PCN advice needed

njr_rjn

Hi - I went to collect a friend from Luton Airport on 26/06/13
He was standing at the roundabout near the entrance to the drop off / pick up car park. I did not need to enter the car park because he just jumped in my car and we drove away. I am told there are some small signs indicating that the car park should be used for drop off and pick up, although I did not notice these. I stopped for a matter of seconds while he jumped into the car.

I have since been sent a notice on the 10/07/13 from APCOA Parking asking for payment of £80, discounted to £40 if I payed within 14 days.

Having read this forum about these sorts of charges I opted to ignore the letter.

Today, 27/07/13, I have received a letter from Roxburghe asking for payment of £128 because I didn't respond to the previous request.

I feel strongly about this and think it's a complete ripoff.

Any advice on the course I should take would be appreciated.

nigelbb

njr_rjn wrote: »

Having read this forum about these sorts of charges I opted to ignore the letter.

Why? The consistent advice for at least six months has been to appeal to the PPC then appeal to POPLA when that first appeal is inevitably rejected.

The_Slithy_Tove

Clearly your search on these forums for terms like "Luton Airport APCOA" failed (somehow) to turn up the myriad threads about these fake airport charges, and how you should appeal, and then appeal to POPLA and win.

So, maybe you should try using the search facility again, this time look for "Roxburghe", at which point you should be fully aware that they are part of the scam, totally ineffectual, and as ignorable as all the rest (i.e. ignore from now on as you are too late for appeals)

Coupon-mad

njr_rjn wrote: »

Hi - I went to collect a friend from Luton Airport on 26/06/13
He was standing at the roundabout near the entrance to the drop off / pick up car park. I did not need to enter the car park because he just jumped in my car and we drove away. I am told there are some small signs indicating that the car park should be used for drop off and pick up, although I did not notice these. I stopped for a matter of seconds while he jumped into the car.

I have since been sent a notice on the 10/07/13 from APCOA Parking asking for payment of £80, discounted to £40 if I payed within 14 days.

Having read this forum about these sorts of charges I opted to ignore the letter.

Today, 27/07/13, I have received a letter from Roxburghe asking for payment of £128 because I didn't respond to the previous request.

I feel strongly about this and think it's a complete ripoff.

Any advice on the course I should take would be appreciated.

Should have searched the forum and read ONLY current threads, even a single keyword, 'Airport' would have found you the right advice. Now you are too late to appeal and win at POPLA which is EASY. We have been advising this since the Spring so I have no idea why you read old threads and decided to ignore the fake PCN.

Now you will have to ignore all the Roxburghe letters for months on end, and probably GPB letters and all the drivel they throw at you (search the forum for GPB). You are too late for POPLA now. But I do have a proactive suggestion or two so never fear!

What you DO NOT DO is respond in any way that lets on who the driver was! You (as the registered keeper) are most likely to have zero liability on Airport land because the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) doesn't apply to this land (as you would know if you read other 'Airport' threads when you search). It's just a shame you are now on the back foot and could have beaten this by now if you had read the current forum threads sooner.

Proactive approach, now you have missed your chance to 'appeal' at POPLA:

You should send an official, strong complaint to the British Parking Association & the DVLA if any of APCOA's letters are suggesting that you are 'liable' as the registered keeper, and if the letters mention the POFA. I would complain and see if APCOA are told to cancel, if you make your case well that their letters are misleading and non-compliant as they know that Airport land has no registered keeper liability nor POFA applying to it, and it should not be for a member of the public to have to find this out and tell an AOS member about it!

See here for the email addresses to use for the BPA and DVLA when complaining about any breach of the Code of Practice (e.g. sending a late notice still mentioning POFA or pretending registered keeper liability applies when it doesn't):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62837083#Comment_62837083

See post #14 here by Broadsword which shows the DVLA do take such complaints seriously (this example was where complaints were made that a PPC were too late to send their usual Notice as they sent it outside of 14 days):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=81284&st=0

Did APCOA send yours so you received it within 14 days of the incident?

Get complaining about any breaches you can find. Read other Airport threads!

