Initialparking Reviews 633

Well I parked my car .Paid and then 9th october get a letter from debt recovery plus saying I owe 170 pound for an unpaid fine for ..unpaid tariff time at Conwy train museum car park on the 25th august...how very considerate to not even inform me I have a parking ticket. Can't get through to IPL and can only get an address.Its past the time I can pay the initial fine so it's now gone to debt recovery plus.They informed me of options.Pay fine or be seen to have refused to pay the fine.Also told me to sue the post office!)...No grevience
procedures...This is unfair and unjust and I will be taking this further . There's no proof of any other ticket being issued to my address.Why would let a 2 pound for 1hour ticket overstay be escalated to 170
Pound!!! Thanks lPL for all your correspondence!!!!I will be taking this further I am not satisfied that I have been treated fairly...I will neveruse your car parks for the rest of my life your customer service is appalling!

We were threatened with £100 parking fine, actually turned out to be £60 still steep almost a days wage for me. We accidentally overstayed by 20 minutes after going on a bike ride and getting lost due to a van being parked infront of the Rd we needed. We were actually back to the car bang on time but had to get the bikes securely onto the bike carrier. I appealed the fine but it was rejected, £60 for 20 minutes. Robbers!!!!

I'm fuming at having to pay this fine. Despite my appeal to confirm I had paid for a ticket, requesting that they review CCTV footage of me paying for the parking as well as asking them to provide evidence to support me violating the parking process, they disregarded my appeal with probably the same 'template' as they had sent previous complainants. (meaning I also had to pay a 40 pound 'admin fee' to the car hire company).
My hunch is that they saw I was driving a hire vehicle and capitalised on this, I had paid cash so have nothing to prove I paid.
Their methods of extracting money from tourists that have paid in good faith is disgusting and based on the reviews, I hope their contract is reviewed by Cornwall council when next up for tender as their conduct is having a negative effect on what should be enjoyable moments and memories.

I am absolutely outraged by the unfair and predatory practices of Initial Parking. I received a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) for allegedly parking at Fistral Beach, Newquay on 19th September 2024. However, I was merely picking someone up and did not park in any designated space. I was in and out of the carpark within 20 minutes, well within any reasonable grace period.

Despite my appeal, which clearly explained the situation, Initial Parking rejected it without any consideration of the facts. Their response was dismissive and failed to address the points I raised. It is evident that they are more interested in extorting money from innocent motorists than in managing parking fairly.

The signage at the site is unclear and misleading, making it impossible for drivers to understand the terms and conditions. Initial Parking’s reliance on camera-controlled systems to issue PCNs without proper evidence is nothing short of a scam.

I urge everyone to be cautious when dealing with Initial Parking. Their practices are unethical, and they show no regard for fairness or customer service. I will be taking this matter to POPLA and will not rest until justice is served.

Shame on you, Initial Parking, for your disgraceful conduct!

These people are no better than a criminal organisation, paid for my parking but put in a wrong digit of my registration plate whilst paying through “just park” they had me on this technicality rewarding me with a £60 fine, someone somewhere is making an awful lot of money out of these scams, one day I will have my revenge!!

This company is a complete scam. At parking lots their machines provide no way to pay using a card or cash. They only take coins. And failure to do so results in a 100 pound fine. Which is a ridiculous amount of money for parking in a lot for 15 mins. Scammers of the worst kind taking advantage of visitors to the UK. Shame on you!

I parked at a Initial video camera controlled car park, seemed like a good idea, pay when you leave, get charged for the time you stayed only.
I stayed for 5.5 hrs. when I went to pay, somehow I paid for 5hrs. I then got a letter and fine for £100 (£60 if paid straight away).
OK, I underpaid! My bad!
How?
How can there be an option to pay less than you owe?
Surely you have to pay the full charge!
I can't argue, I didn't pay what I should have, but I do feel conned.
Please beware!

I intended to park in Fistral beach Newquay car park, but the machine wasn't accepting cards. So i had to go ask my friend for cash who was already parked down the hill. Obviously being disabled, this took me longer than the 'grace' period. My friend had no more cash, so i returned to my vehicle and left the carpark. It was 19 minutes in total. I provided initial parking with proof of my blue badge and and explanation of my mobility issues, yet they STILL would not accept my appeal. Disgusting prejudice and blatantly against the Equality Act 2010, (service providers are legally required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled individuals.) I am upset and very saddened by this experience.

The company demanded £100for a parking charge notice. I had paid and sent them a photo of my ticket.They then said I had incorrectly entered a digit on my registration .Possible I guess but I had still paid and had evidence of my payment.Unfortunately although time stamped my entered registration is not on the parking ticket , if it had been and was incorrect i would have paid £3 again.Seems a right scam but they now accepted a £20 payment in addition to the £3 I paid on the day. I have paid it as I can do without further hassle .Will be avoiding Initial Parking sites in the future.

