Parking Eye fines in 2023 are charges issued for contraventions in car parks managed by Parking Eye, which could range from not paying for parking, overstaying your allocated time, or not parking correctly. Keep reading, we've got all the details you need to know.
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Have you received a Parking Eye fine and are unsure about what to do next? Don’t worry; you’ve come to the right place.
Every month, over 130,000 people who are dealing with fines and parking tickets visit our website. So, rest assured, you’re not the only one in this situation.
In this article, we’ll cover information about:
Who Parking Eye are.
What Parking Eye fines are.
Whether or not you have to pay these fines.
How you can appeal a fine from Parking Eye.
Tips to avoid getting fined by Parking Eye again.
We know how annoying getting a parking fine can be. But don’t worry; we have helpful advice and real-life examples to help you navigate through this.
Most Ticket Appeals Succeed
In some circumstances, you might have a legitimate reason not to pay your Parking Eye fine.
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Not only did I save £50 on solicitor fees, I also won my case and didn’t have to pay my £271 fine.
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Who are Parking Eye?
Parking Eye, also known as ParkingEye or Parkingeye, is a car park management company that provides free services to private landowners and businesses.
Their services include deterring unauthorised parking on sites.
Parking Eye provides car park signage and a wide range of car park technologies to ensure the smooth and legal operation of private car parks.
The sites are often connected to large retail chains.
Parking Eye makes its money by sending parking fines to the people who use the car parks they manage.
Are Parking Eye legit?
Yes, Parking Eye is a legitimate car park management company that must follow private parking laws in the UK.
Parkingeye Limited is registered as a company in England (reg number 05134454). The business’s head office is based in Chorley, Lancashire. But all letters must be directed to their Blythe address.
There are lots of car park management companies working for private businesses and landowners across the UK. It just so happens that Parking Eye is one of the biggest and most known.
But motorists don’t typically have nice things to say about the operator and there are many negative Parking Eye customer reviews online.
Who is Parking Eye owned by?
Parking Eye is owned by Macquarie, which has a stake in other UK businesses, including Southern Water and KCOM.
What are Parking Eye fines?
Parking Eye fines are issued to motorists deemed to have broken the Terms and Conditions of using a car park operated by Parking Eye.
That said, the operator must follow car park management best practices.
The formal name for these private parking fines is Parking Charge Notices.
Is a Parking Eye PCN the same as a Penalty Charge Notice?
No. A Parking Eye PCN is an invoice that falls under contractual law.
A Penalty Charge Notice is an official fine for a parking contravention committed on public land.
Understanding Parking Charge Notices are different to Penalty Charge Notices is essential and you should not deal with them in the same way.
You’re likely to receive a Parking Eye ticket if you’re the registered keeper of a vehicle that was involved in a parking contravention in a Parking Eye car park.
Private car parking companies issue a ticket to the offending driver, but if they don’t have their details they send the parking ticket to the registered keeper.
Accredited car park management companies retrieve their details from the DVLA.
The most common reasons for receiving a Parking Eye parking fine are:
You didn’t pay to park
You overstayed your paid-for parking
You didn’t park correctly in the car park
However, there are many confused people as to why they received a Parking Eye fine, such as these forum posters indicate:
“I received a parkingeye PCN for £100 in November 2020 for entering their car park then leaving 6 minutes later without buying a ticket – I decided not to park as it felt unsafe.”
Hayes73 (Money Saving Expert Forum)
“My car entered a ParkingEye car park on 30/07/21 and left after 2hrs 33 mins. We paid £4.50 for 3hrs Parking. This weekend I received a Parking Charge Notice from ParkingEye saying I need to pay £100.”
JoseGaffer (Money Saving Expert Forum)
How much is a Parking Eye fine?
Parking Charge Notices from companies like Parking Eye are capped at £100 with a discount of up to 40% if paid within 14 days.
So your fine could be as much as £100 but when settled early you could pay £60.
New laws are being re-discussed to reduce the maximum parking fine amount to £50 (as of June 2023).
How do private car park operators get your details?
Yes, there is a process you can use to appeal Parking Eye fines.
Your appeal must be submitted by the deadline given, which is usually within 28 days.
If you miss this deadline you will have lost your right to make an appeal unless there are genuine mitigating circumstances that stooped you from appealing earlier.
You should never pay the Parking Charge Notice before or during an appeal.
