Popla Reviews 

POPLA is standing hand in hand with car park owners completely ignoring what car park users have to say .
I've parked at private property, I has to pass their camera to get to the back yard of the place where I worked , I have proofs for it and was ignored. They are waste of time for the people...

Ive used POPLA before and generally found them to be fair and impartial (regardless of whether I have won or lost the appeal)
I've not used them for several years and the standards have clearly fallen off.
In this particular instance, my appeal was based on the fact that I did not see any signs to indicate parking restrictions were in force. It was dark (22:30) raining and I happened to approach the car park from the nearby garage as opposed coming at it from the normal direction. The car park was about 110 miles from my home and in my appeal (I was only allowed 2 weeks - ludicrously short if the parking offence is not local or you happen to be on holiday) stated that I would not be able to get back to the area to take appropriate pictures until after the 2 weeks.
About 4 weeks later I was in the area at an appropriate time of night and took video footage of the route I had taken. This makes it quite clear that the entrance parking signage is far from clear when approached from my direction. Also the signage in the car park itself is on lampposts and is this very hard to see when the lights are on (as they are at 22:30 in the evening). The assessor's understanding of the signage is based on stock photos provided in normal daylight when it is not raining taken from face on so of course they are visible.
The timed photos referred to in the assessor's judgement do not show any legible signage!
And finally the assessor chose not to review the video evidence I had provided before the appeal (but after the two weeks) because it was outside the (unrealistic) time frame as explained in my original appeal.'
This is about as contrary to the standards of natural justice that the UK legal system aspires to as it is possible to get and must cast severe doubts as to the impartiality (and therefore value) of the whole POPLA establishment.

Addendum: I notice POPLA have replied to the effect that 'they are obliged to consider the contractual terms'. My appeal, based on the evidence provided (that POPLA chose to ignore) is that no signage was visible and therefore no contract was in place - something that POPLA continue to ignore.

In my opinion they are bent.

They are financed by the private parking companies, it is no great surprise therefore that they favour them over members of the public.

The parking operator did not answer my appeal properly. To defend them, Popla have invented alternative payment methods that simply did not exist.

I now need to decide whether to defend this in court.

I am very grateful to see other contributors reviews with very poor. experiences. Thank you Trust pilot.
I received a penalty notice from Parkingeye for unwittingly stopping in a deserted controlled area for FIVE whole minutes late evening to deal with a SAFETY critical alert on my cars dashboard.

WRONG. Appeal refused using the same evidence ploy they use on other victims Thus I contacted Popla as this is the company assigned for.complaints and financed by private carpark operatives

Then found the below

No automatic pause: The parking charge will not be paused or frozen while your POPLA appeal is being processed. If you lose, you will still be required to pay. [1, 2]
Loss of the early discount: If you were offered an early payment discount (e.g., paying \(\pounds60\) instead of \(\pounds100\)), this discount is usually voided once you enter the POPLA process, meaning you will owe the full amount if the appeal is unsuccessful.

( UMMM alarm bells) So it is biased in favour of the parking company before you even start. Further on it reads that their main task is to review if payment information is correct and charges paid.

Then I read Trustpilot reviews other sources. More alarm bells re integrity.

The system is clearly is rigged to make a successful appeal virtually impossible, Although a vehicle issue is covered in the Codes of conduct I had no cause to call out a recovery company which is what parkingeye demand as evidence. I was able to deal with the affected tyres myself and probably saved a long wait Whilst there should be clear evidence of this on cctv I fear it would not be released as not in the interests of the aggressive polcies of Parkingeye nor Popla the power to demand it. Popla's slow investigation process also takes away the opportunity to pay the reduced fee within the stated timescale. Thus the so called independent appeal process is flawed in favour of the companies and not the customer.

Based on all the information available I have no faith in them whatsoever to be able to moderate this matter impartially and side with the Parkingeye. Thus the fee returns to £100 or £20 from £12 per minute to perform an ESSENTIAL car safety check. Or more of they initiate a late payment fee.

Absolutely outrageous to any reasonable person. but an appeal by the seemingly powerless Popla is no longer worthwhile.

Paid the £60 fee to save further hassle and stress due to health issues.

Roll on the HM Gov rolling out their long awaited codes of conduct and a completely INDEPENDENT public appeal body to deal with unreasonable and disproportionate charging and penalty strategies. Not holding my breath on that though.

I got a stupid ticket stating that I parked at a location for 24hrs.

But what actually happened was; I drop off my son for work and used the parking location as a safe place to perform a parking maneuver on one day and the next, anpr got me on both days around same time.

Unsuccessful challenge, guess they do work for each other, too bad I did not have evidence. 24hrs parking, that's BS.........

Popla lied about no of cars at car park when I was there
Only one other car present on a cold wet February day
I paid correctly but PIPLA say unable to verify this as so many payments made at the time I was there…LUARS

Absolute criminals don't even bother appealing when the original car park criminal company fines you. I had all the evidence necessary, didn't realise I had to pay £1.50 which by the way I could have claimed back from Sainsbury's if I was aware I had to pay, to now having to pay £100 in a fine because of POPLAs criminal and unlogical assessment. Absolutely disgusting and no wonder you have such poor reviews.

I received a parking ticket at Asda from Parking eye ltd, initially I thought it was a mistake and appealed but it turned out they were right. The appeal was made before the 14 day discount expired and the confirmation email clearly stated that nothing would change until I received a response. The initial amount of £100 remained unchanged and then I made another appeal to Popla who did not help me at all. All I wanted was to benefit from the 14 day discount. In conclusion they are all hand in hand and do not care and if you do not pay the debit companies come to the door. We'll do useless

These lot manage Worcester Royal car park, and by "manage" I mean take advantage of the sick, vulnerable, elderly, cancer ridden etc.

A friend brought her elderly dad who is very ill with cancer to an appointment in WRH. There were no disabled spaces left and he can't walk, so she stopped in a drop off bay, clearly displayed the blue badge in the window and got a wheelchair, took him to his appointment, which was actually quite quick in fact.

She received a fine for parking in the drop off bay because she was 2 minutes over time. Despite appealing it, explaining he CAN'T walk and there were NO disabled bays available, they still expect her to pay a fine. They even asked for evidence of his disability, despite the blue badge being clearly visible in their OWN photo 🤦🏻‍♀️.

You can park there for 20 minutes and she was there 22 minutes!

A bit of common sense and human decency wouldn't go amiss, but that's clearly lacking from this car parking company. They're a bunch of vultures praying on the vulnerable.

Don't waste your time appealing to POPLA they clearly are not concerned that a car parking company has had no financial loss by you inputting your reg incorrectly. They will side with the car park and waste your time, complain to the car park for a minor keying error and they will offer you a reduced £20 fine PAY IT.......
you have been warned....

EDIT based on POPLA response, yes I was parked correctly, yes I paid the correct tariff, no I didn't stay longer than I should have my only crime was to a "minor keying error" of the registration. POPLA didn't respond quickly enough for me to accept the £20 offer so I had to pay the full £60 the fines are disproportionate for a simple mistake and for honest motorists the rules are grossly unfair. I had the ticket and a bank statement proving I bought the ticket. As long as you are all proud of your work each evening that's the main thing.

Like most others who've reviewed this so-called mediation service, I would prefer to give them minus ratings. Since that isn't possible I'll do a mini-review instead. Four months I've been waiting for a decision that I'm pretty sure was inevitable from the start, for going over time at a place where I regularly used to shop. Four months. As others have said, complete jobsworths, but I presume some of the fine money goes to pay for tea and biccies to keep them refreshed while they tap a computer key occasionally and stare out of the window. This fine is for overparking briefly on a car park which is never, to my knowledge, full. I was using the car park to shop at the shop that uses it. Do Popla and Parking Eye never consider the knock-on effect on businesses as a result of their attitude? I have to say that I've been sufficiently irritated by this to avoid shopping there again. That company could have benefitted from the money that goes to fines! Ridiculous. I think that the many people who've clearly had er, "bad experiences" with this company should get a class action together and sue them for waste of time and stress. And please, Popla, don't bother replying. I don't want to read your unctuous nonsense.