Parked in Marazion short stay car park and used contactless to pay £3.50. We spent just over an hour there. We were on holiday in a hire car and over a week later received an email from Hertz informing us of a parking violation. It just claimed "unpaid tariff" with photos of the car registration, no proof of where the photos were taken, no information about the parking tariff, totally unprofessional opportunists chancing their arm and hoping vulnerable people will be intimidated into paying. I imagine most of the people who park here are routinely sent fines. We appealed, attaching a photo of the contactless payment and
they cancelled the fine the next day. We are still in the process of getting back the £42 fee charged by Hertz for the incorrect and unjustifiable fine!!!!!

Parked as Marazion and paid for 3 hours, using JustPark app. started my session at the point I reached the pay machines after parking and left inside the 3 hours. Was sent £100 fine for staying 3 hours 20 minutes as the time started when the camera took a photo of me entering the car park. I appealed to Initial Parking and they rejected my appeal within a day. I furthered my appeal to POPLA and Initial Parking withdrew their penalty notice before POPLA made its determination. So definitely appeal would be my suggestion.

My appeal centered on 4 points:
1) No time/date stamped photos were provided. Just photos of my car entering but no date/time on the photo to support the alleged time of entry
2) The JustPark App does not allow parking periods to be started "in the past". Only once the app is opened, which in my case was 15 minutes after I entered the car park, parked the car and walked to the machines to read the parking conditions and process
3) The operator refused my request on appeal to provide evidence of the grace period
4) The operator refused my request on appeal to provide evidence of its contract of instruction by the landowner

AVOID AVOID AVOID
Please do not park here. I'd heard of a nice place for lunch in the town. I parked here for 2 hours. I came back after 1 and a half hours. Walked my dog around the grounds and got in my car and figured out where to go next. When I arrived I got out my car and paid straight away, my bank shows me paying at 14:18:28 and they say it was 14:08:28. Apparently I overstayed by 20 minutes. But it looks like they rig their times to be 10 minutes out each way. I was back at the car park well within time, I did sit in the car to figure out on the sat Nav where to go from there but I didn't think I overstayed my time. The initial letter said I didn't pay. When I proved I did, they said I overstayed. Absolute SCAM. I'm crushed as I don't have a lot of money to pay this when I didn't do anything wrong. Shame on this company and shame on the institutions that allow this to happen that don't protect people from sharks like this. Please please don't park here I don't want this terrible company to prey on anyone else. There's no telephone number so you can't speak to anyone and there's no one to report them to.

Wouldn't even give 1 star absolute scum. Charged for not even parking but being stuck in their car park at fistral beach! Cameras put at the top of the hill knowing full well you'll end up stuck in there during busy times and not be able to get out in the 10 minutes! Trying to appeal but doubtful we'll get far.. their evidence is photos of their signage from 2020... wonder how many times they've used these! Sounds like any amount of time spent in their car parks is going to cost you £100 pretty sure 90% of people who enter a car park owned by this company will get fined!! AVOID AVOID AVOID get rid of these scammers!!!

Parked in a Slate Quay car park in Caernarfon at 16:33 left at 17:44 paid £4 for 2 hours so I was within the time. Today I received a £100 reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days! Robbery is what it is. I am not appealing with them thieves I am just going to try the public services Ombudsman as I am sure I won't be the first.

Evil scumbags preying on people with a legal scam. The payment machines do not work and the app they use is useless. Never ever use one of their car parks.

They are a scam do not pay tickets half the web sights on there letters are fake and they don’t ask for a ref when u pay and the reference number on the letters don’t exist when u try and pay they can’t take it further and if they try they will loose it’s a fauls web page

My advice like many others is to avoid any car parks controlled by these money grabbing robots! There is an argument to say penalties are a deterrent to avoid misuse of car parks and stop people staying beyond what you've paid for. However, most people in a fair and law abiding society would accept that you don't pay immediately upon entering a car park as you're either waiting for friends to arrive or getting kids and boards unloaded before paying and the same the other end of the the stay. You don't have this option with these robot systems. Don't risk it. I paid for 4 hours, but overstayed 11 minutes each side of this time and slapped with an £85 fine! It won't deter me from overstaying my paid parking, it will mean I never give them any money every again. The more people that don't use their car parks, the less money they make!!!!

AVOID INITIAL CAR PARKS IF POSSIBLE. We parked at their Fistral Beach location a couple of weeks ago, took 15 mins to find a space (It's incredibly busymy in the summer and quite narrow) and get our 2 hour ticket.
We spent a lovely couple of hours on the beach and left the parking space just before the 2 hours were up and joined the queue out of the car park (another 8 mins).
A week later we recieve a £100 fine in the post, apparently we were 23mins over the ticket value. Appealed it and they rejected it withing 10 mins of receiving.
It turns out that there is an ANPR camera at the top of the hill/entrance. There's NO barrier or significant signage telling you this! Apparently your supposed to pay from the time you entered/exited the car park and not the time on the ticket from the machine! Be very careful using this car park! Make sure you note when you enter the car park, the ticket time means nothing apparently, all about the fines for this private company based miles away in Birmingham.

I visited Lands End recently, but before I even arrived at the official car park, a parking marshal directed me to exit because the parking spaces were full. I ended up parking in a field just before the exit. There were no instructions regarding parking charges, and there was no parking ticket machine in the area where I parked. A week later, I received a letter from INITIAL Parking with a fine of £100.