Private parking companies cannot fine you.
They make their tickets look like a local authority Regulation 10 Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), but instead call it a Parking Charge Notice.
The parking company, under Regulation 27(1)(e) of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002, can get the name and address of a registered keeper from the DVLA and send a demand.
Paragraph 9(2)(f) of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 only requires the registered keeper to tell the driver and give the notice to them.
Unlike a local authority PCN, there is no statutory power enabling parking companies to force the registered keeper to give the name and address of the driver. The law only gives the parking company a power to invite the registered keeper to give the name and address of the driver. This is found at Regulation 9(2)(e) of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
If the driver does not pay, the registered keeper will receive a volley of letters, often called threatograms, each one more aggressive than the last. They might come to nothing. However, they may initiate court proceedings and you would receive a Defendant’s Response Pack.
The burden of proof lies with the parking company.
Make them prove their claim. If they cannot, the claim fails.
When a parking company starts legal proceedings, they will always be liable for their own solicitor’s fees regardless of the outcome. That is the commercial risk the parking company assumes when initiating legal action.
This makes a defended claim commercially uneconomical for them.
Parking companies rely on undefended claims and obtaining default judgments.
If that happens, you cannot apply to set the judgment aside unless you have a reasonable defence.
The judgment in ParkingEye Limited v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 ruled that a parking fine is neither extravagant nor unconscionable.
This is not a statutory process but a commercial arrangement between the parking company and The Ombudsman Service Ltd, trading as POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals). POPLA acts as an arbiter in parking charge disputes.
Clamping of motor vehicles on private land is a criminal offence under Section 54 of Chapter 2 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.