{"id":1088476,"date":"2026-07-14T10:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1088476\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:35:21","slug":"manchester-airports-controversial-100-parking-charges-may-not-be-legal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1088476\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester Airport’s controversial \u00a3100 parking charges ‘may not be legal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A well known lawyer has cast serious doubt on the legality of the late payment charge\"Barrierless<\/p>\n

Barrierless parking at Manchester Airport(Image: Manchester Airport)<\/p>\n

Controversial \u00a3100 charges for people who forget to pay for Manchester Airport’s barrierless parking may not by legal, a lawyer has said. Motorists can’t pay for parking on site after controversial changes were introduced last year.<\/p>\n

Instead, drivers must pay a minimum \u00a35.50 online by midnight the following day depending on the length of the stay. However, many people forget and are stung by a \u00a3100 late payment charge, which is reduced to \u00a360 if it’s paid within 14 days.<\/p>\n

As the MEN reports<\/a>, it has led to criticism in Parliament of an “unfair” system where people are landed with a huge bill for just a few minutes of parking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But renowned Manchester lawyer Nick Freeman – dubbed Mr Loophole – has said some of the “disproportionately high” charges may not be legally enforceable in cases where the driver at the time of the parking isn’t revealed.<\/p>\n

The airport, he argued, is not “relevant land” under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which allows parking operators to recover charges from the registered keeper rather than the driver.<\/p>\n

Mr Freeman earned the nickname Mr Loophole by getting a string of celebrity clients including David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson off traffic offences, often citing procedural errors or technicalities in getting cases thrown out of court.<\/p>\n

His intervention has cast serious doubt on the legality of the \u00a3100 late payment charge. The airport refuses to reveal how much money is generated through the charge.<\/p>\n

Enforcement of parking charges at the airport has been contracted to parking company APCOA, which has operations at other UK airports and all over Europe.<\/p>\n

Officials at Manchester Airport have told the MEN that the fines are enforceable – and recommended people do not risk going to court through non-payment.<\/p>\n

The MEN has previously revealed that Manchester Airport could have generated revenue of an estimated \u00a3189m from parking last year, up \u00a320m compared to the previous year. ACPOA’s latest accounts lodged at Companies House reveal a gross profit of \u00a334m in 2024, up from \u00a327m the year before.<\/p>\n

Mr Freeman told the MEN: “In England and Wales, the starting point is that only the driver is liable for a private parking charge (PCN).<\/p>\n

“The registered keeper has no legal obligation to nominate the driver, unlike on public land. However, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 creates an important exception.<\/p>\n

“If the private land is ‘relevant land’ and the parking operator fully complies with all the statutory requirements, the operator is entitled to recover the parking charge from the registered keeper when the driver remains unidentified.<\/p>\n

“However, the land at Manchester Airport<\/a> is governed by bylaws and this means that it is unlikely to be deemed as ‘relevant land’ under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.<\/p>\n

“Therefore, the operator cannot simply pursue the registered keeper unless it can establish who was driving. And as I have previously stated, there is no legal obligation for the keeper to divulge this information, and this therefore causes huge practical problems for the operator.<\/p>\n

“Moreover, it is well established in law that the terms and conditions must be brought to the driver\u2019s attention before any contract is formed (Court of Appeal in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking 1971).<\/p>\n

“If the signage is inadequate, poorly positioned or fails to comply with the British Parking Association\u2019s Code of Practice, there may be a strong basis of challenge. However, this is fact-dependent and every case will turn on its own circumstances.<\/p>\n

“Manchester Airport will argue that the terms and tariff are displayed in advance before the motorists enter the chargeable zone and that entry itself constitutes an acceptance of those terms.<\/p>\n

“So whilst a barrierless car park undoubtedly makes life easier and cheaper for Manchester Airport, it certainly doesn\u2019t mean that every parking charge is legally enforceable.<\/p>\n

“The strongest argument in my view relates to the fact that the land is probably not ‘relevant land’ and this is unlikely to be challenged by the airport because of the attendant publicity if this point is definitively legally established. It would make enforcement of PCNs literally impossible without a legislative change.<\/p>\n

“I should add that the point becomes redundant once the keeper identifies the driver.”<\/p>\n

The \u00a3100 late payment charged is ‘disproportionately high’, said Mr Freeman who added: “When will the time come when councils and the like stop financially abusing the hard pressed law abiding motorist?”<\/p>\n

Manchester Airport declined to comment, pointing out enforcement was carried out by its parking contractor APCOA. Airport officials have indicated enforcement charges gathered by ACPOA are paid direct to Manchester Airport.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for ACPOA said: “APCOA is a member of the British Parking Association Approved Operator Scheme where all its processes have been audited and approved.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A well known lawyer has cast serious doubt on the legality of the late payment charge Barrierless parking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1088477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,2314,1230,183,16,15],"class_list":["post-1088476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-airport","tag-motoring","tag-travel","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116917892234389174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1088476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1088477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1088476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1088476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1088476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}