Template for the windscreen notice
You are parked on a private car park.
This site is private and reserved for authorised users. The terms of use are displayed at the entrance. Your vehicle is standing here without authorisation.
Please move it promptly. If unauthorised parking is repeated, we will have the vehicle towed away at your cost.
Date, time and number plate have been documented.
What may the notice say?
Stay factual. The notice may point to the terms of use, ask for the vehicle to be moved and announce what follows on repetition. That is permissible as long as it is true.
What does not belong on it: an invented demand for money, a threat of prosecution where no offence exists, and insults. Demanding payment without an agreed contractual penalty puts you in the weaker position.
The form matters too: clip the notice under the wiper, do not stick it on. A sticker on the paintwork is criminal damage – and you would be liable.
What belongs on the sign at the entrance
A notice only works once there is a rule it can invoke. That rule does not sit on the vehicle but at the entrance. Whoever drives in while the sign hangs there visibly accepts the terms – and that is where the contract of use comes from.
The sign belongs to state: that the site is private, who may park, for how long, whether a fee applies and what a breach costs. The amount has to be named. A sign that only says “private car park” carries no contractual penalty.
Visible means legible before the entrance, not behind the barrier or in a corner of the grounds. Placed wrongly, even the best notice will not help: there is simply nothing for it to rest on.
Why a notice rarely suffices
A notice only works on someone who reads it and complies. Anyone parking there regularly has usually received one several times already.
Then there is the effort: someone has to walk the site, check vehicles, write notices and document the case. On a site with daily traffic that becomes a recurring job for your staff.
The notice only takes effect once something follows it. That is exactly what monitoring the site delivers: it records every stay and makes the contractual penalty enforceable, without anyone walking the car park.
Questions about the parking notice.
- May I put a notice on someone else's car?
- Yes, clipping it under the wiper is permissible. Sticking it on is not: if adhesive residue remains or the paint is damaged, you are liable.
- May I demand money on the notice?
- Only if a contractual penalty has been validly agreed – through a sign at the entrance naming the terms of use and the amount. Without that basis the demand is not enforceable.
- What do I write if the vehicle blocks my entrance?
- With a blocked entrance a notice gets you nowhere. Document the situation and commission a towing company that works on private ground straight away.
- Does a notice help against long-term parkers?
- Hardly. Anyone using the site regularly already knows the notice. Effect only arises once every stay is recorded and the announcement is actually followed through.
- Can I attach a photo to the notice?
- Photograph the vehicle, the plate and the location for your own records. The photo does not belong on the notice, nor online – you are not allowed to publish it.
Read on