How to Appeal a Horizon Parking Parking Charge to POPLA

POPLA stands for Parking on Private Land Appeals. It is free for motorists and funded by the British Parking Association, but its assessors are expected to decide appeals independently by considering the relevant law, the private parking code and the evidence supplied by both parties.

POPLA only considers eligible Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notices from British Parking Association operators. International Parking Community operators normally use the Independent Appeals Service. Council and Transport for London Penalty Charge Notices follow statutory representations and tribunal procedures instead.

The first appeal must be sent to the parking operator. If Horizon Parking rejects it, the rejection should include a ten-digit verification code. That code normally gives the motorist 28 days from the rejection date to register the POPLA Appeal. Each code can be used for one Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice only.

The decision is binding on the parking operator but not on the motorist. If POPLA allows the appeal, Horizon Parking must cancel the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice. If POPLA refuses it, Horizon Parking may continue to seek payment, but the decision is not a County Court judgment.

The POPLA 2025 Annual Report describes a record year. POPLA completed 107,202 appeals and received 104,349 new appeals during 2025. Of the completed cases, parking operators did not contest 39,522. Assessors decided 67,680 appeals, allowing 14,578 and refusing 53,102.

Those figures require careful reading. POPLA reported 54,100 cancellations in total, equivalent to 50.5% of completed appeals. Most cancellations did not result from an assessor deciding that the motorist's grounds succeeded. They arose because 39,522 cases were not contested by the parking operator. Among cases that reached an assessor decision, 14,578 of 67,680 were allowed, approximately 21.5%.

This makes Horizon Parking evidence stage important. A properly documented appeal can require Horizon Parking either to defend the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice with its evidence or to withdraw it. A motorist should not assume that an operator's first rejection predicts the POPLA outcome.

POPLA also referred 343 cases involving mitigating circumstances back to parking operators for reconsideration, and operators cancelled 201 of those charges. POPLA cannot normally allow an appeal on mitigation alone, but the report shows that clear evidence of serious circumstances can still produce a separate cancellation decision by Horizon Parking.

When the report was published on 30 April 2026, Ed Dodman, Interim CEO of Trust Alliance Group, called 2025 a "record year for POPLA, with more motorists than ever turning to us". Alison Tooze, the British Parking Association's Chief Policy and Engagement Officer, said that 0.64% of parking charges issued progressed to POPLA. The two statements describe different parts of the same market: POPLA handles a small proportion of all issued charges, but that small proportion still produced more than 100,000 appeals in one year.

The growth in POPLA appeals sits within a much larger increase in private parking enforcement. On 9 July 2025, the RAC reported that private parking companies made 14,371,841 requests to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for registered keeper details in the year ending March 2025. That was 13% above the previous year and more than double the 6,808,344 requests recorded in 2018/19.

RAC Head of Policy Simon Williams said motorists still lacked "a single, truly independent appeals service" covering the whole private parking sector. That distinction matters because POPLA only covers British Parking Association operators; motorists dealing with an International Parking Community operator use a different independent appeal body.

Government consultation material also traces the long-term growth: keeper-data requests rose from 1.9 million in 2012 to 12.8 million in 2024. It attributes much of the increase to the expansion of Automatic Number Plate Recognition enforcement. More Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notices inevitably create more first appeals, more rejection letters and more demand for independent decisions.

On 16 July 2026, the Competition and Markets Authority announced action concerning appeal handling and additional recovery charges across private parking. It also opened an investigation into Euro Car Parks, while stating that no conclusion had been reached about whether the company had broken consumer law. POPLA responded on the same date by welcoming the review and restating its role as an independent appeal service.

On 21 July 2026, POPLA published specific guidance on registration keying errors. It said minor character errors should result in cancellation, while larger errors may justify a reduced administration charge where payment can be proved. On 6 August 2026, POPLA published updated guidance distinguishing consideration periods, grace periods and appeal deadlines. The central lesson is that a timing or payment argument must match the actual car park terms, evidence and code rule rather than rely on a general statement about grace periods.

These updates make POPLA Appeals more evidence-led, not less. Payment records, signs, timestamps, registration entries and Horizon Parking's own documents must be tested against the exact allegation in the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice.

POPLA's own starting guidance says: "Be honest and use your own words." That advice must be applied carefully where the appellant is the registered keeper and the driver has not been identified. Writing "I parked", "I entered the car park" or "I paid" may identify the appellant as the driver. This can defeat an otherwise valid Schedule 4 keeper-liability argument because Horizon Parking may pursue an admitted driver directly instead of relying on the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to transfer liability from an unidentified driver to the keeper.

An appeal should remain truthful, but it should distinguish precisely between the driver, the registered keeper and the appellant. Where the driver has not been identified, describe the driver's actions without making an accidental admission. Never state that the keeper was not the driver unless that is true, and do not repeat personal details that have already identified the driver to Horizon Parking.

"Use your own words" also does not mean writing an emotional or unstructured appeal. The factual account should be original, while the appeal itself should be professionally organised around the applicable legal, contractual and code-based grounds. Emotion and mitigation do not replace an appeal ground. If illness, disability, a breakdown or another serious event affected the parking incident, explain it clearly and provide evidence alongside any separate defect in the notice, signs, payment system, parking period, keeper liability or operator procedure.