Once paid, the matter is considered closed and you won’t get the money back.
How to appeal ParkingEye tickets
You have the right to make a Parking Charge Notice dispute when you believe the ticket is unfair.
Parking Eye only accepts appeals in writing and they don’t allow you to submit the appeal via their website like many car park management companies now allow.
So, you’ll need to send your appeal to them in the post, and you should keep a copy and proof of posting.
The address to send your parking fine appeal is:
Parkingeye Limited
PO Box 117
Blythe
NE24 9EJ
Your Parking Eye appeal must include one or more reasons you want the parking ticket cancelled.
To vastly improve your chances of success, you should support any arguments you make with relevant and convincing evidence.
Tips on collecting evidence to support an appeal
I suggest you gather as much evidence as possible to support a Parking Eye appeal.
This includes:
Photos of unclear signs and faded bay markings
Keep all correspondence from Parking Eye and copies of details you sent to the operator
Proof of any mitigating circumstances
Witness statements if anyone can support your appeal
The more evidence you provide, the better the chances of filing a successful appeal. But with Parking Eye, it’s never guaranteed.
If you want to save time and write an effective appeal, you can download MoneyNerd’s free parking ticket appeal letter template. This free resource gives you a fantastic starting point to launch your appeal.
How successful are ParkingEye appeals?
There is no public data on the success rate of appealing Parking Eye fines.
Therefore, the appeal success rate for individual car park management companies is not available.
But there is public data regarding the success rate of escalated private parking ticket appeals. I return to this shortly!
Parking Eye grace period
Parking Eye and other accredited private car park operators are supposed to give you a grace period of ten minutes to return to your vehicle and exit the car park before issuing a fine.
If you were only just out of time on your parking but were served a Parking Charge Notice, you could contest it for this reason.
You shouldn’t need any more excuses other than this to get the fine cancelled.
What if your parking ticket appeal gets rejected?
If Parking Eye rejects your parking ticket appeal, you have the option of accepting the decision and paying.
Can I ignore a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye?
What will happen if you ignore a Parking Charge Notice from Parking Eye isn’t exactly certain.
If you decide to ignore it, you could be subject:
To more emails and calls asking you to pay from the parking company
To stressful legal threats
To communications from a debt collection agency working on behalf of Parking Eye. They’re known to use a collection agency called Debt Recovery Plus, but they’re not bailiffs!
To court action to make you pay
Dealing with Debt Recovery Plus can be stressful and best avoided.
Does ParkingEye take you to court?
Parking Eye has been known to take people who try to avoid paying to court.
Here is just one example:
“Around a year ago, a few people I knew got parking tickets from Parking Eye and ignored them, and never heard back. But a few months ago, a family member received one, ignored it like others have and then got sent a Northamptonshire Court Summons letter from Parking Eye. The ticket was from over-staying in a car park in Cambridge.”
7ewis (Money Saving Expert Forum)
This is why it’s a huge risk to ignore Parking Eye fines.
It’s much better to put up a fight with a PCN appeal if you think Parking Eye is in the wrong.
I’ve received Parking Eye Court Summons, what should I do?
If you receive a court summons from Parking Eye you should try to resolve the fine with Parking Eye before it becomes a legal matter.
This can help you avoid court fees.
If you fail to defend yourself, the court can issue a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you to make you pay.
The effects of County Court Judgements on credit history are far-reaching and you’d have trouble getting a loan, credit card or a mortgage for up to six years.
Can ParkingEye send bailiffs?
Parking Eye can only send bailiffs to recover the money if a court has already issued a court order making you pay.
It means, the court has then granted a warrant for bailiffs to be used, which you should be notified about.
No bailiffs can be used before satisfying these steps in the process.
Sometimes debt collection agencies will be used to chase you, but they’re not bailiffs and don’t have any extra legal powers.
How long do Parking Eye tickets take to come through?
I’ve detailed the parking fine notification process here.
Parking Eye must send the Parking Charge Notice to you within 14 days.
If they don’t you could use this as a reason to contest the private parking ticket in some circumstances if the DVLA were slow to respond to a request.
Hire a Parking Solicitor for less than a coffee.
If you’re thinking about appealing your Parking Eye ticket then getting some professional advice is a good idea.
Getting the support of a Solicitor can make your appeal much more likely to win.
For a £5 trial, Solicitors from JustAnswer can look at your case and help you create an airtight appeal.
