"Parking Charge Notices" from private car park operators

I recently parked in the private "shoppers"car park of a well known chain store on the King's Road in London making a substantial number of purchases which are shown on my store card statement with them. On returning to my car an official looking document marked "Parking Charge Notice" had been affixed to my windscreen. The ticket stated that parking was only allowed for one hour and a penalty parking charge of £100 was now due. As a gesture of goodwill this would be reduced to £40 if I paid the parking company concerned within 14 days. My neighbour said this might be a scam but I called customer services at the store and they said it was genuine. I don't want to be prosecuted. Can you advise what I should do?

Official parking tickets can only be issued by the police, traffic wardens and local authority parking attendants. The police and traffic wardens issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) which can be enforced through the criminal justice system while local authority parking attendants can issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) which are enforced through the civil courts.

Your official looking Parking Charge Notices (which sometimes appear as Penalty Control Notices) are unknown to British law and appear to be an attempt by parking companies to pass off as the similarly named council issued Penalty Charge Notices.

Depending on the wording they may be illegal and should always be challenged. The company concerned is usually hoping for easy money if sufficient numbers will be gulled into paying up. Their recourse to law would be in bringing a civil action for trespass and their so-called Parking Charge Notice is a dubious attempt to persuade you to accept an invitation to settle out of court.

You should challenge them on the basis that the signage warning of the offence was wholly insufficient and you were not adequately warned of the penalty. Given that few (if any) companies will send a representative on the off chance of winning such a case that should be the last you should hear from them.

In your particular case I would also suggest sending a copy of the correspondence along with a copy of your store card statement and a covering letter explaining what happened to the store manager and complaining in the strongest terms. You should receive a favourable reply. Private parking arrangements and enforcement are an attempt by stores to limit rogue parking by people going elsewhere and are not designed by stores to impede genuine shoppers such as yourself.

Free legal advice direct to your inbox: Ask Law Answers your road accident or traffic offence legal question.