I've just received a parking ticket...

I once registered my car in a hotel car park when I went for a meal with a friend. We overstayed as we were deep in conversation and lost track of the time as the restaurant wasn't busy so we were not needing to vacate our table. I spoke to the guy behind the bar when I realised and he said to sign in again, but he also said if I received a letter about a fine to contact them and he'd sort it. If you have a receipt for your visit / credit card statement with the payment for lunch or somesuch you can prove why you were there and hopefully they will show leniency.
I recently met some friends in a pub and they told me to sign my car in. I wouldn't have noticed the machine if they hadn't said so it's easy to do.

Do you still have the receipt from your lunch? We had similar but we paid cash so didn’t have bank details and we had thrown away the receipt. The hotel manager said if we had proof we ate there they would cancel it. Luckily the person we had lunch with told her he used his shareholder discount so had proof of that and the ticket was cancelled. We wondered if him being a shareholder helped.

There will have been signs. But you can always ask!

I think most places charge for parking now so I would check again to see if there are any signs in the carpark. If there aren't any then next port of call has to be hotel manager. If no luck there then looks like you have to pay the fine. Sorry.

A couple of years ago my friend and I went (in separate transport as we live in different directions) to what at the time was a Beefeater restaurant we went to fairly regularly. A few days later I had a parking fine through the post - complained vigorously that there was no signs and nothing in the restaurant to say we had to register our number plates, and enclosing a copy of the receipt to show we had eaten in there. Notified my friend as well (he had one a day or so after I did), but I also went back to the car park/restaurant (parking somewhere else) - found there were signs but they were really high so we hadn't noticed them, and went into the restaurant where by then there was the registration computer but complained to them as well who said that they would get them cancelled. Even one of the waitresses had got caught out as the charging had started while she was on holiday and didn't know anything about it. We did actually get them cancelled by the Car Parking company.

Contact the hotel , hopefully you’ve got receipts that you were there having lunch . The hotel manager can contact the parking company and cancel the pcn .
Our village pub has a carpark, where you have to register your car reg no if you’re eating or drinking in the pub . There are lots of signs both in the car park and in the pub where there’s a screen . Some people forget but the manager is very good at cancelling tickets .
If the manager can’t help look up Martin Lewis website . There is lots there about parking companies. Plus templates to send to them .

This happened to me. I didn't spot the signs saying i needed to register my car. I emailed the hotel manager stating roughly the time i arrived and left and how much i spent for the three meals id paid for and offered to show the payment on my bank account should they need proof the hotel did cancel the ticket so it's definitely worth contacting them. it was an independent parking company the hotel contracted to take care of their car parking restrictions but the hotel still managed to cancel it for me.

Probably not much help in this situation but I had a parking ticket in council car park, I miss read the line which I was to park to the right of unfortunately I parked to the left.
I practised with my first go at AI the app is chat GPT (the free version).
It was not difficult, I managed it and only slightly techified!
Just a few lines and with in seconds an incredibly good letter was formed and I had the fine quashed immediately.
Off tangent after that my friend entered all the forms for her mother in laws care allowance pages and pages so difficult to understand Chat GPT filled it in in seconds and she was given the allowance

They're not fines. They're parking charges or invoices. Only the Police and councils issue fines.

However if you're a driver and you park on private land i.e on a restaurant, hotel or pub car park without authorisation or registering your vehicle, you can be pretty sure of getting a charge notice these days. It's a very lucrative business.

My husband has had several of these while staying in hotels. They arrive in the post. I do not know if dining in the hotel is different.
Contact the hotel and explain as they can get the ticket cancelled and they have done for him. It is worth a try.

Go to the hotel and see if they have the power to rescind. If not go to POPLA who are an independent organisation who will let you know if your fine is legal and if not will take up the case on your behalf. It is an entirely free service. Car parking companies must be registered and must display adequate notices to comply with the law.

Ps it is not a fine. Only councils can issue fines. It is a charge for parking on privately owned land in breach of the terms and conditions for parking there which must be clearly displayed.

The private hospital in our nearest city had a lot of trouble with people parking there who were not patients, just shoppers or office workers, leaving no spaces for those with appointments. They often parked the entire day.

You now have to check in on computer your reg number when you arrive, so they can see your visit is genuine, but I don’t think they inform you of this, they assume you have read the notice.

I bet many visitors don’t realise this.

I don’t know where you live, but here in south of England it’s the norm to have to enter your car registration as you arrive in a pub or restaurant. It’s the only way some places can ensure their customers have somewhere to park.
Just show your evidence that you ate there and the fine will most likely be wiped. Our local Lidl has the same system.

It’s not just restuarants as nearly all the local surgeries/clinics have the same system.

I was caught at a local hotel and managed to reduce the charge by pleading I was an OAP and their charge of £60 was 2/3rds of my pension.

Lots of good advice here for you Supernana1

Have you been back to see it?

It should be possible to check the details of the meal when booked. Write to the venue and complain online if necessary. At least it may warn others.

I do not like extra laws that are unnecessary but I would like to see a law, stating that information re parking fines etc had to be visible at a sensible height, well lit and in the same place everywhere, so at the entrance to the car park, and if it is the carpark of a hotel or restaurant, another sign by the door you go in. Then it could be seen as fair, making sure that customers or visitors to a hospital could park, and put off those who misuse the system. However I consider that many places now either, do not police their own car parks, and are not interested in warning you about the charges, or are actively either making money themselves from it or the greedy carparking firms are charging well over the odds and it is to their advantage to have poor signs, badly situated and poorly lit. It would be good to start a campaign about this and take pictures of such signs and places and write to the local paper about them. This would warn people of deliberately difficult to see places, and make cafes etc aware of the consequences of making things difficult unnecessarily.

On occasions I have been to speak to the managers in such places, telling them if I think the notice is badly placed etc.Sometimes I get a good result, where signs are moved or made more obvious, but on other occasions I have returned to tell them that I no longer go there due to their parking restrictions, and reminding them that I have previously brought them quite a bit of business , which they will no longer receive and that I shall encourage friends and family to also go elsewhere, if it appears to be sharp practise.

We should all be fair and not misuse their parking spaces, but that goes two ways.

Sorry for taking so long to post again - I've been away over the weekend.

I went to the hotel on Friday - all ready to meet resistance - and the nice man on the desk just took the wind out of my sails by asking to see the letter I received. Without even asking for any information, he took a photocopy and said he'll get it cancelled. I was flabbergasted that I didn't have to argue my case. After all the mental anxiety, I walked out feeling as if a weight had been lifted.

By the way, there are signs all around the car park and a screen on the desk where you enter your car registration. I had been so excited to see my sisters after more than two years, that I didn't notice any of them.

I'm going to ring the hotel today, just to double check that he has cancelled it. The car is my son's, so he's still a bit anxious about it. Fingers crossed it will be confirmed.

So all's well that ends well. Thanks for all your responses.

Its very easy to get caught if youre in a hurry and miss a sign, we have one on a hospital car park, no charge but dont forget to sign in.

Hi Supernana thanks for getting back.

One note of caution though, check that it really has been cancelled because if the car park is a contracted out company they may still charge you for the unpaid fine.

Good you got back and that hotel cancelled your ticket I think most hotels pubs etc have the facility to do this now especially when you use their hospitality etc

Great news Supernana1 👍