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#Post#: 92025--------------------------------------------------
Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Skinnyfinger
Date: September 29, 2025, 10:27 am
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The driver parked at Galleria Car park, Hatfield on 16th March,
which is operated by Horizon Parking. The car park uses ANPR and
pay before return to car. The driver had been there many times
and normally when typing in the first few letters of the
registration, the payment system would match it to a car that
entered the car park that day, automatically complete it, and
generate the correct amount to pay. The driver paid for the
session and left.
On 4th April, they received a PCN claiming they did not pay for
the session, and appealed to the operator with the credit card
statement as evidence. The company replied that they couldn't
find a payment against the car registration and lowered the fine
to £15. The driver appealed again; the company then wrote back:
"After further investigation, I can confirm that payment for
parking was made under vehicle registration XX22 however, your
vehicle registration is XX22 XXX.
As payment for parking was not made under the correct
registration, we were unable to
reconcile the payment that you made with the vehicle you were
using, and a Parking Charge
was therefore issued.
The signs throughout the car park are clear and comply fully
with the BPA’s prescribed rules
and regulations. When parking on private land, it is the
driver’s responsibility to ensure they
adhere to the terms and conditions of the car park concerned.
Given the above, and whilst we have considered your
representations carefully, on this
occasion your appeal has been rejected."
The driver was baffled because it was impossible to pay for the
session without the system identifying the vehicle and
generating an amount to pay. They appealed to POPLA, intending
to attach a video they made on a recent visit, showing how the
payment system worked (and how it would not generate an amount
to pay if the registration was not recognised) as evidence.
However, POPLA website did not accept video upload, so the
driver included a link to Google Photos to access the video.
Horizon reviewed the video and claimed that the video was not
relevant because it was not made during the original visit (but
they were missing the point - the point was it was not possible
to pay!). POPLA worker rejected the appeal because they cannot
access evidence that was not uploaded, and said if the driver
had intended to use the video they should have contacted POPLA
directly, rather than attaching a link to view it.
The driver received a Parking Charge Final Reminder issued on
14th Sept demanding £95 outstanding charge. If full payment is
not received within 14 days (which has passed) this case may be
passed to a debt recovery agent which may result in court
proceedings to recover the outstanding amount and additional
fees may be incurred.
The driver still believes it was system error, but Horizon
insisted that there was no error. What is the best option now?
Any advice is appreciated.
#Post#: 92026--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Dave65
Date: September 29, 2025, 10:34 am
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Can you post a copy of the PPN?
with personal details redacted but leave dates.
Has the driver been identified in any appeal?
#Post#: 92031--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Skinnyfinger
Date: September 29, 2025, 10:46 am
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Yes, the driver is me and I have identified myself. Please see
below for the PCN final reminder
[img]
HTML https://imgur.com/HgMCNgr[/img]
HTML https://imgur.com/HgMCNgr
HTML https://imgur.com/HgMCNgr
#Post#: 92043--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: b789
Date: September 29, 2025, 11:52 am
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A reminder is as useful as a poke in the arm with a sharp stick.
We need to see the original Notice to Keeper (NtK) will ALL
dates and times visible.
It's a pity you did not come here for advice before appealing to
both Horizon and POPLA. However, you are where you are.
You can safely ignore all debt recovery letters. Debt collectors
are powerless to do anything except to try and intimidate the
low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of
ignorance and fear.
Come back when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) and we will
advise on how to beat this and not have to pay a penny to
Horizon.
#Post#: 92096--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Skinnyfinger
Date: September 29, 2025, 3:18 pm
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TBH I thought it was ridiculous and didn't take it seriously,
and definitely should have come here for advice when I received
the initial notice (but I only just found this forum). I'll come
back if/when I receive a LoC. Thank you all for what you do
here.
#Post#: 124579--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Skinnyfinger
Date: July 14, 2026, 3:49 am
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An update on the PCN. I have received a Letter Before Claim for
the Horizon PCN from Gladstone Solicitors. I paste the content
below. I would really appreciate any advice on dealing with this
please.
I still believe there was a system error as there shouldn’t have
been a parking fee if I had entered the wrong number plate given
it was ANPR. I had tried numerous times after the PCN, entering
a wrong number plate it never returned an amount to pay. Very
puzzling.
Thank you!
Content of letter:
We act on behalf of Horizon Parking Limited and are instructed
to commence legal proceedings against you to recover unpaid
parking charge notice(s) as detailed above (full details of them
having been sent to you by our client already). If in the next
30 days the amount due is not paid in full, or a valid legal
reason for non-payment is not provided, we will commence court
proceedings against you without further notice.
The amount due includes £70.00 claimed by our client for the
time/resources spent facilitating the recovery of the unpaid
parking charge notice(s) pursuant to its ATA's Code of Practice
and the Terms and Conditions of the Contract, which was entered
into upon the driver of the vehicle entering the Relevant Land.
