apcoa parking charge notice

flames

hi all,looking for some advice on a pcn i have recieved.
i picked my mum up from luton airport on 22/06/2013 in my partners car,my mum had started walking down to meet me,and was at the roundabout before the drop off point.i stopped just off the roundabout to allow her to put her case in the car and get in.today (11/07/2013) i returned her to the airport and dropped her off in the same place,on return home my partner informed me she had recieved a pcn from apcoa.date of issue of this notice is 10/07/2013.this is for 'the alleged contravention of 02-dropping off/picking up outside of a designated parking area.at luton airport.the alleged contravention is a BREACH OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE of the airport road infrastructure and signs are clearly displayed throughout the area showing these terms and conditions.'
obviously i am now expecting a 2nd of these notices and charges.
there probably are signs around with these terms and conditions on,but i didnt/wasnt looking for them,and im sure if i had seen them,i wouldnt of been able to read them as i drove past.
am i best to pay these charges? or do i have a good case to challenge them.and if so,how do i go about challenging as i believe the rules have changed?

thanks in advance for any help or advice.

The_Slithy_Tove

First things first - don't even think about paying. Why on earth should you shell out money just because someone comes up with some bogus contract you never agreed to.

Second, just search here (top right) for "airport PCN" and you'll get loads and loads of threads from various of these parasites operating at airports.

Does APCOA's notice mention the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012? If so, they have made a number of blunders which you will be able to use to your advantage.

For a start, POFA relates to parking charges, they clue is in the name, it's for "parking". Stopping to set down/pick up is not parking - they've even said so themselves. So therefore they can't use POFA. Strike 1.

Next, Luton airport's roads are (we are pretty sure) covered by Statutory Authority, i.e. Byelaws. POFA does not apply in such situations. Strike 2.

POFA also says they have to deliver the notice to keeper (what you OH has received) within 14 days of the event. They seem to have missed this. Strike 3.

What does this mean? POFA allows parking companies to (attempt to) recover their fake charges from the keeper if they don't know who the driver was. Since they can't use POFA, they can only pursue the driver. And they don't know who that was, so you definitely must not tell them.

That's not to say that APCOA won't pretend they can use POFA and can pursue your OH. As long as your OK is prepared for this, you are in a very strong position.

And quite apart from POFA, they cannot possibly claim there was a contract between the driver and themselves for the very reasons you said, i.e. the signage was not sufficient to be read, understood and agreed to as you drive past.

These are all winning appeal points, but APCOA will dismiss them all. So don't waste your time on them with APCOA. Save them for POPLA, the next appeal stage.

Right now, your OH should appeal in the briefest way. Simply state that they deny any liability for their (fake) charge, that their notice does not conform to POFA, so they, as keeper, are not and never will be responsible. They must pursue the driver (but don't do anything to identify the driver). Tell them to cancel the charge or issue a POPLA code within 35 days, and that no further correspendence will be entered into.

Once that's done, await the rejection and POPLA code. Meanwhile do some reading here about POPLA appeals. There are other points to raise as well as those I've alredy listed. Don't send in your POPLA appeal(s) without running them past this forum first. People here have experience with getting winning appeals.

Good luck!

flames

thanks for that. in reply to your question'Does APCOA's notice mention the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012? If so, they have made a number of blunders which you will be able to use to your advantage.

the answer is yes.'under schedule 4 of the protection of freedoms act 2012,we do have the right,subject to the requirements of the act,to recover from the keeper of the vehicle at the time it was parked so much of that amount that remains unpaid' is what they actually state.

there is no mention of how i was caught in the letter.im guessing it must be by video camera?

i will run any correspondance by here before posting,just to make sure i dont say the wrong thing and make things worse for myself.

thanks again,you have been very helpful.

Coupon-mad

Ah but they don't have that 'right' at all! Not on Airport land covered by byelaws:


http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/guidance-unpaid-parking-charges/guidance-unpaid-parking-charges.pdf

''4.1 The provisions in Schedule 4 are intended to apply only on private land in England and Wales. Public highways are excluded as well as any parking places on public land which are either provided or controlled by a local authority (or other government body). Any land which already has statutory controls in relation to the parking of vehicles (such as byelaws applying to airports, ports and some railway station car parks) is also excluded.''


That's from the DFT Guidance on the law that APCOA are quoting at you! And we KNOW Luton Airport roads have byelaws applicable due to the unlawful clamping/towing case mentioned in that strong appeal letter.

So look at other Luton Airport threads and learn about this scam and what to write; here's a strong challenge I wrote but you'd just need to remove the bit about disability and the Equality Act (unless it applies to you/a passenger). The rest is all relevant:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62223421#Comment_62223421

No worries about 'making thing worse' for you as long as you DO NOT imply who was driving when you tweak the letter to suit!

Things are not bad, you don't have a parking fine and you won't be paying these shysters (and yes they got a picture with a remote camera). So what?! Write that letter!

HTH

Not_Guilty?

Hi folks.


Usual story from me at Luton I am RK was not driver for stated offence ,Parking charge notice was delivered 16 days after alleged offence was commited ,driver saw passengers and stopped for two minutes .

But is the advice still to ignore the APCOA Parking charge notice from the outset and have no contact with them or should I go through the appeals procedure.


Thanks for any help and regds.

bazster

Please start your own thread, but also look for the many, many recent discussions on APCOA at Luton. And no, the advice is NOT to ignore.

Not_Guilty?

Thanks for that .

I was not the driver and can prove it as I was working elsewhere although I am RK ,what should my appeal to APCOA say in the first instance and should I e-mail it to them.

bazster

I repeat: Please start your own thread, but also look for the many, many recent discussions on APCOA at Luton.