Popla Reviews 

Received a £60 PCN from APCOA at Royal Berkshire Hospital multi-storey car park. Drove around for 53 minutes trying to find a space. There were none. Not one. I never parked, never left my car, never used a space. Yet somehow I owe £60 for a service I never received.
POPLA's response? Because I stayed on site longer than 5 minutes, I "accepted the parking contract." Five minutes! Has the assessor ever tried to navigate a packed hospital multi-storey, check every level, and get back out in five minutes? It's physically impossible. The consideration period is a joke when applied to a site like this.
The ANPR cameras only record when you enter and leave. They don't show whether you parked. They don't show whether you left your vehicle. They show nothing except time on site. Yet apparently that's enough to charge me, and it's on ME to prove I didn't park. How is that fair? The operator provides zero evidence of an actual parking event but I'm expected to prove a negative.
And when I raised that the car park was full and had no available spaces — so no service could actually be provided — I was told that car park capacity is the landowner's responsibility, not the operator's. How convenient. They take your money for parking but the fact there's nowhere to park is someone else's problem.
POPLA is funded entirely by the parking industry. Draw your own conclusions.

Quite literally ignored the most relevant point in my appeal - that there were no signs on my route, which was actually demonstrated by the sign map provided by UKPC. Instead the other points were addressed and this was glossed over.

as a private hire driver they sent me a fine , i apealed, it got rejected, me upon providing all the evidances , they only come in favours with these dodgys fake ass private carparks , tough they wont get a penny

I received a £100 parking charge from MET Parking Services after staying 107 minutes in a 90-minute car park while visiting McDonald’s with my family.

The overstay was only 17 minutes and occurred because service inside the restaurant was slow. At no point did I knowingly ignore parking restrictions and the car park was almost completely empty at the time.

The photographs provided by the company show my vehicle in near-total darkness, where it is only really visible because of headlights and the reflective number plate. However, the images they supplied of the parking signs appear to have been taken in much brighter lighting conditions. These images do not reflect the actual darkness at the time my vehicle was there.

I raised this inconsistency during the appeals process and provided detailed comments explaining why the evidence did not represent the real conditions. Despite this, the appeal was still rejected.

What is particularly frustrating is that I presented substantial reasoning and evidence to support my appeal, while the parking company relied largely on generic photographs and claims about signage visibility. In my view, the decision sided with the operator despite the lack of clear evidence that the signage was actually visible in the conditions that night.

Issuing a £100 charge to genuine customers who slightly exceed a time limit without being clearly aware of it feels excessive and unfair, especially when the car park was almost empty and the visit was simply to use the restaurant as intended.

Overall, this experience has been extremely disappointing.

This process is not fit for purpose.
Just another pathetic arm of the disgusting gangster private parking company farce.

In cahoots with the parking companies I'm sure. I felt I had a really strong case. Had the physical ticket I paid for, but the last 3 letters of my reg were missing as the machine wasn't working properly. I was the only car in the car park and paid for a full day depsite only being there an hour.

Parkingeye offered a reduced fine to £20 but I felt strongly that I shouldn't have to pay anything and that I would win. Their evidence against was a generic template full of irrelevant info and with some pictures taken over 6 months prior.

POPLA took 9 weeks to review the case and Gayle Stanton sided with Parkingeye meaning I now have to pay £100. Fool for thinking the little guy would win against the big robbing fat cats. Using an "independent" body in POPLA cost me an extra £80.. no point in them existing.

**in response to POPLA, the evidence was submitted and it took 9 weeks from that point actually. After being unsuccessful, I wrote to the landowner and explained what happened. They felt it was very unfair and have appealed to have the fine revoked. So how can I have a physical ticket as proof and the backing of the landowner. But this independent body has sided with Parkingeye. You dont have any real authority clearly or youre taking handouts from parking companies.

If anyone reading this is considering appealing. I would recommend writing to the landowner first as you'll have a better chance with them than using POPLA.

Common sense counts for nothing with these people. Fined £100 for parking when I had proof the fee had been paid. Appealed to POPLA expecting them to side with me considering I had evidence the parking fee had been paid, but they sided with the parking operator - the issue was due to the driver of my car inputting the registration incorrectly. A simple mistake to make, and you’d think common sense would prevail, but nope!

My main issue is, had the ticket machine been an old paper ticket machine, no fine would’ve been issued. Had it been a modern ANPR machine that dynamically matches the registration you type with cars that have entered the car park, then the error would’ve been noticed at that point and corrected. However, the machines are out dated. They allow a user to put any registration in regardless of whether it’s been tagged entering the car park, then they give you no visual confirmation of the reg that’s been entered. In my opinion, they are preying on the forgetful, people in a rush, people with dyslexia etc as they know there will clearly be honest mistakes, but they’ll fine people anyway.

I imagine POPLA have been put in place to give the illusion of some regulation of private parking operators, because they certainly don’t approach appeals in a fair and reasonable manner like you would expect a proper regulator to do.

Absolutely shocking and unfair experience with POPLA.
I appealed a parking charge even though I was a genuine customer at ASDA. I even submitted my bank statement as proof that I had shopped there, so there was clear evidence that I was not abusing the parking. Despite this, POPLA still ruled in favour of the parking operator.
The whole process felt completely one-sided. It honestly makes you question how “independent” this appeals service really is when genuine evidence from customers seems to be ignored while the operator’s claims are accepted without proper consideration.
If this is supposed to be an independent appeals service, it certainly didn’t feel like one. Based on my experience, I would not recommend relying on POPLA to fairly review a case. Even with clear proof that I was a legitimate customer, the appeal was still rejected.
Very disappointing system that does not appear to properly protect genuine customers.

