Ulverston Premier Inn Car Park

[b789]

You can ask Premier Inn/Whitbread for the photos, especially as they have specifically claimed there is a sign next to the EV chargers. Ask them for dated photographs of the signage in place on 6 April 2026, including the EV bay signs and entrance signs. They probably cannot be forced to provide them at this stage, but if they refuse or ignore the request, that helps your position because Horizon will then need to prove the signage to POPLA with proper contemporaneous evidence.

Based on Premier Inn’s reply that there is allegedly “a sign” next to the EV charging ports, and their later claim that they are “unable to cancel” what they wrongly called a “fine”, this should push the issue back onto Whitbread/Premier Inn as the principal, not merely the hotel desk.

Email them with the following:

Dear Premier Inn Ulverston,

Thank you for your previous replies.

I must correct one important point. This is not a “fine”. It is a private parking charge issued by Horizon Parking Ltd in relation to the Premier Inn Ulverston car park. If Horizon Parking are operating at this site on behalf of Premier Inn and/or Whitbread, then this is not simply “nothing to do with Whitbread”. Horizon are acting under authority granted by the site occupier, landholder or principal, and the matter can therefore be escalated internally for cancellation.

I was a genuine user of the EV charging facilities provided at your site. I paid for a charging session at the GeniePoint charger, and the charging session corresponds with the ANPR entry and exit times relied upon by Horizon. The vehicle was not parked for some unrelated purpose. It was present for the purpose of using the EV charging facility located in your car park.

Your earlier email stated that there is “a sign” next to the EV charging ports. Please now provide a clear photograph of that sign, together with any entrance signage and any other signage relied upon to inform EV charging users that they must also register inside Premier Inn or pay Horizon separately. The photographs should show the signage that was in place on 6 April 2026.

Please also confirm:

1. whether non-resident EV charging users are permitted to use the GeniePoint chargers at this location;
   
2. if so, whether they are required to register their vehicle inside the hotel;
   
3. where that requirement is stated on the signage;
   
4. whether any separate parking tariff is payable by EV charging users;
   
5. how and where that tariff is communicated to a motorist before or at the point of parking in an EV charging bay;
   
6. who within Whitbread or Premier Inn has authority to instruct Horizon Parking to cancel a charge issued to a genuine site user.
   

If the position is that EV charging customers must enter the hotel and register their vehicle, that requirement must be made clear and prominent to users of the EV charging bays. It is not sufficient for Horizon or Premier Inn to assert this after the event.

I am therefore asking Premier Inn/Whitbread to instruct Horizon Parking to cancel this charge. If the local hotel team cannot do so directly, please escalate this to the Whitbread department responsible for the Horizon Parking contract.

If Horizon Parking attempts to pursue this matter further, your replies and any refusal to assist will be included in my response and relied upon as evidence that Premier Inn/Whitbread were put on notice that a genuine EV charging customer had been penalised, despite using a facility provided at your site and despite there being an obvious issue as to whether the alleged registration requirement was clearly communicated.

Please treat this as a formal request for escalation, not as a further request to be referred back to Horizon.

Yours faithfully,

[Name]

I'll come back with more once I've analysed the NtK.