Apcoa Parking Charge

Rabof151

Hi
I promise that I have been reading through all of the posts in an attempt to obtain my answer but sadly I am still confused.
I received a letter this morning from Roxburghe demanding £131.00 for an unpaid parking charge. This is the first I have heard of this. I am the registered keeper but not the driver. The issue date was nearly 8 weeks ago on 16-07-2013.
Upon receipt of the letter I called Roxburghe explaining that I know nothing of this but they just wanted money. Then on trying to obtain the contact numbers for Apcoa I came across all of the complaints.
What steps should I take, I would have paid the £40 without question.
Thanks in advance
Rachel

Stroma

This is happening a lot with this company, it cannot be a coincidence this is being done deliberately to circumvent pofa 2012, and to get around people's legal right to use popla in England and Wales.

I would ignore roxburghe as they won't do anything. Go to ACPOA and tell them that no notice to keeper has arrived, and you wish to challenge the ticket. Tell them that it is your right to name the person responsible for the vehicle on this day. Give a name and address , don't say they were the driver.

Inform that you have discharged your liability according to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and the matter is now closed.

Coupon-mad

Rabof151 wrote: »

Hi
I promise that I have been reading through all of the posts in an attempt to obtain my answer but sadly I am still confused.
I received a letter this morning from Roxburghe demanding £131.00 for an unpaid parking charge. This is the first I have heard of this. I am the registered keeper but not the driver. The issue date was nearly 8 weeks ago on 16-07-2013.
Upon receipt of the letter I called Roxburghe explaining that I know nothing of this but they just wanted money. Then on trying to obtain the contact numbers for Apcoa I came across all of the complaints.
What steps should I take, I would have paid the £40 without question.
Thanks in advance
Rachel

Wow, my goodness! Would you really?! Can I have £40 for this advice then?!

See these thread for what to do when you were never sent a Notice by the PPC in time (had to arrive within 14 days for them to hold the registered keeper liable):

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

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

and follow Broadsword's excellent posts here #7 and #8 :

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=80531

Letter to APCOA (NOT NAMING NOR IMPLYING THE DRIVER OF COURSE!!) and email complaint to Mr Evans at the DVLA, and Steve C at the BPA, as shown in those threads, should get this cancelled. Just ignore the middle-man debt collectors of course.

Rabof151

Thank you so much for your replies and help
I have complied the following email, is it Ok?
Also the 'contact us' form is not working on APCOA website, does anybody have any actual email address I could use.


Dear Sirs
I have today received a letter from Roxburghe stating that one of my vehicles received a penalty on 16-07-2013 at Luton airport and demanding £131.00. As registered keeper I have never received any correspondence regarding this matter.
POFA requires that in order to make use of the provision to pursue the registered keeper that they must send a Notice to Keeper within 14 days. From that perspective you have failed and should you persist in chasing me as the keeper of the vehicle you may be liable to a claim of harassment.
As members of the British Parking Association Approved Operators Scheme you have also failed to comply with the Code of Practice and to top things off have made, arguably, improper use of DVLA data which is implicitly supplied to enable you to follow the law.
If APCOA or Roxburghe pursue the matter against me as registered keeper and issue any further correspondence or make any form of contact (except to cancel the charge or reject the challenge and send me details of how to appeal to POPLA) this will be considered harassment. In that event I will lodge an official complaint with the BPA Ltd and the DVLA AOS Compliance Manager, as well as with the Office of the Information Commissioner. I also reserve the right to forward a complaint to the relevant Trading Standards office concerning your commercial practices which which appear to be in breach of the CPUTR and the CoP.

Stroma

You haven't mentioned that it wasn't you who was driving and that you have the right to give a serviceable address of the person responsible for the vehicle on that day, and in line with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 its below

Name
Address

We can then help that person get this cancelled at popla if needs be

Stroma

And don't tell them you reserve the right to complain, inform them that you have complained and follow on with that

Rabof151

Thanks.
The date on the letter received is also incorrect, the vehicle was not at the airport on the said day. Should I also mention that?

Do you know of an actual email address for APCOA as the cont form isn't working

Guys_Dad

Rabof151 wrote: »

Thanks.
The date on the letter received is also incorrect, the vehicle was not at the airport on the said day. Should I also mention that?

Do you know of an actual email address for APCOA as the cont form isn't working

That's the killer point - far more important than the others.

Have they sent photos and do you think they have scrfewed up the date of contravention or is it a cloned car, if you are 100% sure about the date.

Rabof151

Just checked with driver, he know thinks he could have been there in that date, sorry for inconvenience.
So I'll just go with the fact that I, the registered keeper, never received anything part from the Roxburghe letter 8 weeks after the event

Chihiro1

Grr - got a fine from the same company or parking at my uni (where the receptionist told me to park I might add!) - unfortunately I did just get on and pay the fine £45, that was last year.
Last week I got a fine from Parking Eye for overstaying my welcome whilst shopping at TK Max (and spending Far too much money in there while I was at it!)
Was again, about to pay the fine as the letter looked very official and they had me on camera so I thought it was a fair cop. However , I don't recall seeing any parking signs about 3 hours only so I googled the car park - St Peters wharf retail park (I doubt St Peter would approve of his name being tarnished this way!) - and lo and behold came the stream of links about them being big fat scammers!!
So, with the advice from here and seeing that Watchdog clip I think I might wait to see what arrives in the post :-)
I can't stand these sorts of companies, they are as bad as the speed camera ticket people, and unfortunately I know (but don't like her) one - not only does she love her job but she's a racist to boot. Horrid person.

Coupon-mad

To ignore it and 'wait to see what arrives in the post' is NOT the right move, not current advice. Parking Eye are taking some ignorers to court, but the good news is we know how to beat them earlier on, at appeal, now that POPLA exists.

Start by reading the stickies and threads on page one of the parking forum and if unsure how to complain and appeal after that then ask any questions on a new thread please. If you don't know what POPLA is you haven't read current threads on page one.