Initialparking Reviews 

Do not park in their car parks. From what I have heard and experienced they will do anything to slap you with a fine. They say they have disabled spots but they don’t. No respect for seniors or people with disabilities. Their signage is misleading and their payment machines don’t work - all the better for finding a way to send you a huge fine. Their online appeal software doesn’t work.

I parked in St Mary's car park Betws y coed and paid for 1 hour because I had to be in Bodnant restaurant by 3.30. Unfortuately I was late getting back to my car only to get a fine a few days later for £60 and told I should have paid another £1.50 for the 19 minutes extra I had stayed. I did not realise at the time that I was late. The 3 of us in the car that day are 84 year old pensioners and on limited income. One of us had bowel cancer and a stoma and needed to go to the toilet before getting back, she was also tired and had to rest a while on the way back, these factors contributed to us being late.
Initial are a nasty greedy company. I will not be using the church car par again, I should add this is the only time I have used it. Never agin.

Was issued a parking charge by Initial Parking for overstaying while volunteering at my local soup kitchen. Despite appealing and raising complaints, they have shown no consideration for my circumstances and have enforced the £60 fine. Absolutely heartless and completely lacking in compassion.

A disgusting company who don't give a rat ass and even make it difficult to pay the charges company owner should ashamed of them self's and anyone working for them are just thieves disgrace to human kind

Parked at Praa Sands - after a few attempts on a couple of different machines it wouldnt accept payment by phone. Tried again with my credit card and put in the registration number, got to the end and paid and noticed the ticket had only printed with the first 2 letters of my reg. As I had paid and displayed the ticket assumed there would be no problem until I received a Parking Charge Notice. Have appealed but it has been declined due to full reg not showing - sent proof of my payment. They offered to close the matter if I pay £20 - definitely a dodgy company!! Avoid parking at any intial parking sites!!!

Parked at Howarth Central Car Park. Tried entering reg number 3 times. As soon as the first character was entered the machine went to the next step, not allowing for reg to be entered. Paid for my parking. Was sent a letter a week later with a parking charge for £100. Have since appealed but not holding my breath. Scam company.

Disgraceful, got a 100£ fine for parking on my last day on Mousehole Car Park in Cornwall, despite it was a bank holiday (Easter Monday) and there was no reception, the machine also works like crap. I used the car park for 15 minutes.
I hope you spend my reduced £60 in medicines. I won’t bother appeal, take my money miserable worms and scum, you’re nothing less than a brown stain.
You can just visit their website to understand their only purpose is to collect money. Shady scammers, I do hope you fail as a company, definitively disgusting.

We were hugely disappointed to receive a parking charge notice from ‘initialparking’ for parking at Mousehole, Cornwall.

When we arrived, we took a moment to decide how long we wanted to stay and took in the scenery. We had no idea that the clock was already ticking from the monent we had entered the car park, even though we hadn’t even made it to the parking machine.

Then we headed over to the parking machine and realised it could be used in conjunction with ‘Just Park’. Therefore, we loaded up the app, which took a while because the signal was poor, and keyed in how long we wanted to stay. By the time we’d finished doing that we were already 6 minutes in the car park and in to our stay (according to the cameras).

Once we had paid for the parking via the app. We continued with our trip around the harbour side village. When we got back it was raining heavily so it took us a while to load up, get the kids sorted not knowing we were still being monitored by the cameras. We left the car park 12 minutes over our 2 hours but had been with our vehicle for that entire duration. We stated on our appeal that surely there is a grace period particularly for a family of 5 with young children to take a little time unloading and loading..?

In short. They charged us £60 for effectively being 12 minutes over; even though we were actually with our vehicle for the entire fined ‘time’. I’m shocked they even included the 6 mins before we’d even paid too… unbelievable.

Our appeal was rejected within 37 mins! No humility. No care; just want to take money from hard working, tax paying people trying to support the local economy and give their children happy memories.

I will NEVER use an ‘Initialparking’ car park again… and I advise others to follow suit!

They obviously don’t read or care about their public profile either. The reviews on here, on Just Park and Facebook are horrendous! Why don’t they care? They need to care more. So poor.

We overstayed our parking by an hour (paid for 4 hours and stayed for 5) at one of their car parks in Cornwall due to my daughter taking ill along the hike and so were forced to stop for a while. The hike was meant to be 3 hours long.

It was a Sunday, the car park was empty and the local cafe was closed. They did not lose any revenue as a result of us overstaying and now I have to pay £60 for the sake of an hour, equivalent to £2.

Seems like a money making act to me as their machines were cash only - who has cash only machines nowadays in rural Cornwall.

Disgraceful!!!!

Entry time stated on parking fine does not match purchased ticket time - avoid this company at all costs

Would give them minus 5 if this were possible

I have had a different experience, after I have parked in one of their managed carparks in Manchester, paid for the parking twice , I have received a nice letter home saying I didn't. I appealed with proof deom my bank statement and I have it canceled.

Parked in one of their car parks solely to charge my electric vehicle. One of the passengers was a blue badge holder and there was no signs to say blue badge holders were not exempt. Appealed but they haven't even mentioned the blue badge in their reply. Parasites.

Wouldnt give it 1 *- awful service- awful website- appeal a ticket, get no reply then suddenly a debt recovery letter demanding money or else- what a disgrace.
No telephone number to speak to anyone- lets face it no service at all

Charged me £60 for 11 minutes over 3 hours. My appeal rejected. These firms and the fines they can charge, should be more strictly regulated

Parked my car (Helston), bought a ticket, machine didn't request my registration number. Got a letter saying I owed. Sent copy of the ticket I paid for and confirmation from my bank statement. Had my fine reduced to £20 but appeal not granted on grounds that vehicle registration was missing from my ticket. Dreadful. Shan't park there again.

Cowboy company talking utter bullshit saying I haven’t payed for parking when in fact I was informed that a gentleman who collects coins from the machine can wipe any information on the parking meters so they basically wipe your car registration details off

The grace period for paying your ticket to the time you leave is ridiculous. 5 minutes or more of being late either way will result to a PCN. Appeal process is just a sham, regardless of the amount of evidence you provide.

Would give a zero if I could. Would have parked at my usual car park for a dog walk at Praa sands Maggie's field but it was full. Went to car park opposite initial runs it. Paid my usual £1 for an hour. Cash as only a £1 so no proof... I guess it's a legalised scam got ticket nearly 2 weeks later and had cleared out car for ticket proof. How many could prove by cash? Pay by credit card or avoid would be best as it seems appeals don't actually work either. Wonder if the other 2 cars got a ticket as well?

Nothing more than a scam, the machines and apps don't work (deliberate) so you cant pay and then you get a fine

The site shows up on the app but wont let you pay

This is likely a scam and fraud.

I did not enter my reg number but bought a ticket and sent them the evidence.
However, they did not respond to my appeal until I reminded them after around 27 days. They said they responded to my appeal on 28.1.2025 at 8:15, but my appeal was sent on the 27th in the evening. Consequently, I had to pay the unreduced charge.
I did not receive a response on January 28th; I double-checked my email inbox and spam folder and deleted the emails.

This company is a scam and a fraud.