Please make your readers aware that the POPLA parking charge appeal system may not solve their problem. We had legitimate cause to appeal a parking charge: the ticket machine swallowed our money but did not provide a ticket. After fruitless correspondence with the car park operator, we appealed to POPLA. We lost.

Part of POPLA's response was: “I sympathise with the appellant's frustration, having lost money in one machine. However, I do not have the discretion to allow appeals based on mitigating circumstances.” What sort of appeal process is it that cannot consider the mitigating circumstances? Both the car park operation (in this case by ParkingEye Ltd.) and the appeal system are loaded against the honest car parker.