Initialparking Avis 

Same scam as many others have experienced. When receiving the fine, I first did not recognise the car park and paid. That was an error. Did not get the money back. Now claimed via British Parking Ass. and DVLA and RAC and local newspaper. And wrote an email to the owner to the neighbored beach bar. Do not pay a penny!

Disgusting company I did pay the correct amount but by human error I put the wrong reg in. I appealed and showed my ticket and asked them to check that the reg I put in had not been in. We’re all human for errors but obviously this company does not have a heart, I won’t use Scarborough car park again

I would not even give initial parking a one-star rating if I could give lower; they are a complete con. We parked at central carpark in Haworth, paid for the amount that covered our entry and exit, received a parking fine of £60 to be paid in 14 days or it would increase to £100, told that I could appeal which I did, sent bank proof that I had paid the required amount, received an email the following day stating appeal denied as my registration had not gone through properly, there is no room on the ticket for the full registration which is a major problem on their part so it only read L which is the first letter of our registration, they completely contradicted themselves between the letter and the following email as to why I had to pay, they did "very generously" - said with sarcasm reduce the payment to £20 which we paid as could not be bothered with the hassle of the debt collectors, scamming little thieves, if you visit Haworth - DO NOT PARK IN THE CENTRAL CAR AND COACH PARK.

Another failed appeal because their machine did not take full VRM before advancing to payment. Came and went within time and produced valid ticket for date & time but appeal denied so now have a reduced fine for ‘keying error’ or face £100 if further appeal fails. Complete con. Howarth Central Car Park. Do not use.

Title: Appeal process felt completely dismissive
I am extremely disappointed with my experience with Initial Parking.

I received a £60 parking charge after parking at a beach in Cornwall. My reason for appealing was straightforward: the only payment machine on site was out of order on the day I visited. Given the remote location, I also had no mobile phone reception, so I had no practical alternative way of making payment.
I submitted an appeal explaining the circumstances and provided photographic evidence showing that the payment machine was out of order. Despite this, my appeal was rejected. What was particularly frustrating was that the first appeal was declined within around half an hour of submission. Given the detailed explanation and photographic evidence I had provided, the speed of the rejection left me with the impression that my appeal had not been properly considered.

I appealed again, but this was also rejected, with no satisfactory explanation as to why the circumstances or photographic evidence did not warrant cancellation of the charge.

I find the whole experience extremely disappointing. Mistakes and equipment failures happen, and I would have expected a reasonable parking operator to take into account the fact that I was apparently unable to pay because their own payment facility was not functioning, particularly when I had photographic evidence to support this.

I am also frustrated by the apparent lack of a straightforward telephone contact option. It feels unnecessarily difficult to speak to someone about what should be a relatively simple matter.

Overall, I found the appeal process impersonal and dismissive, and I certainly would not recommend Initial Parking based on my experience. £60 is a significant amount of money to be charged when the circumstances were outside my control and I had provided evidence to support my appeal.

This review relates to Marazion long stay at St Michael's mount. Be VERY careful to record your entry time where the carpark offers 'pay on exit' with no ticket issued. These people will send you nice pictures, time stamped with your entry and exit times along with a PCN. I see no way of contesting these things later as of course all their clocks are calibrated and regularly tested? Use a parking app when entering these places then you have your own record of your entry time.

Looking at the reviews I've been one of the lucky ones to get their pcn canceled. We went to Lands End a couple weeks ago, I paid for a full day parking (only option at £9.50 !) and I don't think that I input the wrong car reg. I received the pcn yesterday, we appealed with photos of the payment from my banking app and the text below, the cancellation came through today.

"I am writing to formally appeal the above Parking Charge Notice, which has been issued on the basis that the vehicle was allegedly parked without payment / without a valid parking session.

I respectfully ask that the PCN be cancelled, as the full parking tariff was paid for the vehicle's stay at Lands End Car Park.

I have attached photographic screenshots showing the corresponding banking transaction, which provides evidence that payment for parking was made on the date in question. The payment was therefore made in good faith and there was no intention whatsoever to avoid the parking charge.

It is possible that, when making the payment, the vehicle registration may inadvertently have been entered incorrectly. If this is the case, this was an entirely genuine input error and not an attempt to circumvent the parking requirements. The attached evidence demonstrates that we did in fact make payment for parking.

In these circumstances, I would be grateful if you would review the payment records for the relevant date and time and cross-reference them with the attached evidence. If the registration entered at the time of payment differs from the vehicle registration by one or more characters, I would ask that this be treated as a minor keying error and that the PCN be cancelled accordingly.

There was no failure or refusal to pay the parking tariff; the tariff was paid in full. Issuing a substantial penalty in circumstances where payment was made, but the registration may have been entered incorrectly, would seem disproportionate.

I therefore respectfully request that the PCN is cancelled following review of the evidence provided. Please confirm in writing that the PCN has been cancelled."

I wonder how many other people got a pcn that day? and I hope they challenge it!

