Initialparking Reviews 629

I was fined £100 as I entered my vehicle registration but I was driving a different car (genuine mistake)! I provided proof that I’d paid for parking but entered the incorrect registration and they still declined my appeal and made me pay. Will not park in this car park anymore.

Why am i not suprised this company is a 1 star, parked at tyacke road car park, before we could get a ticket there was a long que at 2 machines, one was proving difficult to use and the other an old lady was unused to these machines and wasnt sure how to use them, my daughter stepped in to help after approx 20 mins making us late for an appointment we got our ticket the older lady said she had got a fine the other week for not buying a ticket, but she had but no means of proving she had, my daughter decided to take a picture of ours. A couple of weeks later while i was working away i reveived the same charge and thought thank god i took a picture and sent it via the appeal, the response was i was 22mins over and explained it was due to the problems at the ticket machine which strangly they dont have a camera on i now have to pay £100, it is extremely unfair on the local businesess as i will not be going there again, disgusting company

Has anyone had a parking charge for the car park in Marazion owned by St. Aubin Estates. I paid by cash and I am 99.9% certain that I read a notice by the meter saying that to display the paid ticket was not required. I have since received a fine from this company. I have asked that they contact the owners of the car park to clarify. I have appealed the fine but received a response asking for evidence I paid. The whole point is that I didn't have a ticket as per the sign by the meter.

I believe this to be a fraudulent organisation, they seem to randomise AI generated number plates and then send letters to extort cash.

Paid to park in community centre in Porthmadog as we were loaded up on our way home. We spent an hour in the cafe/restaurant and were back in plenty of time. Only to receive a pcn they refused our appeal as there robbing bastards so had to pay twice. Will never park in that car park ever again Gives the town a bad rep
RIP OFF COMPANY

I recently used an Initial Parking car park in Helston, Cornwall, and paid for the correct duration using my credit card. I returned well within the time limit, only to receive a parking charge notice a week later demanding £60, rising to £100 after 14 days.
I appealed the charge and provided a screenshot of my bank statement clearly showing that payment had been made. However, Initial Parking rejected my appeal, claiming that I had entered my vehicle registration incorrectly into the ticket machine—stating that only the first two letters were recorded.
I strongly dispute this. I always double-check my registration details before confirming payment. It appears far more likely that the ticket machine was at fault and failed to record or print the full registration number correctly.
What’s particularly concerning is that this does not seem to be an isolated incident. There is a Facebook group dedicated to this specific car park, where many users report experiencing the exact same issue. This raises serious questions about the reliability of the equipment and the fairness of the enforcement process.
Despite my evidence, Initial Parking reduced the charge to £20 on the basis of a “keying error,” which I have reluctantly paid to avoid further escalation.
I will not be using this car park—or any operated by Initial Parking—again. Based on my experience, I would urge others to be extremely cautious when using their facilities.

Fined for 1 minute 14 seconds over time.Ripley Castle. Fine £60 if paid early or £100
I tried to find a machine to pay and couldn’t along with downloading the app but struggled as I am not very tech savvy, I just needed to pick something up from the shop so felt I would be inside the 15 minutes for free. I appealed with the company due to the 1 minute over time as clearly I had no intention of staying longer. They are not interested and I got a standard letter back stating I have to pay. Please ignore the free parking and overpay. Yes this feels wrong but this is an awful company not interested in anything other than money. If you struggle with paying in any way just leave and visit somewhere else. Sorry Ripley but in choosing this parking company you will be loosing business.

Used this car park. Input my registration number, paid, displayed and left within the alloted time. Then received a fine. The buttons must've got stuck as it only registered part of my reg number. Complained and fine got reduced to £20. I paid begrudgingly. Surely if a full registration is not entered the machine shouldn't be able to accept money or print ticket. Seems very dodgy and easy money maker to me. Please check keypad is working properly before using.

Outrageous charge of £100 reduced to £60 for "prompt payment" for overstaying by 15 minutes. The community centre who run the car park benefit from the £3 I paid but not a penny from the exorbitant fine. It is also unfair the time time is started from when you enter the car park not from when you buy your ticket, giving you even less time. . The PCN letter "sent" on 18th March didn't arrive until the 28th.Avoid this company at all costs. Probably better parking on a double yellow line! At least the fine would (probably) go to local police services not a private company. And there's no discount for disable badge holders.

