APCOA Parking Charge Notice

Vidwil

Hi,

New to this forum but hope somebody can advise what action, if any, I should take regarding a Parking Charge Notice I received today from APCOA. It has an ANPR shot enclosed and is demanding a £60 charge for "alleged contravention of 04 - Use of Private Car Park without making a valid payment". This is regarding parking in Travelodge Oxford Peartree on 26/02/13, for which an on-line parking fee had been paid in advance and "covers a 24hr period" (quote from APCOA's on-line payment site).
The vehicle was parked on arrival, at 10pm 25/02/13, the ANPR shot shows the vehicle entering the car park on the morning of the 26th @ 09:40, we left the hotel to drop off our daughter at Oxford Brooks then returned to the the Travelodge car park (09:40)to check out leaving @ 11:40am. We asked at the Hotel if we had to pay for the car parking again, for leaving and re-entering and they also stated that our payment was for a 24hr period and covered our stay up to checkout.
I have evidence that payment for parking was paid, directly to APCOA, on my Visa bill.
Should I respond to this charge, challenge it or ignore it?, any advice would be gratefully received.

Stroma

You can ignore this, but I would be tempted to challenge them, and go to popla to independent appeals. This is the kind of soft appeal to acpoa that should be sent, amened it to what you need.

Name
Address
Date

Dear ACPOA

I want to appeal your invoice xxxx at xxxx car park on the xx/xx/xxxx . I paid to park for 24 hours at this location, I asked the hotel if it was okay to leave and come back, and they agreed. So the the terms were not broken. Obviously your anpr cameras and your systems are faulty as I paid to use the facilities.

I require that you cancel this invoice immediately. If you reject my appeal, I require a popla verification code within 35 days of the date of this appeal, per the BPA code of practice.

I have no further information to provide to you, so consider this my final response to you

Sincerely
Mrs Not a mug

Umkomaas

Seems to show that the PPC has little by way of checks of the integrity of its systems - just a conveyor belt of fake PCNs and work on the basis of 60% of them will be paid by intimidated/ignorant (of the reality) members of the public.

A good business model - unless it's exposed.

With the documentary evidence you have of your payment and it's 24 hour validity, challenge them with this; demand they provide you with a POPLA reference number should they consider they have any cause to not rescind the demand.

Exposure of this shoddy practice to POPLA would be good.

Vidwil

Thanks for the replies, I was going to ignore the PCN, after reading some of the other threads on here, but following your advice I think I'll challenge them as the more I think about it the more incensed I get. There is no mention of our pre-payment not covering the alleged date/time frame, in fact there's not mention of us paying at all, leading me to think that they've acted on the ANPR evidence due to the the entry-exit time span being only 2hrs.

Coupon-mad

Vidwil wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I was going to ignore the PCN, after reading some of the other threads on here, but following your advice I think I'll challenge them as the more I think about it the more incensed I get. There is no mention of our pre-payment not covering the alleged date/time frame, in fact there's not mention of us paying at all, leading me to think that they've acted on the ANPR evidence due to the the entry-exit time span being only 2hrs.

I would challenge it and complain to Travelodge as well.

If APCOA are stupid enough to reject this appeal then we can help you with the next stage, a very strong appeal for POPLA independent appeals stage which will cost APCOA £27 plus VAT to lose.

Vidwil

I since found our receipt (e-mail invoice) from APCOA, in which is clearly stated on it the time & dates of the parking that we required and had pre paid for.
" Entry 25/02/13 19:00 - Exit 26/02/13 12:00" so assuming we were not limited to one entry/exit, within that time period,something that was queried with the Travelodge at the time, then the evidence they've provided (re-entry at 09:40 and exit at 11:40 on the 26/02/13) doesn't contravene anything as they themselves have provided documentary evidence that parking was paid for up until 12:00hrs on the 26/02/13.
Do you think we should include a copy of this in our appeals reply or hold it back for a later date? assuming we will receive the expected appeals refusal from them.

Kite2010

Hold it back, then hit popla with it.

Coupon-mad

Vidwil wrote: »

I since found our receipt (e-mail invoice) from APCOA, in which is clearly stated on it the time & dates of the parking that we required and had pre paid for.
" Entry 25/02/13 19:00 - Exit 26/02/13 12:00" so assuming we were not limited to one entry/exit, within that time period,something that was queried with the Travelodge at the time, then the evidence they've provided (re-entry at 09:40 and exit at 11:40 on the 26/02/13) doesn't contravene anything as they themselves have provided documentary evidence that parking was paid for up until 12:00hrs on the 26/02/13.
Do you think we should include a copy of this in our appeals reply or hold it back for a later date? assuming we will receive the expected appeals refusal from them.

Do a basic appeal to APCOA, quite naively written if you can - and hold that evidence back for POPLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D