Popla Reviews 

These lot manage Worcester Royal car park, and by "manage" I mean take advantage of the sick, vulnerable, elderly, cancer ridden etc.

A friend brought her elderly dad who is very ill with cancer to an appointment in WRH. There were no disabled spaces left and he can't walk, so she stopped in a drop off bay, clearly displayed the blue badge in the window and got a wheelchair, took him to his appointment, which was actually quite quick in fact.

She received a fine for parking in the drop off bay because she was 2 minutes over time. Despite appealing it, explaining he CAN'T walk and there were NO disabled bays available, they still expect her to pay a fine. They even asked for evidence of his disability, despite the blue badge being clearly visible in their OWN photo 🤦🏻‍♀️.

You can park there for 20 minutes and she was there 22 minutes!

A bit of common sense and human decency wouldn't go amiss, but that's clearly lacking from this car parking company. They're a bunch of vultures praying on the vulnerable.

Don't waste your time appealing to POPLA they clearly are not concerned that a car parking company has had no financial loss by you inputting your reg incorrectly. They will side with the car park and waste your time, complain to the car park for a minor keying error and they will offer you a reduced £20 fine PAY IT.......
you have been warned....

EDIT based on POPLA response, yes I was parked correctly, yes I paid the correct tariff, no I didn't stay longer than I should have my only crime was to a "minor keying error" of the registration. POPLA didn't respond quickly enough for me to accept the £20 offer so I had to pay the full £60 the fines are disproportionate for a simple mistake and for honest motorists the rules are grossly unfair. I had the ticket and a bank statement proving I bought the ticket. As long as you are all proud of your work each evening that's the main thing.

Like most others who've reviewed this so-called mediation service, I would prefer to give them minus ratings. Since that isn't possible I'll do a mini-review instead. Four months I've been waiting for a decision that I'm pretty sure was inevitable from the start, for going over time at a place where I regularly used to shop. Four months. As others have said, complete jobsworths, but I presume some of the fine money goes to pay for tea and biccies to keep them refreshed while they tap a computer key occasionally and stare out of the window. This fine is for overparking briefly on a car park which is never, to my knowledge, full. I was using the car park to shop at the shop that uses it. Do Popla and Parking Eye never consider the knock-on effect on businesses as a result of their attitude? I have to say that I've been sufficiently irritated by this to avoid shopping there again. That company could have benefitted from the money that goes to fines! Ridiculous. I think that the many people who've clearly had er, "bad experiences" with this company should get a class action together and sue them for waste of time and stress. And please, Popla, don't bother replying. I don't want to read your unctuous nonsense.

Not fit for Purpose - ignored my evidence and even misrepresented the basis for my appeal. Huge lot of explanations of what the parking operator did right but not about my evidence. The parking operator was especially aggressively pursuing shoppers slightly overstaying their stay (in an empty car park) and the general advice to complain direct to the retailers who employ these parking operators is sound and these have been replaced - so that’s a result. Must remember folks POPLA is a trade body, paid for and there for the car park operators - not the public.

My experience with POPLA has been extremely poor. The original assessor and the complaints handler repeatedly misinterpreted POFA, ignored factual inaccuracies from the operator, and dismissed clear evidence regarding signage and statutory requirements.

POPLA treated ANPR timestamps as the “period of parking”, which is not what the law requires. They also insisted that the presumption of delivery is absolute unless I could produce documentary proof of non‑delivery — again, not what the statute says.

The entire process felt like a rubber‑stamp exercise designed to uphold the operator’s position regardless of merit. POPLA’s conduct raises serious questions about its competence, independence, and fitness for purpose.

An observation on POPLA's reply: So you consistently ignore the relevant legislation so we all get a consistently poor experience - nice.

I knew the minute I sent my appeal in I wouldn’t win, of course they get money from parking organisations, exactly why do,you loose less payment ? Where does it go? Has anyone ever won an appeal I don’t think so. Not to mention it took nearly 5 months to sort my appeal. I would tell people now pay the lesser amount don’t bother with POPLA you’ll just end up paying full amount. I don’t think they even look at appeals, they never ask questions to assist you or check out a query.

What a useless system. Private company regulating private companies. 0 concern for the consumer. Unless you already know the laws behind PCNs then save yourself some time and money and just pay upfront. The interest doesn't seem to be in whether or not you should have been fined, rather - can the operator get away with fining you. Unless you're willing to find out in court it seems parking operators can get away with whatever they like thanks to POPLA's so called 'independent service’.
UPDATE: POPLA claim they have no involvement in ‘this’, but as an integral part of the industry, they are complicit in allowing parking companies to extort money from people.

pathetic response from POPLA

Reply from Popla

An hour ago
Hello, we're sorry that you haven't had a positive experience when using our services. Our responses aren't automated, however we do have to advise on the remit that POPLA covers which does require a standard response. We understand motorists frustration when the outcome isn't one they had hoped for however, we have to be consistent in our approach to handling appeals and reviews. Thank you

In not upholding my appeal they have stated in writing that they do not consider fairness. Awful jobsworths.Popla have replied but i was only parked at ALDI 20 minutes and produced a council letter confirming i was taking a vulnerable person shopping in the course of employment which has been given NO weight. I was therefore a customer at ALDI who made the honest error of not entering registration details because i was ensuring a vulnerable person had food. The system is designed to rip off honest members of the public in my honest opinion.