I received a fine for 14 minutes overstay at Praa Sands carpark, Cornwall, on 15th July That was my error: I got back to my car in the car park in time for the parking period paid but felt unwell (too much sun!) so tarried a while before driving off. A few days later (July 24) I went on a family holiday to Asia, returning late yesterday evening (7th August) after a long 30 hour 3-leg journey and 15 days away to find a letter (dated 21st July) from Initial Parking with a parking fine of £60 to pay with 28 days of the date issued. Add 28 days to 21st July - that comes to 17th August. I intended to pay-up £60 fine today to get rid of what I knew would be an utterly frustrating 'battle'. But just as I was about to get on-line and pay £60 this morning (8th August), less than 24 hours after my return to the UK, I received a new notice by post (dated 4th August) requiring me to pay the up-scaled amount of £100 because I had not met the original payment date within the 28 day period!! What?!!! This is sharp shabby, shameless, quite threatening unprofessional practice: acting without regard of its own imposed payment deadlines, acting as judge without knowledge of the facts - and from a company who boasts itself on the web. I am 80 years old and can pay the £100 fine (which I have duly done quite simply just to have done with this very distressing matter), but I imagine to many that is an amount far beyond budget. Unfortunately the Trust Pilot site will not allow a score of no or negative stars for this parking company.

Be aware - the agreement Initial Parking strikes with car park owners allows the owners to keep all the revenue from the parking machines. Initial Parking's only incomes from the PCN invoices they issue. So their incentive is to issue PCNs and hope a good number of them get paid.
My experience is that I allegedly mistyped my registration number. But as there was no way of knowing it had been mistyped there wasn't an option to correct it apart from a digital screen completely washed out from poor lighting. My appeal was rejected by Initial and at the next step through POPLA. So now I'm waiting for the County Court Summons where I will defend myself. Thankfully I still have the ticket issued from the machine and I have a copy of the contract drawn up with the landowner.

Option 1 – Balanced

I paid for my parking session but accidentally selected my old vehicle registration in the app. Even though they could clearly see that payment had been made, my appeal was rejected and I still had to pay the parking charge. Genuine mistakes happen, and I expected a more reasonable and customer-focused approach. Unfortunately, this experience has put me off using this company. I’ll use alternative parking providers in the future, even if they cost more.

I received a parking charge notice for parking at Sharrow Bay car park in Cornwall. I appealed and sent them a photo of the parking ticket I'd paid for but they responded to say I'd stayed for 15 minutes longer than the two hours I'd paid for, based on their photos of my arrival and departure. I'd cut my foot walking back from the beach and foolishly dressed it to avoid bleeding in my car before leaving. I should have moved the car out of the car park and on to the narrow beach road first. I didn't appreciate how unscrupulous this company is. It felt very unreasonable but there is clearly a lot more money to be made from fines than normal parking charges.

Llyn Tegid very poor signage at a site that was free for motorcycles for many years, now in private hands a VERY underhanded way of letting you know that it is now chargeable to use the motorcycle area. It isn't even marked into bays.

Initial's machines at Inverary Castle were not working yet we still got fined, despite appealing. Their ethos, style, manner, execution and implementation were absolutely not in keeping with what one hopes to be the positive experience of visiting the castle and will for sure have a negative impact on visitors and numbers alike !

Parked at bala lake Llyn Tegid main car park used the parking machine paid the time I was at the car park and left at the time before ticket run out the machine didn't ask or print my registration out same as others on here intial parking sent me a £100 fine I appealed to them with ticket but they rejected it the parking machine was on intial parking site they have taken over from the council recently nothing but a scam its disgusting dvla give your details out to this scam company these types of car parks are taken over all over the place as they that much profit they maken of motorists i will never park at intial parking again and avoid other company's with this type of parking systems

what a SCAM. initial charge was for £100 but if paid within 14 days it would be £60.
But after I appealed they brought it down to £20????

This company needs to be looked into by the local council.

Awful experience from start to finish. The payment machine in the car park was malfunctioning — it only allowed me to enter the first letter of my registration, and it jumped straight from one hour to the 24‑hour tariff. I had no choice but to pay £11.50, and I have the receipt to prove it.

Despite this, a few days later I received a £50 parking charge for “non‑payment”. I appealed and clearly explained what had happened, but the reply I received was a generic template that didn’t address any of the points I raised. There was no meaningful review of the evidence and no way to speak to an actual person.

In the end, after several failed attempts to bring sense into the situation, I paid the additional charge simply to make the issue go away. It’s hard not to feel that this is exactly the tactic: ignore the details, reject appeals automatically, and rely on people giving up out of frustration.

This organisation has to be the most despicable I've ever come across, anywhere. My son received one of their parking 'fines' but was unable to pay it as each time the PCN number was rejected. He tried this by phone, using the QR code and online. I even took a video of him attempting to pay it when the automated system reports the PCN cannot be found. Yet, Initial Parking ruthlessly pursued him and escalated the fine to a debt collection agency, leading to my son self-harming. They were informed he was a vulnerable person, but they just want the money and do not give a toss about consequences.

Rip off parking scam company fined me £100 for entering the car park at Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. These criminals are ripping off tourists daily and getting away with it!!!

Beware, I parked and paid correct fee at Lee, North Devon (Village Hall car park) Initial Parking. ANPR cameras record vehicle entering and leaving. Parking charge demand received for £60. However my payment covered the chargeable cut off time of time 18.00 by 42 minutes!! To appeal.

I have just received a "Parking Charge Reminder" for overstaying at Polseath Car Park. The notice says that the discounted period amount has expired - yet this letter is the first I have heard of the charge. Very dishonest to imply they had already been in touch and I had ignored a previous letter. No mention of what the discounted charge might have been.