Before submitting:

1. Establish whether the appellant is appealing as the driver, registered keeper or another authorised person before writing the factual account.
2. Check that Horizon Parking is in the British Parking Association Approved Operator Scheme.
3. Find the ten-digit verification code and calculate the 28-day deadline from the rejection date.
4. Keep the original Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice, first appeal and complete rejection letter.
5. State every appeal ground at the start because POPLA will not accept new grounds later.
6. Label each photograph, receipt, payment record and document so the assessor can connect it to the relevant ground.
7. Answer Horizon Parking's rejection rather than repeating the first appeal without addressing its reasons.
8. Separate emotional context or mitigation from the legal, contractual and code grounds relied upon.
9. Keep copies of the final appeal, uploads and submission confirmation.

A long appeal is not automatically a strong appeal. The strongest submission identifies a precise failure, explains why it affects the charge and points the assessor to the evidence that proves it.

The quickest submission method is the POPLA online appeal form. A postal appeal can be sent to POPLA, PO Box 1270, Warrington, WA4 9RL using POPLA's postal form. Keep copies because original documents are not returned.

The appeal requires the ten-digit verification code, Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice number, vehicle registration, appellant details, complete grounds and supporting evidence. Another person can handle the appeal with the motorist's authority, although POPLA may request written confirmation that the representative is authorised to act.

Relevant evidence depends on the dispute. It may include payment records, photographs of signs and bay markings, the first appeal, the rejection, ANPR timestamps, permit or visitor records, a site plan, landowner correspondence, breakdown evidence, medical evidence or documents showing that a reasonable adjustment was required.

Grounds commonly considered by POPLA include inadequate signs, payment or registration errors, an incorrect parking period, failure to satisfy Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 when keeper liability is claimed, insufficient evidence of landholder authority, duplicate charges and failures to apply the relevant code.

The Supreme Court's decision in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis did not make every Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice enforceable. It concerned a prominently displayed £85 charge at a particular retail car park. A POPLA Appeal must still examine the actual signs, contract, parking event, evidence, code requirements and any statutory keeper-liability conditions in the individual case.

After POPLA accepts the appeal, it sends the case to the parking operator. Horizon Parking has 21 days to submit an evidence pack or confirm that it does not wish to contest the appeal. If Horizon Parking withdraws, the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice is cancelled without an assessor deciding the grounds.

An evidence pack may contain the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice, photographs, ANPR records, payment searches, copies of signs, a site map, notice history and documents intended to establish Horizon Parking's authority. It should also answer the grounds raised in the appeal.

Check that every item belongs to the correct vehicle, parking event, location and date. Compare Horizon Parking's photographs with the terms it relies on. Check whether payment searches used the registration actually entered, whether timestamps show parking or only entry and exit, and whether the evidence answers each disputed point.

The 39,522 uncontested cases in the 2025 Annual Report show why the appeal should be complete before this stage. Horizon Parking must decide whether to defend its charge when faced with the full grounds and evidence, not merely the short explanation it rejected at the first stage.

When Horizon Parking uploads its evidence, POPLA gives the motorist seven days to comment. This is a response stage, not a second opportunity to rewrite the appeal or add new grounds.

Comments should identify specific problems in Horizon Parking's evidence. For example:

• a photograph or sign does not relate to the date or location in dispute;
• Horizon Parking has not answered a ground already raised;
• a payment search used the wrong registration or omitted the relevant machine record;
• ANPR images show entry and exit but do not prove the alleged parking period;
• the site plan does not establish that the terms were visible from the route used;
• the notice history conflicts with the documents already supplied; or
• the evidence described in Horizon Parking's statement is missing from the pack.

Each comment should refer back to the original ground and identify the page, image or document being challenged. General disagreement adds little. A short, exact response is more useful than repeating the entire appeal.

A POPLA assessor considers the appeal, operator response, evidence and comments. POPLA says the full process typically takes six to eight weeks, although an individual case can take longer.

There are two assessor outcomes. If the appeal is allowed, the parking operator must cancel the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice and no payment is due. If it is refused, Horizon Parking may continue to seek payment and normally expects it within 28 days of the decision.

POPLA is a one-stage merits appeal. It will not reconsider the decision simply because the motorist disagrees or later finds evidence that should have been submitted at the beginning. A complaint can address service or handling issues, but it is not a second appeal against the assessor's conclusion.

Horizon Parking pays for POPLA rather than the motorist. Government impact assessment material records a £27.50 charge for an appeal that proceeds to a decision and no POPLA charge where Horizon Parking concedes before assessment. That funding arrangement does not change the fact that using POPLA is free for the motorist.

An allowed appeal ends the Horizon Parking Parking Charge Notice. Keep the decision with the original notice, submission confirmation and evidence in case Horizon Parking or a debt recovery company contacts you later.

A refused appeal does not create a County Court judgment. It means POPLA was not persuaded to cancel the charge on the case presented. The parking operator may request payment and can later send debt recovery correspondence or a Letter Before Claim before starting a County Court Claim.

Read the assessor's reasons carefully. They identify which facts and evidence were accepted, which ground failed and what Horizon Parking proved. If later correspondence contains a different amount, allegation or document history, compare it with the complete POPLA case record before responding.