ES Parking Enforcement – Should I Pay or Appeal? 

Have you got a private parking fine from ES Parking Enforcement and are unsure about what to do next? You’re at the right place. Each month, over 130,000 people visit our website seeking advice on fines and parking tickets, which comes as no surprise, as over 19,000 parking fines are issued each day in the UK.¹

This article will give you simple and helpful information on:

•  Who ES Parking Enforcement Ltd are
•  The meaning of an ES Parking Enforcement parking charge notice (PCN)
•  Whether you must pay ES Parking Enforcement fines
•  How to appeal against an ES Parking Enforcement parking fine
•  What could happen if you don’t pay ES Parking Enforcement Ltd

We know that dealing with a parking fine can feel like a big task. But don’t worry; we’ll help you understand your choices and decide the best thing to do.  

Do You Have to Pay?

In many circumstances, you could appeal your ES Parking Enforcement fine.

It’s a bit sneaky, but last time I had a parking fine I paid £5 for a trial to chat with an online solicitor called JustAnswer. 

Not only did I save £50 on solicitor fees, I also won my case and didn’t have to pay my £271 fine.

Click here to get the trial offer with JustAnswer.

Should I pay them?

You should pay ES Parking Enforcement if you want to guarantee that you won’t be taken to court to pay. However, Parking Charge Notices aren’t considered real fines, so you don’t have to pay until a court order tells you to do so. 

Parking Charge Notices are more like an invoice from the car park management company. They are within their rights to send a parking ticket when you don’t pay or break other terms and conditions of using the car park. 

You may hear advice online telling you to ignore private parking tickets. Indeed, some people ignore them and are never taken to court, so they never pay. But this is somewhat risky and you might be taken to court. 

I was recently featured in The Sun about parking tickets, where I 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, instead of just ignoring the ticket, my advice would be to make sure it can be linked to you.

What happens if you don’t pay?

You’re given 28 days to pay or appeal your ES Parking fine. If you do neither, the firm is likely to contact you and ask you to pay and add late fees. There are rules about what fees they can and cannot add. 

You’re also likely to receive a Letter Before Action. This is a letter that tells you they’re considering taking legal action if you don’t pay. It can be a scary letter to receive, but sometimes they’re only sent to scare you into paying. It’s impossible to know whether they are willing to take you to court or not. 

You may also receive the above letter from a debt collection agency. Sometimes a car park management company will outsource the recovery process to these companies. But be aware that these debt collection businesses aren’t bailiffs and should not come to your home. 

If you are taken to court and lose the case, the judge will order you to pay. At this point, you should pay the fine to avoid having to deal with real bailiffs (and their expensive fees!). 

Parking tickets are becoming an increasing issue, as the RAC found that the number of parking tickets being issued is up by nearly 30%! The report also found that misleading and deliberately confusing signage in private car parks is part of the problem.²

Consider appealing your PCN instead

Instead of weighing up the options of paying and ignoring the ticket, you could consider appealing it when relevant. 

You have 28 days to appeal the parking ticket in writing. Your appeal can be sent in a letter or it could be uploaded to the appeal portal on ES Parking Enforcement’s website. 

Your letter should include the reason you think the parking ticket is unfair or incorrect. And you might need to support your claims with evidence. 

For example, you might state that you were late back to your vehicle because you were a witness to an incident and had to speak to the police. You’d then probably need to provide ES Parking Enforcement with the police incident reference number. 

The Process

Typically there’s a standard process that must be followed to appeal a parking ticket. To better understand it and the steps that go along with it, 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.

How do you write a letter to challenge it?

To write a professional PCN appeal letter, the letter should include:

1. Your contact details
2. Your vehicle registration number
3. Your PCN reference number
4. A full explanation of the events of the day
5. Your argument(s) against the ticket
6. Supporting evidence

Make sure your letter is clear and polite. Even if you’re angry or frustrated, try not to make this the overwhelming message of the letter. The letter should be written to make your case only. 

» TAKE ACTION NOW: Get legal support from JustAnswer

What is the best excuse to appeal a ticket?

The best excuses to appeal a parking ticket are that they have made an error and you did pay, or that you only overstayed by less than 10 minutes. Private car park companies must give you a 10-minute grace period to get in your car and exit the car park.

Online reviews

Like many parking management companies, ES Parking Enforcement has bad online reviews. Some of their recent reviews suggest the company has a lack of empathy. See here:

“These guys are ridiculous. I have a bowel disease and needed to use the bathroom urgently so I had to stop on the side of a road and use the bathroom in the restaurant and they gave me a ticket for it. Showed them my disabled badge too but they literally didn’t even care.”

• Salman Patel (Trustpilot review)

“My disabled wife [was] charged £60 for forgetting to put her blue badge on the dashboard of her Motability car! […] money grabbers!”

• Mralanwilliams Senior (Trustpilot review)

References

1. Sky News — Parking Tickets Statistics
2. RAC – Parking Tickets Statistics