Park365 Appeals Policy
We understand that receiving a parking ticket can be a frustrating experience, particularly when you believe it has been issued unfairly. Rest assured, however, that you have the right to appeal. Before initiating the appeal process, we highly recommend consulting our FAQ’s page for potential clarification, as it addresses many common questions based on customer feedback. Should you decide to proceed with your appeal, please adhere to the process outlined below.
Please note that appeals are only considered valid within 28 days from the receipt of the Parking Charge Notice (PCN), except in exceptional circumstances.
All appeals must be submitted via our payment website www.paymyparkingcharge.com or in writing to Parking Admin Centre, Bacchus House, 1 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AG. Ensure to include comprehensive details such as the date, time, and location of the incident, along with your contact information and any supporting evidence, such as pictures. It is essential to include the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) reference and vehicle registration number in your appeal.
We know this is time consuming process and we are confident in our PCN’s issued but if your appeal is upheld it will result in 1 new tree being planted as part of our ongoing drive towards sustainability and net zero targets. Its not much we know but as a small business we are trying our best and if the appeal is upheld and we have created a negative experience for you, we can produce a positive impact and a new tree will grow for hopefully hundreds of years at our cost.
What Happens Next?
Upon submission of your appeal, you will receive an email confirmation. Please check your spam folder if this notification is not received within 24 hours. Subsequently, your appeal will undergo processing, and a decision notice will be sent to your provided contact email address within 28 days.
When an appeal has been registered all enforcement action will be halted until. The reduced rate of payment is valid for a further 28 days from the date of rejection of the appeal where the original appeal is received within the timeframe for making payment at the reduced rate.
How are appeals processed and logged?
All appeals made to Park365 are logged on our secure CRM system and date and time stamped upon receipt. Each interaction will be date and time stamped and logged within this CRM system.
Appeals received after 28 days (sometimes called out of time appeals)
Appeals which are received outside of the normal period (28 days) where there are exceptional circumstances for the appeal not being lodged within the normal time frames may be considered in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances may include but are not limited to:
Where the registered keeper can evidence that they were not the driver and evidence they were not aware that a parking charge had been issued. This includes the recipient being away or abroad, hospitalised as an inpatient, or delivered to the wrong address through no fault of the motorist.
Where the Registered Keeper has changed their address and has failed to inform the DVLA in accordance with Part IV (regulation 18) of the Road Vehicles Registration and Licensing Regulations 2002, this shall not be classed as exceptional on its own.
If exceptional circumstances have been established, then the parking charge shall revert back to the start of the 28 day period and any enforcement action will be paused.
Recommencing enforcement action?
Following the rejection of an appeal, enforcement action shall not recommence until the deadline for you to appeal to the Independent Appeals Service has lapsed (28 days). Following the dismissal of an appeal by the Independent Appeals Service, enforcement action shall not be restarted until 28 days post the decision being made, this includes the addition of any additional fees.
How we investigate an appeal?
Each appeal is thoroughly and fully investigated and completed by trained appeals handlers.
The process for investigation may include:
- Reviewing any evidence that has been supplied by the motorist
- Checking images captured
- Checking CCTV footage
- Reviewing witness statements from parking attendants
- Checking logs of pay and display machines to ensure that they were working correctly at the time of issue
- Checking logs of web based payment providers to ensure that they were working correctly at the time of issue
- Checking for accidental keying errors
- Where accidental keying errors are found the parking charge should be cancelled if it is the first occasion
- Checking to see if the appellant has any exemptions that may warrant the cancelling of the parking charge
- Investigating any mitigating circumstances provided by the appellant
- Checking to see if reasonable adaptations have been made for motorists who reveal a disability
When investigating an appeal we may ask you for additional information regarding your appeal. For example:
- Where a vehicle has been parked in an accessible bay and the motorist had forgotten to display the valid Blue Badge required for the vehicle to be permitted to park in that bay the motorist will need to provide a copy of a valid blue badge. They will need to identify whether it is their blue badge, or if not what the circumstances were regarding the parking event and their relationship with the Blue Badge holder.
- Where a vehicle has been parked in a bay that required the motorist to pay a tariff and display a ticket but no pay and display ticket was clearly visible on the dashboard of the vehicle so a parking charge was issued the motorist will need to provide a copy of the valid pay and display ticket for that parking session that they had purchased to validate their stay.
- Where a parking charge has been issued to an emergency services vehicle, the emergency service in question can provide a letter on headed paper confirming the vehicle was parked in the course of its duty while attending an emergency.
- Where a breakdown or recovery vehicle was attending an incident, the company or organisation must provide an activity log to demonstrate the date, time and location, the details of the vehicle that was being attended to and the nature of what the issue was and what the resolution was
- Where the vehicle was used by a Doctor attending an emergency call, the Dr must provide details of their registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and provide details of the emergency they were attending. They do not need to disclose details of the patient as this would be breaching GDPR.
- Where a vehicle has been parked in a bay that required the motorist to display a parking permit but no permit was visible on display so a parking charge was issued the motorist will need to provide evidence of a valid permit at the time of the parking event.
- Where the vehicle would have been permitted to park in the location, but the driver failed to enter the registration number into the terminal. For example a member of a gym who would be permitted to park and has parked in accordance with all the other terms and conditions, but upon entry to the gym they forgot to enter their registration correctly on the terminal the motorist would need to produce confirmation on company headed paper from the organisation that they visited that their vehicle was permitted to be parked at the time of issue
Decisions of the Appeal
Appeal decisions shall be made within 28 days of the appeal being lodged. If a decision cannot be made within 28 days you will be provided with an acknowledgement that the appeal has been received and is being considered and be provided with a timeframe for concluding the appeal.
If an appeal is accepted the parking charge shall be cancelled and you will be informed in writing.
If an appeal is rejected the appellant shall be afforded the opportunity to appeal to the Appeals Service
Escalation or Dissatisfaction with Park365's Decision?
As an accredited member of the International Parking Community (IPC), in the event of an appeal rejection, you have 28 days from the date of rejection to lodge an appeal with the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). Further details regarding the appeal procedure can be accessed at www.theias.org.
Decisions made by the Independent Appeals Service are binding. If an appeal is allowed then the parking charge shall be cancelled, and no further enforcement action shall occur.
What happens if my appeal is upheld?
Firstly, please accept our sincere apologies and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused and we will of course immediately cancel the parking charge and you will be informed in writing immediately of this.
Secondly, we want to learn from our mistakes and take ownership, so once appeal is upheld, we will investigate the issues around the parking charge notice and decide if corrective action is needed, this may include such measures as:
- Staff training
- Staff disciplinary
- Amending processes
- Suspending enforcement on a site
Last of all we don’t want this to be a totally negative experience so your upheld appeal will result in 1 new tree being planted as part of our ongoing drive towards sustainability and net zero targets. Its not much but as a small business we are trying our best and at least out of this negative impact we can produce a positive impact and a new tree will grow for hopefully hundreds of years.