Payment machine couldn't accept your money
If the card or contactless reader on the machine was broken and you could only pay by cash, or if the machine only took cash but wouldn't accept your coins or couldn't give you change, you were effectively stopped from paying the right amount. If no other way to pay (such as an app) was working either, the council's own equipment failure made it impossible for you to pay — and a ticket issued in those circumstances should be cancelled.
Legal basis
Principle of reasonableness in civil enforcement (Moses v London Borough of Barnet [2006] EWCA Civ 1240); Consumer Rights Act 2015 ss 49-50; Statutory Guidance on civil parking enforcement (England).
How to identify this in your case
Ask yourself: was the card or contactless reader out of order, forcing you to use cash? Or did a cash-only machine reject your coins or fail to give change? And was there no working app or other payment option available at the time? If yes to any of these, take or find a photo of the machine or any error message it showed, and make a note of the exact time this happened.
Sample appeal wording
formal
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
Beat It writes this argument automatically
Scan your PCN — our AI checks if this ground applies to your specific ticket, drafts a properly-cited appeal letter, and submits it to the council on your behalf. Only pay if you win.
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