PCM Parking - Should I Pay or Appeal?

Have you received a private parking fine from PCM Parking and are unsure whether to pay or appeal? You’ve come to the right place. Every month, over 130,000 people visit our website for guidance on fines and parking tickets.

In this piece, we will provide easy-to.understand information on:

PCM Parking and their role in parking management.
Whether you are required to pay PCM Parking fines.
How to appeal a PCM Parking fine.
How much a PCN from PCM Parking could cost.
Useful tips to avoid getting a parking ticket in the future.

The DVLA report that over 11 million parking tickets were issued last year, which is up by 29% year on year!¹. So you’re not alone in this situation.

Don’t worry, though; we’re here to provide clear advice and practical steps to help you navigate this situation.

56% of Ticket Appeals Succeed

In some circumstances, you might have a legitimate reason not to pay your parking fine.

It’s a bit sneaky, but the last time I needed legal advice, I paid £5 for a trial to chat with an online solicitor called JustAnswer.

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

Chat below to get started with JustAnswer

Ask a question, get an answer ASAP!

*According to Martin Lewis, 56% of people who try to appeal their ticket are successful and get the charge overturned, so it’s well worth a try. In partnership with Just Answer.

Do you have to pay Parking Control Management?

Parking Control Management is allowed to serve parking tickets to motorists who breach the Terms and Conditions of car parks they manage, as per their signage.

You should pay if you’re guilty of the alleged parking contravention, but things aren’t so straightforward. Parking Charge Notices are not real fines. They are service fees or could be considered an invoice.Therefore, the money only has to be paid when PCM UK Ltd has a court order telling you to pay.

For this, they would need to take you to court and win the case.

The legal implications of not paying parking fines on private land could be far-reaching.

Make sure you familiarise yourself with the steps to take when you receive a PCM parking ticket and seek advice if needed.

I’ve included a message a motorist posted about a PCM Parking fine they received even though no signs were evident where they parked.

Source: Moneysavingexpert

» TAKE ACTION NOW: Get legal support from JustAnswer

Should you pay or appeal?

Whether you pay or appeal can only be decided based on the circumstances of your case.

If you have a good reason with evidence to back it up, there’s no reason not to appeal. If you’ve decided to pay to avoid all possibility of court action, do so within 14 days to pay the discounted rate.

Appeal Process Steps

Instead of paying or ignoring the fine, you might be able to lodge a Parking Charge Notice appeal.

Janine, our financial expert, advises to formally appeal a parking ticket within 28 days of receipt, providing evidence such as a photo of your car’s registration number if the PCN is incorrect.

You might state that:

Your car broke down and show them the invoice from the mechanic
A medical emergency prevented you from returning to your vehicle on time

Although they might still reject such an appeal. To help you better understand the appeal process, I’ve put together this table. If you want to learn more about the steps involved, don’t forget to read our complete guide.

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.

Successful Appeal Case Study

Situation

Initial Fine	£100
Additional Fees	£171
Total Fine	£271

The Appeal Process

Scott used JustAnswer, online legal service to enhance his appeal. The trial of this cost him just £5.

Total Fine	£271
Cost of legal advice	£5

JustAnswer helped Scott craft the best appeal possible and he was able to win his case.

Scott’s fine was cancelled and he only paid £5 for the legal help.

Get started

In partnership with Just Answer.

What is the best excuse to appeal a parking ticket?

One of the best excuses to appeal a parking ticket is that you overstayed by fewer than ten minutes.

The reason this is one of the best is that the law states that a grace period of ten minutes must be given and it can easily be proved by the company’s camera evidence.

Note, you have ten minutes to leave the car park – not just get to your car.

PCM appeal rejected – what now?

If your appeal is rejected you can escalate the appeal to the Independent Appeals Service. You can appeal for free here because PCM Parking is a member of the IPC.

More information about this service can be found here.

Will PCM Parking take you to court?

PCM Parking might take you to court if you don’t pay the parking ticket within 28 days.But this isn’t certain.

Sometimes they will make legal threats or get a debt collection agency to make these threats for them. But they could be empty threats sent to scare you and make you cough up. There’s no way of knowing for certain.

So if you want to guarantee you won’t be taken to court, you will have to pay. Of course, if they don’t ever take you to court you’ll get away without paying.

This is why you hear advice on online forums telling you to ignore PCNs. In my experience, it’s best to either pay the fine early (if you deserve it) or appeal the ticket.

Join thousands of others who got legal help for a £5 trial

Getting the support of a Solicitor can take a huge weight off your mind.

Get started

Reviews shown are for JustAnswer.

Parking Control Management Ltd reviews

Private parking management companies often have negative online reviews.

And the same can be said about this company. Here are two recent online reviews, suggesting that PCM Parking doesn’t have any decency:

“How this company operate is completely disgraceful. I hold a valid permit and have a resident space where they opportunistically like common criminals noticed my permit had slipped out of view. Despite appealing for a scrap of human decency where I provided clear evidence I had the right to park in my own parking space, they showed they have absolutely none.”

Laura T (Google review)

“Paid £60 for using my own, underground parking space where remote is required to enter. Just because I forgot to display my permit once! Appeal rejected. Should I pay a fine if I would forget to turn the light off in my flat? Dumb company, dump policy.”