towed at luton airport.

tschar

Hi. Went to pick my mum up from Luton airport yesterday and stopped at the drop off zone. I poped in to the toilett as i went there after a 10 hours night shift and 1.5 hour drive and also i didn`t have change on me so had to withdraw some money and because the machine doesn`t give coins i stopped and bought a coffe literally all this in 8-9 mins. When i got back my car was on the tow car already. I got in touch with them in the following email.:

To whom may it concern.
I am writing to you to ask part or a full refund of a £180 fee because my car been towed away today morning from the drop of zone. I admit that i left my car unattended but i just poped in to the toilett and to withdraw some money for the car park and on the way out bought a coffee to have some change as the cashmachine doesn't give coins. I went to the airport to pick my mum up who is coming from Hungary to help us as we are expecting our baby so that is why i'd love pay less or even get the money back. You can follow and see me on the cctv that i'm not lying. Please let me know if there is any way that i can have a part/full refund. And if i know that her plane is late i'd have parked in the short term car park as i usually do but this was the other reason that i left my car in the drop off zone. So if you would have a display there as well i'm sure so many other people could avoid the huge fine. I hope you understand me and find the right way to sort this problen out.
Thank you for listening to me.
Kind regards.

And got the following answer.:

Thank you for your e-mail.
I am sorry to say that Luton will not refund any money for parking fines incurred whilst using the drop off zone. There are clear signs stating that you cannot leave your vehicle unattended for any reason.
I am sorry we can be no further help.

Best regards
Thomas Hooker | Lead Operative Airports E-commerce | [EMAIL="Thomas.hooker@apcoa.com"]Thomas.hooker@apcoa.com[/EMAIL]

Is there anything i could do about this.

If anybody got any idea please let me know as i cannot really afford to lose this money.

esmerobbo

It would depend on who towed your car away, the signs, and did you get a receipt from them and has it got a name on it with an SIA licence number?

If everything is in order you have probably seen the last of your money!

esmerobbo

jizzler wrote: »

You shouldn't of wasted your time even writing to then you got NO CHANCE ! Also you really should be looking into investing getting a dictionary & spellchecker

Pot, Kettle, Black?

tschar

thanks for your answers,i will scan the receipt and post it later.
Sorry about the spelling but i`ve done 5 nights in a row and didn`t really looked what i was writing but heyho i`m only a foreigner and i`ve seen worse even from english person.
Thanks anyway.

chunkychocky

tschar wrote: »

Sorry about the spelling but i`ve done 5 nights in a row and didn`t really looked what i was writing but heyho i`m only a foreigner and i`ve seen worse even from english person.

Don't worry. You'll always find someone being overly pedantic, and while I despise some of the "English" that I see written on here I would never comment on it...for a start I know that my written English isn't perfect so it is hardly my place to criticise others. Your English is far better than many native English speakers.

Sorry I have no idea about getting some of your money back.

angel_islington

APCOA are a PPC, right?

esmerobbo

angel_islington wrote: »

APCOA are a PPC, right?

Right! 111111

However they are also employed as CEO's by some authorities such as!

London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Southwark
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Trafford Borough Council
South Tyneside Borough Council
Wolverhampton City Council
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
East Herts District Council
Solihull Council
Maidstone Borough Council
Warrington Borough Council
Derbyshire County Council
South Staffordshire Council
St Helens Council
Gloucester City Council
Walsall Council

give_them_FA

If you had thought a bit quicker, OP, you might have said that you were unable to read English, therefore the signs were unintellible to you. It is an international airport after all.

ric3vic

Did they really use the words "parking fines" in their email? Are they entitled to call their charges "fines"?

Coupon-mad

give_them_FA wrote: »

If you had thought a bit quicker, OP, you might have said that you were unable to read English, therefore the signs were unintellible to you. It is an international airport after all.

That would have been a good thing to say, good thinking...too late now.

I think the OP should go to pepipoo as this is a private towing and unless there is a Bylaw enabling the towing (which there could be) this action by APCOA would need to comply with the SIA rules and for the driver to have understood the risk of towing (clearly he/she didn't):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

Having said that - for once I think I can understand why the car was towed. You can't leave a car in a major Airport drop-off zone, go to the loo, cashpoint and coffee shop, and expect your car not to have attracted attention even in 5 or 10 minutes!

Not only is it obstruction but what about the security aspect? You cannot leave a bag unattended let alone a car near a busy entrance = bomb risk! :eek:

give_them_FA

esmerobbo wrote: »

Right! 111111

However they are also employed as CEO's by some authorities such as!

London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Southwark
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Trafford Borough Council
South Tyneside Borough Council
Wolverhampton City Council
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
East Herts District Council
Solihull Council
Maidstone Borough Council
Warrington Borough Council
Derbyshire County Council
South Staffordshire Council
St Helens Council
Gloucester City Council
Walsall Council

Some of those boroughs are a byword for incompetence. Thanks for telling us why Esmerobbo.