Signs Forbid Parking — No Offer, No Contract (Trespass Only)
A private parking charge is only enforceable as a contract: the sign must OFFER parking on terms (e.g. 'you may park if you pay £X / display a permit'). Where the signs instead FORBID the act entirely ('No parking', 'No stopping', 'Do not park on the roadways', 'Ambulance bays — no parking at any time'), no contractual offer is made, so no contract can form and no contractual parking charge arises. At most a trespass occurs — and only the landowner (not the parking company) can normally sue for trespass, and only for actual loss. In PCM (UK) Ltd v Bull and others B4GF26K6 (2016, county court) charges for parking on access roads failed on exactly this basis: the signage was purely prohibitive, so there was no offer capable of acceptance. Separately, the industry Single Code of Practice only permits operators to pursue charges for 'stopping' (as opposed to parking) where they hold explicit consent from their trade association on evidenced security or safety grounds (e.g. airports). Note honestly: county court decisions are persuasive, not binding, and some adjudicators/judges have gone the other way, so this is framed as putting the operator to strict proof.
Legal basis
Basic contract formation (offer and acceptance) — a prohibition is not an offer; PCM (UK) Ltd v Bull & others, claim B4GF26K6 (2016, county court, persuasive); trespass actionable only by the party in possession of the land, damages limited to actual loss; Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice v1.1 (17 Feb 2025), clause 5.3 — operators 'must only pursue parking charges in instances that could be interpreted as stopping if they have explicit consent to do so on evidenced security or safety grounds from their ATA'; contrast ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, which enforced a charge precisely because a contractual licence to park WAS offered on clear signs.
How to identify this in your case
Only run this ground if the customer confirms (or their photos show) that the signs at the location are prohibitive rather than permissive: wording such as 'No parking', 'No stopping', 'No parking at any time', 'Do not obstruct', 'Access road — keep clear', with no wording offering parking in exchange for payment, a permit, or compliance with conditions. Common at residential access roads, roadways between blocks of flats, marked hatched areas, and 'no stopping' red-route-style private roads. If the sign offers parking subject to terms, this ground does NOT apply.
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.
Scan my ticket