimes succeed in court. Factors such as questioning ParkingEye's legal representation or demonstrating unfair practices can lead to favorable outcomes for defendants.

In fact, the UK car park management lobby is so powerful that according to this Which? article (April 2025), they even strong-armed the government into withdrawing proposed legislation intended to better regulate the industry!

Conclusion

I could easily have paid £20, and all of the above would have gone away.

Yet I opposed it because of the moral principle behind it ie. I parked legitimately in a free car park.

Nevertheless, sadly, it appears that by continually repeating the words 'private property' and 'terms & conditions', companies like ParkingEye have discovered a plausible way of extorting money from the public.

Not to mention clogging up the courts with 1,000 cases a week.

What a strange world we live in.

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Response on Nextdoor

I posted a link to this story on my local Nextdoor group and it received an overwhelming response. Clearly car park management companies are greatly disliked in the UK.