Absolutely furious. Complete waste of time & energy. Provided receipt for shopping at our local Aldi which should have been adequate proof that I did not owe anything. Why they sided with Parking Eye is totally mystifying. Contacted Citizens Advice who have sided with me & drafted letter to Parking Eye on my behalf. Please do not bother to respond as I am not interested in anything you have to say.

Very disappointing experience with POPLA. I appealed a private parking charge where the vehicle was recorded for only 3 minutes and 46 seconds while I was inside the car, checking the parking/payment arrangements at a quiet industrial estate, before moving into the parking area and paying by RingGo.

Despite providing evidence, the appeal was rejected. In my experience the process felt one-sided and not very consumer-friendly. Drivers should be aware that even clear circumstances and payment evidence may not be enough.

This company is an absolute scammer that works very closely with APCOA, and you will lose your appeal. They are a private business and absolutely fraudulent. Don't even bother with them.

All these negative reviews I read don’t seem justified. I used them in my appeal and they found in my favour, assemble your data, present it well and as long as you are correct you will win. These private parking companies are not very good and make loads of mistakes . Gather your facts and use their code of practice against them and you’ll win.

I wanted to say a big Thanks! To the guys at Popsa for a great job and an unbelievable turn around. I ordered a photo book of a special event which my son & I did when he was younger " bee in the city". I placed the order on a friday and only remebered after that it was a bank holiday weekend! and it was still printed and delivered by the wednesday on his 16th bithday...perfect ( super quality too )
Couldnt recommend this company enough

What a useless system. Private company regulating private companies. 0 concern for the consumer. Unless you already know the laws behind PCNs then save yourself some time and money and just pay upfront. The interest doesn't seem to be in whether or not you should have been fined, rather - can the operator get away with fining you. Unless you're willing to find out in court it seems parking operators can get away with whatever they like thanks to POPLA's 'independent service’.
UPDATE: POPLA claim they have no involvement in ‘this’, but as an integral part of the industry, they are complicit in allowing parking companies to extort money from people.

Wish I had read these reviews before using Popla. Completely wasted my time.

What is most frustrating is not even just this company, it is the whole parking system and the unfair terms and conditions many of these companies operate under. We are living in constant fear that if we go over by one minute, or have a technical issue with an app, a £100 fine lands through the door because cameras are watching every movement. Where is the humanity in that?

Not everyone has perfect phone signal, UK mobile data, or apps that work every time. Imagine elderly people, tourists with foreign SIM cards, or someone whose phone battery dies. At the very least there should always be a physical payment machine as well as online payment options, or the grace period should be increased to at least 30 minutes because technical issues do happen.

Looking at these reviews, there are over 2,000 people giving 1 star ratings. That tells me this is not just a few isolated incidents. Something clearly needs to change.

I think people should come together and push for action against popla and practices like this. If anyone wants to start a petition or campaign to pressure the government to review these parking rules and systems properly, I would happily join in.

Popla is a part of the parking mafia don't waste your time with them , Kayleigh Miller you should be ashamed of yourself , karma will come back to you for making evil decisions and supporting the parking mafia .

Do not bother to go through Popla appeal. They are not independent and all this dodgy private parking companies know that. You will a lose a lot of time going through complicated appeal process and achieve nothing plus you need to wait 3 months to get reply. They are scandalous organisation and I really don't now who is financing them?

My appeal raised six POFA points which is statutory law aswell as a direct contradiction between the PCN and the operator's case summary.

The assessor dismissed my appeal without fully addressing the statutory points I noted line by line.

The process took over 10 weeks, longer than 6-8 timescale POPLA notified me of.

POPLA is administered by Flexible Resolution Services, part of Trust Alliance Group. POPLA's own public responses note links with the British Parking Association, who are funded by the operators people are appealing against.

POPLA's standard Trustpilot replies point to administration and an assessor's "detailed explanation." In my case that explanation did not engage with the statutory points I submitted.

I contacted the landowner directly after POPLA's decision. They reviewed the evidence and asked the operator to cancel the charge, which was then cancelled in full.

In my experience POPLA did not apply the statutory scrutiny required.

Based on my experience if you have statutory arguments contact the landowner directly as POPLA may not be the forum that tests those points fully.

No point trying. They're on the side of the private parking company

Useless Institution. They side with the parking operator even if you have valid grounds for appeal. They should be investigated by Trading Standards for their crooked management & biased decision making.

Update on their reply:
Stop with this automated replies. You should be ashamed to work for this company. Looking forward to the day you get investigated by TS & have to make massive payouts you crooks.