CP Plus Payments – Pay or Appeal?

Have you received a CP Plus parking fine and are unsure what to do next? This is the right place for you. 

Each month, more than 130,000 people visit our website seeking guidance on fines and parking tickets, as over 19,000 parking fines are issued each day in the UK¹. So, you’re not the only one dealing with this issue.

In this easy-to-understand piece, we’ll cover:

•  Who CP Plus is and what they do.
•  Whether you are required to pay CP Plus parking fines.
•  How to appeal a CP Plus parking fine.
•  Ways to avoid getting a CP Plus parking fine.

We know that getting a private parking fine can be very annoying. But don’t worry, we have plenty of helpful advice and examples to guide you through the process. 

Let’s dive into the topic and help you decide: should you pay or appeal your CP Plus parking fine?

The process to appeal a ticket can vary from one company to another, but typically, they all share similar stages. To learn more about the process to appeal a parking ticket, please check out the table below.

Process:	Steps you should take:
When you receive the ticket…	You should gather as much evidence as you can to support your appeal claim and prove that the ticket was unfairly issued.
If you were given the ticket in person/attached to your car…	You must make an informal appeal (sent to the local authority/council that issued the PCN) within 14 days. This should be a letter with the evidence proving why the ticket was incorrectly given.
If it was posted to you…	You will be given 21 days to submit an informal appeal (from the day you received the letter). Your informal appeal should be a letter with the evidence proving why the ticket was incorrectly given.
If the informal appeal is rejected…	You will receive a Notice to Owner and will have 28 days to respond to this with a formal appeal. You can conduct the formal appeal online or via paper form. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal can send you one of these forms.
If the formal appeal is rejected…	You will receive a Notice of Rejection. From here, you are free to challenge the council’s verdict at an independent tribunal.
If the independent tribunal disagrees with your appeal…	You should pay the ticket within 28 days of the tribunal rejecting your appeal. If you don’t, the fine will be increased by 50%. If you don’t have the money to pay the fine, you should contact Citizens Advice or another debt charity.

CP Plus Parking Charge Notice

CP Plus might put a private parking ticket – also known as a Parking Charge Notice – on your vehicle or they could send you it in the post.

This usually happens when you haven’t paid to park or overstayed the time you paid for. 

CP Plus parking enforcement involves sending the parking ticket in the post by asking the DVLA for the registered keeper’s address. They’re supposed to ask the driver to pay, but they can ask the vehicle keeper if they don’t know who was driving. 

Parking Charge Notices are capped at £100, but an operator can reduce this if you pay within 14 days. POPLA is working hard to address issues that cause unfair parking fees. Main issues are often with technology and third party ticket issuers².

» TAKE ACTION NOW: Get legal support from JustAnswer

Do you need to pay CP Plus?

CP Plus or GroupNexus has the right to serve motorists with private parking fines if the motorist hasn’t paid the correct parking fee.

This debate was settled in a cornerstone legal case within the industry. 

By using the car park, the motorist enters into an unwritten contractual agreement, which states they will pay for the service provided.

However, Parking Charge Notices aren’t seen as real fines.

They are judged to be like invoices, so you’re actually receiving an invoice from the car park operator – not a fine! 

CP Plus could take court action to make the invoice enforceable, at which point a judge will order you to pay. We were recently featured in The Sun about parking tickets, where we encouraged everyone to check whether the ticket was issued by a member of a trade association. If they aren’t, then they probably can’t get your details from the DVLA to pursue you.

So in summary, unless the ticket wasn’t issued by a member of the trade association, you will need to pay the fine if you’re guilty of the offence and want to avoid the possibility of court action.

Otherwise, you could always appeal the Parking Charge Notice!

There’s also a chance that CP Plus will outsource the whole collection process to a debt collection agency.

Note that debt collection businesses don’t have any more legal powers than CP Plus.

Don’t confuse them with bailiffs!

Can you ignore Parking Charge Notice?

The risks of ignoring parking fines must be considered. In my experience, ignoring a parking ticket on private land could be an expensive decision.

The effects of unpaid parking tickets could be far-reaching.

In short, in my experience there could be serious consequences if the operator takes you to court. If they win the case against you, a judge will issue an order to pay.

If you still ignore things, a County Court Judgement (CCJ) will be issued against you. When you don’t settle the CCJ within 30 days, it will remain on your credit file for 6 years.

You will have trouble getting finance until the CCJ expires.

How can you appeal the parking fine?

Appealing a Parking Charge Notice is your right but you must do so within 28 days.

Your appeal must be lodged via the GroupNexus website on this page.

You’ll need:

• Your parking ticket number
• Vehicle registration plate (VRN)

Once your fine has been located, you’ll have an opportunity to state why you want the parking fine cancelled.

You might need to support claims with evidence. For example, you could argue that your hospital appointment was delayed, but you will need a letter from the hospital to state this is true. 

Make sure you follow the correct parking fine appeal process.

CP Plus then has up to 35 days to respond to the parking ticket appeal.

During this time, they will either accept your reasoning and cancel the fine. Or reject the appeal and ask you to pay. If rejected, they’ll give you an opportunity to escalate the appeal. 

Grounds to appeal a Parking Charge Notice

We’ve listed grounds to appeal a Parking Charge Notice including:

• The parking ticket arrived in the post over 14 days after the alleged offence
• Your vehicle was correctly parked
• The road markings and parking signs were unclear
• There was no way for you to pay to park
• The operator overcharged you
• Another person was driving when the parking ticket was issued
• A medical emergency prevented you from returning to your car
• Your vehicle broke down

How to escalate a CP Plus PCN appeal

CP Plus is a member of the British Parking Association (BPA), which is one of the respected trade associations within the parking industry.

Because CP Plus is a BPA member, all escalated appeals must be sent to the Parking on Private Land Appeals service, also known as POPLA.  Within 28 days of having your first appeal rejected, you can take your appeal to POPLA for a second and independent opinion.

They will make the final decision on the case, either by telling CP Plus to cancel the parking fine or asking you to pay.

This is where the typical POPLA Parking appeals process ends although you could take the operator to court yourself which could prove expensive.

POPLA is independent of any private parking firm, so you’re assured that their decision isn’t biased. 

How can you contact CP Plus Parking?

We’ve listed CP Plus Parking’s contact details in the table below:

General enquiries:	020 7431 4001
CP Plus Customer Service email:	[email protected]
Pay or appeal a Parking Charge Notice:	https://nexusplatform.co.uk/parking-charge
Website:	https://groupnexus.co.uk/

References

1. Sky News — Parking Tickets Statistics
2. POPLA — Parking on Private Land Appeals Annual Report