No Adequate Notice of Charge — No Contract Formed

A private parking charge depends entirely on a contract being formed between the motorist and the landowner/operator. For a contract to be formed, there must be an offer (clearly stated terms including the charge), acceptance (entering the car park with knowledge of the terms), and consideration. If the signage does not adequately communicate the existence or amount of a parking charge before entry, no offer was made and no contract was formed. A motorist cannot be bound by terms they had no reasonable opportunity to read before 'accepting' them.

Legal basis

Offer and acceptance in contract law; Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163 (CA); BPA/IPC Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice v1.1, section 3.1 signage requirements (in force from 1 October 2024; signage at existing sites has until 31 December 2026 to reach full compliance)

How to identify this in your case

Signs were absent, obscured, or so small/positioned so poorly that they could not reasonably be read before entering the car park. The charge amount specifically may not have been visible. ANPR entry is noted before any signs would have been visible. Night-time parking where signs were unlit.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

I am writing to dispute parking charge [reference] on the grounds that no contract was formed. For a private parking contract to be enforceable, the motorist must have been given adequate notice of the terms — including the charge — before they entered the car park and 'accepted' those terms. At [car park name] on [date], the signage was [describe deficiency: absent at entry point / obscured by foliage / not visible before ANPR recorded my entry / unlit at night / too small to read from a vehicle]. Under the principle in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking [1971] 2 QB 163, particularly onerous terms (such as a £[amount] charge) must be brought specifically to a party's attention. This was not done. As no adequate offer of terms was made before my entry, no contract was formed, and this charge has no legal basis. I reject it entirely.

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No Adequate Notice of Charge — No Contract Formed

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps