Unfortunately (some may say) you do not get your �day in court� to contest a parking penalty. The offences were decriminalised some time ago and you must appeal firstly to the issuing authority and, if this fails, to an independent parking adjudicator.
During this appeal you do not generally get the opportunity to cross-examine any witnesses on the accuracy or otherwise of their evidence. The adjudicator normally considers only written evidence.
If this appeal fails then the matter may well end up in court. However, this will be the County Court to which the issuing authority will refer the matter for recovery of what is a civil debt. There, you will not have the chance to make representations regarding the imposition of the penalty, or the evidence against you, or the conduct of the appeal. The County Court will only need to be satisfied that the appeals procedure was correctly undertaken and will not review the result or the evidence.
There is one advantage to this process in favour of the alleged miscreant and that is, unlike fines, you cannot be sent to prison for non-payment of civil debts.