Here's an example of a strong response to APCOA pointing out various breaches and misleading stuff in their letters (only I think this person was in time for POPLA which you are not, but no harm in asking as long as you realise not to imply who the driver was). You could send a similar response to this one (NOT to the middle-man debt collectors, ignore them!) and also report APCOA to the BPA and DVLA at the same time, which may get it quashed:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62859837#Comment_62859837

HTH

Guys_Dad

njr_rjn wrote: »

Hi - I went to collect a friend from Luton Airport on 26/06/13

Having read this forum about these sorts of charges I opted to ignore the letter.

I wonder if you can help us?

There are a number of regulars on here and we get a bit puzzled when we read a sentence like the one above. You may have detected a slight irritation in the tone of some of the previous posts.

I was wondering what we are missing from the advice we have been giving for months now when someone, obviously not a plonker, says that they have opted to ignore the PPC. Now I am genuinely not having a go, but what more can we do to get across that POPLA is the route, after exhausting the supermarkets/landowner and PPC itself?

Is the search taking you to old threads or what?

AS I said, I would be grateful if you could take the time to help. Helping us results in us being able to help you and other better.

Thanks.

Mama9210

Thank you for your excellent advice. As to the request for help from Guys Dad when I googled UK CPS Ltd it did take me to the old posts but I followed your strings and reached these new ones. Hope this helps:)

Coupon-mad

Mama9210 wrote: »

Thank you for your excellent advice. As to the request for help from Guys Dad when I googled UK CPS Ltd it did take me to the old posts but I followed your strings and reached these new ones. Hope this helps:)

Yes, I think people Google search the company name and then read the thread they land on (however old!!!). Which is never what one should do with any forum; there is always a 'string' (breadcrumb trail, as explained in my signature) which gets you to the current forum threads with one single click.

4_Pete's_Sake

I got one of these unsolicited invoices from Apcoa last November after letting a friend out of my car at the same Luton Airport The return address on the back of the letter was Lavender Park Road, West Byfleet, Surrey. I ignored the first one, which invited me to make to pay early at half the price. :mad:

In January this year, I received another letter with the Lavender Park Road address on the back.:eek: I did not open it but wrote on it, "Moved Away, Return to Sender". I then got a third letter about 10 days later and did exactly the same.

That was the last that I ever heard from them.:rotfl::rotfl::j

They are after easy money, which most people give them and don't want the hassle of trying to find someone who may have moved house.

Coupon-mad

4_Pete's_Sake wrote: »

I got one of these unsolicited invoices from Apcoa last November after letting a friend out of my car at the same Luton Airport The return address on the back of the letter was Lavender Park Road, West Byfleet, Surrey. I ignored the first one, which invited me to make to pay early at half the price. :mad:

In January this year, I received another letter with the Lavender Park Road address on the back.:eek: I did not open it but wrote on it, "Moved Away, Return to Sender". I then got a third letter about 10 days later and did exactly the same.

That was the last that I ever heard from them.:rotfl::rotfl::j

They are after easy money, which most people give them and don't want the hassle of trying to find someone who may have moved house.

Yep we have all ignored fake PCNs in the past - but NOT NOW, in England/Wales.

This is because of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the existence of POPLA and the mad tactics of some PPCs who are taking ignorers to court, even years later.

RobDog1966

Hi, I am feeling pretty stupid after also reading old posts and ignoring my original letters....I have not contacted anyone reference these letters and have today received a letter from GPB solicitors.. my original letter was dated 21st May 2013 so i think I also may be too late to contact POPLA... I will however be using the pro active steps as outlined in Coupon Mads post so thank you....

Coupon-mad

RobDog1966 wrote: »

Hi, I am feeling pretty stupid after also reading old posts and ignoring my original letters....I have not contacted anyone reference these letters and have today received a letter from GPB solicitors.. my original letter was dated 21st May 2013 so i think I also may be too late to contact POPLA... I will however be using the pro active steps as outlined in Coupon Mads post so thank you....

If your fake PCN was received more than 14 days after the incident and if it suggests that the POFA 2012 and registered keeper liability applies (which it won't with a late ticket) you have good grounds for complaint to the DVLA as per Broadsword's post I linked above on pepipoo.

Never fear, you can beat this. Write strongly to APCOA, the BPA and the DVLA once you have identified the flaws in the case. Ignore GPB who are Roxburghe debt collectors in disguise and are just the useless middle man.