Met parking pcn Gatwick Airport MC Donalds

[Dotty64]

Hi everyone I have been going absolutely insane these past few months. In July last year my husband and I drove our neighbours to Gatwick Airport to catch their flight and go off on their holiday,, just before that it was mentioned to go and grab a bite to eat and a drink also the child needed the toilet. Whilst the child was in the loo the neighbours went to purchase some beverages and burgers, needing to have a safe place to park we noted a car park but hadn't come across the type as at Gatwick where you had to take a ticket for a barrier then to rise and enter. After 10 to 15 minutes later everyone ready to move on we tried to exit the car park, came across a further barrier and nothing happened we thought we were stuck, after a bit we saw that we had to validate the stay with a receipt, ,, ok got that.. ..tried scanning the mcdonald's receipt, call me silly but its a receipt right.... 20 seconds or so later we are baffled so we press the button on the barrier thinking that is the way to connect to someone, tell them we are having difficulty with exiting, then all of a sudden the barrier rose so we drove out. Oh no that wasn't right, a few weeks later a MET PARKING PCN drops through my door.... To cut a long story short we have appealed and Met parking refused it, we went to POPLA and that too was turned down, now I don't feel there is any justice in asking customers of mcdonald's who park unbeknown to their customers that the ticket issued at the barrier to enter is the one that stops them from receiving a pcn at a later date. The ticket was thrown away with the mcdonald's litter, it seems I'm not the only one who has been in the same predicament... HELP PLEASE TELL ME I DON'T HAVE TO PAY £100 NOW. had I paid straight away it would have been £50, does that mean you are penilised twice, once for throwing your ticket away but I had proof of purchase from mcdonald's and I showed that (I'm sorry for not being smarter and binning the barrier ticket) secondly because I dared to appeal... I have read other posts on different sites where people have just ignored the pcn even asking to be brought to court, I'm scared they'll clamp my car or something. CAN ANYONE HELP ME PLEASE, NEED ADVICE...