Thanks; I'll hold off from the complaint as it will a) prove it was me in the car and b) probably get the manager into trouble as they were presumably acting independently of the hotel chain's general policy. I did complain about the policy of charging at all in the past (when I was paying the daily charges) and heard absolutely nothing from them by return.

Okay - I'll put the tickets to one side and not say anything; in all likelihood should that be enough to stop the anticipated flow of letters in the coming months after a while? Is there any sort of letter to which it really would be advisable to reply to?

Britannia. Perhaps the agreement between the PPC and the hotel chain stated that this agreement for long-term guests was not allowed and the manager was acting 'on a limb' and was therefore in the wrong. As I was not told to put the notice in this time I can't claim I was told it was okay. Do I take it from your post that the PPC does not have a contract with the driver and therefore nothing can be enforced? My concern would be that the process, should it be taken to court, could easily demonstrate who drove the vehicle and I don't want to perjure myself (can this be done in civil proceedings?) should there be any validity in their claim, albeit they are not the hotel and they should not directly have access to the hotel's records. Certainly the paperwork of the ticket mentions the name of the PPC and not the hotel chain so I'm assuming no proprietry involvement.

Thanks for the reply... The hotel manager had recently been told by the chap who does the ticketing that his company was not happy that the procedure had been used and that the company did not want them to continue issuing such notices to allow free parking. It appears the procedure was not hotel company policy as the manager was 'given a telling off' for having done this in the past. It is not the hotel company itself which operates the car park but there is (was, at least - by next week the whole thing is being removed) clear signage and there is a board up in the hotel advising people to pay and display. I cannot use this as an excuse and feel somewhat compromised in the 'not me driving' defence but which possible action would it be wisest to follow? Given that I was not using the land to the detriment of the landowner nor to any other interested party, presumably any fines incurred cannot be justified on that basis? In fact, the second time I was ticketed I had a valid ticket (not wanting a second) which expired 10-15 minutes before the chap came round and booked me. Of course, I also displayed my 'long-term guest' notice which should have allowed me leeway but he stuck around for 10 minutes according to the ticket (9:20-9:30) and as there were only a handful of cars in the car park I suggest he was happily sitting in his car waiting for me to not appear just so that he could get a further victim before the week was out. Charming. I'll see if I can get the hotel company to provide details of their involvement with the car park provider but I suspect they'll ignore my e-mails as they have ignored any previous complaints about other matters!

I'm interested in the threads about apparently unenforceable fees for parking; I've recently been in a car park owned by a hotel chain which was operated by a private car park company. It is an area used almost exclusively by the hotel's customers and I was told by the manager of the hotel to display a 'long-term guest' notice in my window to avoid charges on a previous visit. This time I simply put in the notice and got two separate fines of £30 each over two days. (£20 each if paid soon) My concern is that the hotel has a booking under my name so to use the 'I'm the legal keeper, not the driver' defence seems weak in this instance. The hotel manager apologised and said that they had recently been told that cars displaying the 'long-term guest' notice would be fined regardless; however, the company is, as of next week, no longer operating the car park and it will be free. The question is, do I deny being the driver despite the hotel having my booking details yet it was a separate company running the car park; say nothing; grudgingly pay up to avoid the fies increasing, or do I argue about the hotel notices having previously been adequate to avoid payments... Any advice gratefully received!