ahh ok will do BazzaS, thanks..... I wouldn't have thought to do that !

I followed your advice Ericsbrother and within a couple of days of sending the letter, I received a response from PE to say upon further review the matter had been closed.... Result! and I hadn't even got to the point of logging my defence with the court. I just want to say a huge thanks for your advise and help, I have made a donation to the CAG.

Many thanks for your advice ericsbrother, its much appreciated. Can I just check on the planning permission point "You can send a letter of "discovery" to PE under CPR31.14 and ask them for sight of their contract with the LANDOWNER that assigns the right to enter into contracts with customers of the hotel" Would this still be relevent even if I was not a customer of the hotel? The car park is open for anyone to use and is not restricted to customers of the hotel.

28/07/16 My company received a parking charge notice (dated 27/07/16) for £100 reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Included photo evidence of me entering private car park in my company car at Thistle Hotels - The Quay Poole time stamped arrival time 09.28 and departure time 12.01 It refers to the signage and to Protection of Freedoms Act 2104 The date of event was 02/07/16 Date issued was 27/07/16 It stated reason for charge as either not purchasing the appropriate parking time or by remaining at car park longer than permitted, in accordance with t's and c's and so was not clear what the breach was for. I remembered that I had encountered problems with the pay for parking phone line and so assumed it must have been because the payment had not gone through and therefore I hadn't paid for parking the vehicle. I immediately wrote to Parking Eye (dated 28/07/16) and appealed on that basis. Parking Eye response was unsuccessful. The response now stated that it was because I had not paid the correct amount for the time parked and provided an appeals reference for POPLA. With the new information I did further research and discovered via the Pay for Parking web site that I had paid for 2 hours parking commencing 9.52 so in actual fact I was only 8 minutes over 2 hours when I left the parking site at 12.01. The time between entering the site 9.28 and the payment going through 9.52 was taken up with finding a space, going to the payment machine to read terms, taking down phone number and site ref for pay for parking, returning to car and then making 4 phone calls to pay for parking because I first had to enter new debit card details and then there was something wrong and the payment would not go through ( I have print screen from call logs on my phone that day showing calls in my attempts to pay for parking at 9.40, 9.44, and 2 at 9.51) In conclusion I was delayed in making payment due to issues with the parking payment system, I did pay for 2 hours, I was 8 mins over (I am allowed 10 mins over) I am therefore not in breach of contract. Once I realised this I made a second attempt to appeal with Parking Eye via the website, due to time limits, I didn't receive a response to this appeal, and I had subsequently now missed the timescale to appeal via POPLA. I received a further notice to pay and then a court claim was received sometime after 24th October. I have sent an acknowledgement of service via the money claim website so I can further defend the claim. I would be most grateful for any advise on the best approach with regards to the defence I put forward.