Scenario guide

ParkingEye Fine in a Tesco Car Park: How to Appeal an Overstay Charge

Updated April 2026 · 6 min read

Tesco car parks are among the most common sites for ParkingEye Parking Charge Notices in the UK. The operator uses ANPR cameras to record entry and exit times, and charges are issued automatically when a vehicle exceeds the free parking period — even by a matter of minutes. Here is a realistic walkthrough of how one driver handled exactly this situation.

The situation

Ben drove to his local Tesco Extra on a Saturday afternoon. The car park offered three hours of free parking for customers. He did his weekly shop, stopped at the in-store café for a coffee, and then joined a slow-moving queue at the self-checkout. By the time he reached his car, he had been on site for 3 hours and 21 minutes — 21 minutes over the free period.

Ten days later, a Parking Charge Notice arrived in the post from ParkingEye. The charge was £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Ben had been a Tesco customer for the entire visit — he had a receipt to prove it — and felt the charge was unreasonable for what was clearly an extended shopping trip rather than an abuse of the car park.

Checking the situation

Before paying or ignoring, Ben ran a free check on the charge. The key details: ParkingEye, Tesco car park, notice arrived 10 days after the visit, genuine customer with receipt, 21-minute overstay.

The result identified two grounds worth pursuing. First, the BPA Code of Practice (clause 13.2) requires operators to allow a minimum ten-minute grace period after the permitted parking period expires — meaning the chargeable overstay was at most 11 minutes, not 21. Second, as a genuine Tesco customer with a receipt evidencing a full shopping visit, Ben had a reasonable argument that the purpose of the free parking — to facilitate retail customers — was exactly what he was doing.

The notice was also checked against POFA 2012 requirements. It had been served within 14 days (day 10) and appeared to contain all the required particulars — so the POFA route was not available here, but the grace period and customer purpose grounds were solid.

Writing the appeal

Ben submitted his appeal to ParkingEye within the 28-day window. The letter ran to three short paragraphs:

He kept the tone factual and neutral — no apologies, no emotional language. He attached the till receipt as his supporting evidence and sent the appeal via the ParkingEye online portal, keeping a screenshot of the submission.

What happened

ParkingEye responded within three weeks with a cancellation. The rejection letter was never sent because the charge was cancelled at operator appeal stage. No further correspondence followed.

It is worth noting that cancellation at this stage is not guaranteed — outcomes depend on the specific site, the landowner's instructions to ParkingEye, and whether the grace period argument is acknowledged. If ParkingEye had rejected the appeal, the next step would have been POPLA: the free, independent appeals service whose decisions are binding on the operator.