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 [1971] 2 QB 163; Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999; BPA/IPC Code signage requirements

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

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.

Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.

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Sources

Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking [1971] 2 QB 163
Offer and acceptance principles