The best way to deal with parking companies who fraudulently issue tickets is to take them to a small claims court. Pay the reduced fee under protest then sue them for wrongful issue of a parking violation. mine was parking in a parent and child bay with children, they photographed my car and said no children present and shouldn't have been parked there. You’re now expected to photograph your children in the car when you park just to prove you haven’t contravened the rules, who even does this??. This is a big part of why small business and town centres are on their knees. Order from Amazon it’s delivered to your door and you’ll never get a parking ticket again while out shopping. Well done to those rogue companies including popla. You’re a disgusting waste of resources and damaging the economy. Local MP contacted and will press this issue further.

Popla are entirely on the side of the over zealous parking companies. I recently parked at the Bull in Kings Norton but through some confusion only entered a partial registration. Despite having evidence of payment they sided with the parking company saying that it was mt responsibility to enter a full and valid registration. I had clearly paid and had o intention to defraud but POPLA denied the appeal.

Obviously I was scammed by Euro Car Parks of course popla knows that , but still my appeal was unsuccessful and i have to pay even larger fine now, hope you can't sleep at night!

I appealed a parking charge to POPLA in good faith, providing photographs and a clear explanation of why I believed the bay markings were unclear and that I had not caused obstruction.

Despite submitting evidence, my appeal was unsuccessful. I felt that the operator’s version of events was largely accepted, while my explanation and supporting photos were given little weight. The decision focused heavily on the operator’s signage and photographs without fully addressing the context I provided.

As an individual challenging a parking company, the process felt imbalanced. The wording of the decision gave the impression that the operator’s submission carried more authority than a customer’s reasonable concerns.

The experience has left me disappointed in what is meant to be an independent appeals service. I came away feeling unheard and financially strained after trying to resolve the matter responsibly.

1 star is far too high a rating. Like others are stating these people are paid by the parking companies and therefore work for them.

All I wanted was an advocate organisation to help me get through to the parking supplier they did not do this.

I was on a site where the only way to pay was by the app. I was 5 minutes over the time, but thought I should pay anyway, because I am an honest human.

I could not down load the app, the parking provider had no way of paying by phone or cash. I was stuck there for 35 minutes trying to pay for my parking, which was £15.

I went home and emailed the parking company immediately explaining my issue and asking if I could pay the £15 another way. They told me to contact POPLA who did not take my plight into consideration, sent me a link that did not work so I could pay the parking fine, a fine I would not have had if the company had more than one way to pay. I complained they told me to go away. Their defence was others had managed to pay that day, and therefore calling me a liar stating I should have paid. These people are not fit for purpose. I am contacting my local MP today as the parking company are now sending me demands for £170 and are refusing to speak to me. If nothing else I wan to see POPLA overalled and run by a Government advocacy department

After reading the reply from POPLA on my review I feel that I must reply.

I could not pay for the parking as the App would not work. I had no other way to pay. POPLA said other people paid by the App on that so I was lying. They didn’t use the word liar but implied it. The face that I tried numerous times to contact the parking company was not taken into account.
They may be a different company but are in no way impartial they are paid for by the parking companies. POPLA is not fit for purpose. What if someone did not have a smartphone with them? That is discrimination. Something needs to be done about these people.

Blue badge holder still had fine and popla turned it down wadte of time cheaper to pay fine

Useless organisation and assessor

Yes I was unsuccessful, but the fact you didn't even cover any of the KEY points I raised shows the bias nature of your organisation. Not one! Shame on you.
And I can't reply to ask them about it either.

All the points raised were their terms and conditions.
Wouldn't be surprised the assessor Mr Macrae and his chumps are all in bed with the parking agencies.

Just do you job. Pathetic

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Reply
There is no recourse - he didn't cover points I raised just confirmed the T&C's from the company.
This equals dereliction of his duties plain and simple.

Booked online vue cinema for my kids in Ozone Leisure Park / Oxford (there was/ is no warning about car parking on their website) the cinema is in a shopping centre so parking my car in the shopping centre car park around 7pm and mid December it is dark and there is not enough light and half of the car park is flooded. (Go check or look at car park cameras)
No staff advised that l should put my palate number on the machine to get 4 hours free parking When l asked! not clear to see no signs… (please go check don’t make decisions from your office)
I have tickets and the invoices of what we bought there that day and time all is clearly says that we were a customer… but they made me paid £100 penalty for parking my car in the car park. Because we miss the put the plate number. I am sure l am not the first one and not going to be the last ! If we all get together and make official complain. I am sure there will be a lawyer who will hear us…

It's fraud. I provided full evidence but popla waste of time. May be they also part of the business. If you understand.

A very terrible service and I wonder how they are still operational.
Very biased review by the reviewer.

Like all the comments on here POPLA are the most useless and corrupt organisation there is and the is a lot of competition for that!

I am a NHS worker and I was asked to cover at Bideford Community Hospital. And in the past I have been told I can park anywhere on site as long as I write my car registration in the logbook at either of the two reception areas. Which i did.

I parked up and did my shift, and returned to my car and discovered I was issued a PCN. I contested it with Total Parking Solutions and was told I was parked in a pay and display space.

I appealed with POPLA who are clearly NOT independent of any parking company and have absolutely no integrity. I will be asking them how many people actually get the support of this organisation as from the reviews its none. Shame on them and the people who actually chose to work for this shambolic organisation.

⭐☆☆☆☆

Very unfair experience with MET Parking. I parked at a Pizza Hut car park intending to eat there, only to discover the restaurant had permanently closed. I remained for around 11 minutes while deciding where to go next, yet I later received a £100 charge.

The first letter I received was already demanding the full amount, as the “discount period” had supposedly expired. No reasonable grace period was applied and no understanding shown that the business was closed.

Extremely disappointing , stressful experience.