This parking penalty is extremely unfair - what are your views?

I recently parked in a hotel for a meeting and, in the absence of seeing any signage (albeit it was going dark and I was a few minutes late) went straight into the hotel. Last week I was horrified to receive a notification from Parking Eye Car Park Management saying I had parked illegally and had incurred a fine of £90, which would be reduced to £60 if paid within 13 days. I am in the process of taking this up with the hotel itself because I think it is a disgraceful way to treat paying punters. I was there for just over two hours so I can't see that £90 is anything other than scandalous. Your views would be greatly appreciated.

Asked on 6 September 2012 by CD, via email

Answered by Honest John
I get more complaints about Parking Eye than about any other operator. And Parking Eye makes more requests to the DVLA for Keeper Details than any other parking operator: 695,929 between April 2010 and December 2011.
Similar questions
So far I have not been caught by private parking enforcers, but I have some ideas if I ever am. For example, if I'm in breach of contract with anyone, it's with the owner of the supermarket or whatever,...
My wife parked her car in a shopping centre in Lincoln which serves many large shops. She was there for four hours and discovered a parking fine of £70 for overstaying. She was not aware that there was...
The BPA provided information to the Ministry of Justice last year that its members actually take between 36,000 and 90,000 people to civil court each year. They did this for the 'Impact Assessment' on...