Not fit for Purpose - ignored my evidence and even misrepresented the basis for my appeal. Huge lot of explanations of what the parking operator did right but not about my evidence. The parking operator was especially aggressively pursuing shoppers slightly overstaying their stay (in an empty car park) and the general advice to complain direct to the retailers who employ these parking operators is sound and these have been replaced - so that’s a result. Must remember folks POPLA is a trade body, paid for and there for the car park operators - not the public.

My experience with POPLA has been extremely poor. The original assessor and the complaints handler repeatedly misinterpreted POFA, ignored factual inaccuracies from the operator, and dismissed clear evidence regarding signage and statutory requirements.

POPLA treated ANPR timestamps as the “period of parking”, which is not what the law requires. They also insisted that the presumption of delivery is absolute unless I could produce documentary proof of non‑delivery — again, not what the statute says.

The entire process felt like a rubber‑stamp exercise designed to uphold the operator’s position regardless of merit. POPLA’s conduct raises serious questions about its competence, independence, and fitness for purpose.

An observation on POPLA's reply: So you consistently ignore the relevant legislation so we all get a consistently poor experience - nice.

I knew the minute I sent my appeal in I wouldn’t win, of course they get money from parking organisations, exactly why do,you loose less payment ? Where does it go? Has anyone ever won an appeal I don’t think so. Not to mention it took nearly 5 months to sort my appeal. I would tell people now pay the lesser amount don’t bother with POPLA you’ll just end up paying full amount. I don’t think they even look at appeals, they never ask questions to assist you or check out a query.

What a useless system. Private company regulating private companies. 0 concern for the consumer. Unless you already know the laws behind PCNs then save yourself some time and money and just pay upfront. The interest doesn't seem to be in whether or not you should have been fined, rather - can the operator get away with fining you. Unless you're willing to find out in court it seems parking operators can get away with whatever they like thanks to POPLA's so called 'independent service’.
UPDATE: POPLA claim they have no involvement in ‘this’, but as an integral part of the industry, they are complicit in allowing parking companies to extort money from people.

pathetic response from POPLA

Reply from Popla

An hour ago
Hello, we're sorry that you haven't had a positive experience when using our services. Our responses aren't automated, however we do have to advise on the remit that POPLA covers which does require a standard response. We understand motorists frustration when the outcome isn't one they had hoped for however, we have to be consistent in our approach to handling appeals and reviews. Thank you

In not upholding my appeal they have stated in writing that they do not consider fairness. Awful jobsworths.Popla have replied but i was only parked at ALDI 20 minutes and produced a council letter confirming i was taking a vulnerable person shopping in the course of employment which has been given NO weight. I was therefore a customer at ALDI who made the honest error of not entering registration details because i was ensuring a vulnerable person had food. The system is designed to rip off honest members of the public in my honest opinion.

Absolutely furious. Complete waste of time & energy. Provided receipt for shopping at our local Aldi which should have been adequate proof that I did not owe anything. Why they sided with Parking Eye is totally mystifying. Contacted Citizens Advice who have sided with me & drafted letter to Parking Eye on my behalf. Please do not bother to respond as I am not interested in anything you have to say.

Very disappointing experience with POPLA. I appealed a private parking charge where the vehicle was recorded for only 3 minutes and 46 seconds while I was inside the car, checking the parking/payment arrangements at a quiet industrial estate, before moving into the parking area and paying by RingGo.

Despite providing evidence, the appeal was rejected. In my experience the process felt one-sided and not very consumer-friendly. Drivers should be aware that even clear circumstances and payment evidence may not be enough.

This company is an absolute scammer that works very closely with APCOA, and you will lose your appeal. They are a private business and absolutely fraudulent. Don't even bother with them.

All these negative reviews I read don’t seem justified. I used them in my appeal and they found in my favour, assemble your data, present it well and as long as you are correct you will win. These private parking companies are not very good and make loads of mistakes . Gather your facts and use their code of practice against them and you’ll win.