Statistics
POPLA and IAS appeal statistics
What the published numbers actually say about UK private parking appeals. Every figure on this page links to its source — nothing is asserted without one.
Reviewed 30 August 2026
POPLA (BPA route)
POPLA received 104,349 appeals in the year to 30 September 2025 — its first year over 100,000, with 107,202 appeals completing the process.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
In the year to 30 September 2025, 50.5% of appeals that completed the POPLA process ended with the parking charge cancelled (54,100 of 107,202) — the overall motorist success rate, including appeals the operator chose not to contest.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
Of the 67,680 appeals POPLA actually decided in the year to 30 September 2025, 14,578 (21.5%) were allowed in the motorist's favour and 53,102 (78.5%) were refused.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
39,522 appeals were not contested in the year to 30 September 2025 — operators withdrew from 34,502 of them, an automatic win for the motorist; the other 5,020 were withdrawn by motorists, typically because the charge had already been paid.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
The year before (to 30 September 2024), 40% of the 92,098 appeals completing the process ended with the charge cancelled — so the overall cancellation rate jumped from 40% to 50.5% in a single year.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2024 (PDF)
POPLA attributes much of that jump to operators increasingly withdrawing appeals that fell within the industry's new Appeals Charter once POPLA notified them.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
POPLA publishes no numeric breakdown by appeal ground. Its reports describe the main themes qualitatively: motorists not understanding the parking rules, mitigating circumstances, and belief that the operator followed an incorrect procedure — with keying errors and airport drop-offs flagged as significant in 2025.
Source: POPLA Annual Report 2025 (PDF)
The IAS (IPC route)
The IAS received 34,383 appeals in the year to 30 September 2025, of which 25,476 were accepted and continued to a case.
Source: IAS Annual Report 2024–25 (PDF)
In the same year, 7,888 IAS appeals were conceded by the parking operator before adjudication — the charge effectively dropped, resolving roughly 23% of all appeals received in the motorist's favour without a decision.
Source: IAS Annual Report 2024–25 (PDF)
The IAS's recent annual reports publish no allowed/refused split at adjudication: the 2024–25 report's outcomes section is prose only, with no figures for decisions in the motorist's versus the operator's favour.
Source: IAS Annual Report 2024–25 (PDF)
The last IAS report to publish adjudication outcomes was 2021–22: of the 14,877 appeals that reached adjudication, 94% were decided in the operator's favour and 6% in the motorist's favour. Across the whole caseload including operator concessions, 24% of appeals ended in the motorist's favour.
Source: IAS Annual Report 2021–22 (PDF)
In the year to 30 September 2025, 3,071 IAS disputes were not accepted because the motorist missed the submission window — a reminder that the 28-day escalation deadline does real work.
Source: IAS Annual Report 2024–25 (PDF)
In July 2025 the RAC publicly called on the IAS to resume publishing its allow/refuse percentages, contrasting POPLA's fuller disclosure and noting the IAS last published the split in 2021/22.
Reading these numbers honestly
- —POPLA publishes an annual report with appeal volumes and outcomes; the IAS publishes far less, so the two services cannot be compared like for like.
- —Outcome rates say nothing about any individual case: an appeal's prospects depend on its grounds and evidence, not the average.
- —Figures are for the reporting periods stated (POPLA and IAS years run 1 October to 30 September) and are not updated in real time.
Your case is not an average
Success rates reflect the mix of appeals people bring, not your odds. What matters is whether your situation supports real grounds — the free generator only uses the ones yours does.
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