Parked in Cornwall, there is no signal so not possible to use the App. Paid on the machine by card, the machine said 'Transaction finished', but I was not provided with a ticket. I wrote a note to state the above and left in the front window of my car, but was still fined. I appealed based on faulty machine, but this was rejected. They referred to POPLA with the unhelpful threat that you have to pay the full amount of £100 if your appeal is rejected. So of course I will pay £60 to avoid this risk. You try everything to pay for your parking, yet they punish you.

What a scam!!!, parked in Abersoch car park, put in registration number, but only part of reg showed on ticket, a week later received parking fine for £60. I appealed but was told that it was my fault that the registration was wrong and I needed to pay the fine. Threatened with debt collectors if I didn’t pay!!!!

I was literally in the car park for a couple of mins as we decided not to stay so didn't buy a ticket, there was no obvious mention of a parking camera!! The £60 fine was a total shock and really unfair. There should be obvious signs to say there are cameras as the carpark is just a field!!!!! Disgusting.

Parade parking in Scarborough. Have to wait for traffic to let you filter onto main road, your still classed as in the car park. Ended up 5 seconds over . Received fine, what a horrible experience.

Absolute shame.
Hard to summarize but here:
30th Jan parked and paid the £2 ticket.
13th march received a letter from debt company to pay £170.
They said I was a sent a letter but I never got one.
At first they said you haven't paid. When I emailed them the proof, they said you have overstayed. They themselves admitted t.i had stayed for 57 minutes so how is that overstaying. The fun part is:
The reference number doesn't show up on the parking company's website supposedly because they have passed it to the debt company. But it doesn't show on the debt company website either. No phone number no way to appeal as you get an automatic reply only.

I have a blue badge as I am disabled and in a wheelchair.i thought I didn't need to pay.but was sent a ,£100 fine.i paid it in full after reading the reviews.

I received parking charge notices for both of my vehicles after visiting Ripley’s Castle Estate, despite having purchased valid tickets and leaving well within the paid time.

The only issue appears to be that I did not enter my full vehicle registration number when purchasing the tickets. However, payment was made in full for both vehicles, and I have retained the original tickets and proof of purchase.

I appealed both notices and provided all the required evidence, yet the appeals were rejected. The charges have now been passed to a debt collection agency, which is extremely concerning given that valid payment was made and they still sold the debt on after 3 weeks!!

I paid my car parking and could evidence my payment. I had a problem entering my registration in the pay machine and the machine suddenly jumped past screen to add registration number and took payment. However, the extortion artists at initial parking still insisted on the £20 fine even though I had paid the parking. How these car parking companies are allowed to get away with such wide spread extortion beggars belief.

Absolute scammers. Send you a parking fine that you cannot pay due to the information on the letter not being recognized. Phone numerous times within the 14 days, emailed and tried using the QR code which would not work. I am still trying to get in contact with someone. This surely is illegal and why have they not been investigated!

Bolton town centre car park. Car park was in total darkness. Didn't see any signage due to the darkness.Could not work out how the machines worked or even if they where working. Had to use torchlight from cell phone to see buttons on machine. A number of people gave up trying to get the machines to work like me. Now I guess they too have a parking ticket. Easy money for Very little effort. Very misleading company. Needless to say avoid initial parking in future

We were issued a PCN for supposedly parking in the Electric Mountain Car Park in Llanberis. We weren't parked, we just drove into the car park, realised it wasn't the one we wanted and drove out again, into the car park opposite. According to their cameras it took us 35 minutes to do this. We got home from holiday and then received a PCN, all in Welsh!!!
We appealed to Initial Parking. Within 24 hours they had rejected the appeal and didn't address our question about it being in Welsh. We then appealed to POPLA, the independent adjudicator, and we WON. This was their response:
The burden of proof lies with the operator to prove that this PCN was issued correctly. POPLA's remit is to assess whether a PCN has been issued correctly, in accordance with the terms and conditions of parking displayed on the signage at a site. In this case the operator submitted a copy of a PCN which is only displayed in the Welsh Language. I cannot from this determine the reason for issue. It is within the operator’s gift to provide POPLA and the motorist with a copy of a PCN in English to fully entitle both parties to understand why the contravention occurred. Due to this, I am unable to assess the validity of the charge and therefore I cannot consider it was issued incorrectly and allow this appeal.

So if you get a PCN in Welsh appeal it. It will only cost you a bit of your time, not £100 which they are trying to scam from you.