The amount is a pre-determined and nominal contribution to our
client's losses as a direct result of your non-payment.
We refer you to the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims
(paragraph 7) (the 'PAP') and the Practice Direction for
Pre-Action Conduct (paragraphs 13-16) contained in the Civil
Procedure Rules ('CPR'); regarding the Court's powers to impose
sanctions for any failure to comply with the Practice Direction
or the Protocol.
If you dispute the amount due you should respond via the reply
form. In accordance with the PAP, which obliges the parties to
act reasonably and proportionately. This can be completed on our
website www.gladstonessolicitors.co.uk or alternatively, you can
request a paper version (see overleaf). Before completing the
online reply form you will be required to create a login, you
will need your reference to do this.
Warning regarding the issue of Court Proceedings
If you fail to pay the amount due or provide reasons as to why
you dispute the debt within 30 days, our client reserves all its
rights, including the right to commence Court proceedings which
will incur further costs and interest (as detailed below), which
will be added to the value of the claim. Following which, a
County Court Judgment ('CCJ') may be entered against you.
If a CCJ is obtained in default, this will show on your credit
record immediately and if payment of the CCJ is not made within
1 calendar month of the date of entry of the Judgment, the CCJ
will not be removed and will be applied to your credit record
for a period of 6 years.
This may affect your ability to obtain credit in the future, or
result in higher rates of interest being applied to any credit
you are able to obtain.
Please Contact Us
Our team is ready to try to work with you to resolve this matter
without the need for Court proceedings so it is important you
contact us upon receipt of this letter.
#Post#: 124581--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: jfollows
Date: July 14, 2026, 4:00 am
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If you’re going to defend this claim, then you need to reply to
the letter from Gladstones with reference to
HTML https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct,<br
/>
--- Quote ---
> the defendant responding within a reasonable time – 14 days in
a straight forward case and no more than 3 months in a very
complex one. The reply should include confirmation as to whether
the claim is accepted and, if it is not accepted, the reasons
why, together with an explanation as to which facts and parts of
the claim are disputed
--- End Quote ---
, or you search the forum for other replies to similar letters.
You do not have to use their “form” or their portal for this,
it’s just a letter in response to a letter.
You then need to think of your defence for the likely county
court claim that will follow. We can advise on the mechanics of
this, but you need to examine the Particulars of Claim that will
be on the N1SDT form and reply to them, with a defence which is
specific to their allegations and your reasons why you deny the
claim.
Do not use the long boilerplate/template defence which goes on
about the process, because increasingly this is being struck out
by the courts as not being specific enough to the claim.
If you want more information, I suggest you search the forum for
similar cases.
#Post#: 124590--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: Skinnyfinger
Date: July 14, 2026, 5:35 am
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Thank you. I can't quite find a similar case where the reason
for disputing the PCN is that a car park with ANPR should not
have generated a payment amount if a wrong vehicle registration
was entered, which is making me a bit pessimistic. In any case
I'm planning to respond to the Letter Before Claim with the
following:
On 16 March 2025, my vehicle entered the car park at The
Galleria Hatfield. I paid £3 by card. Evidence of the payment is
enclosed. Your client has confirmed that it located and mapped
this payment to my vehicle. This is therefore not a case in
which the parking tariff was unpaid or deliberately avoided.
Your client’s position is that only “XX22” was recorded rather
than my complete registration. However, “XX22” was entered as a
search term, not as the registration against which I intended to
purchase parking. I had parked at this car park on numerous
previous occasions and had consistently followed the same
process. I entered “XX22”, after which the ANPR-linked terminal
identified and displayed my vehicle. I selected the vehicle
shown and the system calculated the amount payable by reference
to its recorded entry time. Because this process had worked
successfully on previous visits, I reasonably understood that
entering “XX22” searched the live ANPR records and allowed me to
select my full registration. I did not knowingly purchase
parking against an incomplete registration.
On the date concerned, the terminal generated a tariff and
accepted my payment without warning me that the vehicle had not
been correctly identified or that the transaction was invalid.
There is therefore a genuine factual dispute as to whether the
terminal:
- identified my vehicle but failed to retain or link the full
registration correctly;
- accepted payment without retaining the vehicle selected on
screen; or
- accepted a partial search without adequately warning that the
parking session had not been linked to a complete registration.
The fact that your client has found and mapped the payment
supports my position that the payment related to this vehicle
and parking event.
#Post#: 124626--------------------------------------------------
Re: Horizon Parking PCN - Failure to Pay - Galleria, Hatfield
DIR By: jfollows
Date: July 14, 2026, 8:01 am
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Yes, just bear in mind that the operator will ignore anything
you say in your response, you’re simply responding to document
your disagreement to the courts in due course if necessary. A
court claim will follow, which you will defend, and it’s
unlikely that it will ever actually get to court, but it’s
suggested that you always assume that it might and act
acordingly.
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