Key parking fine rules clarified by appeals body - with operators increasingly giving up cases

A record number of private parking fines were successfully appealed to the industry body last year, the Money blog can reveal.

Britons submitted 107,202 appeals via the POPLA process in the year to October 2025, the first time ever that's breached 100,000.

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And there was a significant rise in cancelled fines as the impact of a new appeals charter was felt.

The numbers are...

• 39,522 appeals were uncontested by operator and therefore cancelled;
• 14,578 contested appeals were successful;
• 53,102 were refused.

That means 50.5% of appeals resulted in cancellation.

POPLA also asked operators to cancel 343 fines as a gesture of goodwill due to mitigating circumstances. This worked 201 times.

It said it has "observed a growing number of appeals generated using AI", and despite a record year for successful appeals, a lot of those drafted by AI are turned away.

"Many of these appeals are highly generalised and contain misinformation, which typically result in the appeal being rejected," it said.

"Where appellants provide specific, personalised grounds for their appeal, they're more likely to be successful."

Many of the appeals centred on motorists not understanding the rules - either because they were unclear or because of misinformation online.

"Confusion is clearly profitable," said consumer disputes expert Scott Dixon, who frequently points out that private parking tickets are invoices, not fines.

"It's mind-blowing how many people just pay it without question because they think it's a 'fine' - that's part of the business model.

"That explains why parking charge notices (invoices issued by parking firms) look similar to penalty charge notices (council fines)."

The government is still consulting on the introduction of its own code of practice.

POPLA said it saw "significant activity" with appeals on keying errors, airport drop-offs, liability and where AI was used by the operator.

In a bid to end confusion among motorists, it clarified the rules in a few common areas.

Not paying in time

Car parks increasingly require payment within a set number of minutes, but motorists may be hampered by poor mobile signal or issues with apps.

Fines should often not be issued where full payment has eventually been made, POPLA has clarified...

In February 2025 the Private Parking Scrutiny and Advice Panel (PPSAP)... updated the appeals charter to include that motorists using private car parks equipped with camera technology - such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition or CCTV monitoring - should no longer receive a parking charge provided they pay for the full duration of their stay before leaving the car park.

Keying errors

This is a topic we explored here earlier this year.

POPLA said...

If a motorist has made a simple error, such as transposing 0 for an O, parking operators are expected to identify this and not issue parking charges. If an operator does issue a parking charge, they should cancel it in full when a motorist appeals.

If a motorist makes an error that a parking operator cannot identify, for example they enter several digits incorrectly, the operator is entitled to charge up to £20 to cover administration costs.

We've seen a lot of appeals where operators have met the expectation of offering a reduction to £20, but the motorist has rejected this offer and appealed to POPLA. Many motorists believe the parking charge must be invalid - or the operator wouldn't be offering a reduction. This often results in worse outcomes for the motorist - because if they have made an error when inputting their registration, it's likely their appeal will be refused and they will become liable for the full parking charge.

Read more:
The £20 rule for parking app keying errors
The loophole that could help you avoid parking fines
A consumer expert's guide to appealing parking 'fines'

Airport drop-offs

POPLA said it had seen an increase in appeals due to recent changes from barrier-controlled exits to barrierless systems, along with the shift to payment after exit within a specific timeframe.

It added...

With these car parks, motorists are often expected to pay online by midnight the day after their visit to the drop off zone. Many motorists forget to pay by the deadline. Our advice to motorists when visiting airport drop off zones is to ensure they read the terms and conditions and make payment promptly - the longer it is left, the easier it is to forget.

Liability disputes

Many appellants say they were not the driver at the time of the incident and contend that the parking operator cannot hold them liable.

But POPLA said...

Parking operators can transfer liability to the vehicle's keeper if the keeper fails to identify the driver after receiving an enforceable notification.

Parking operators are experienced at sending notices to keepers and, generally, notices tend to contain accurate information and are sent within relevant deadlines.

If a vehicle keeper was not driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged improper parking, they can provide the parking operator with the details of the person who was driving to stop liability transferring to them.

If they don't want to do this, they can seek details from the driver and include appeal details relating to what happened on the day and why they believe the parking charge is invalid or unfair.

(c) Sky News 2026: Key parking fine rules clarified by appeals body - with operators increasingly giving up cases