APCOA at Luton again

Umkomaas

You could complain to the BPA but it won't cause them any chaos and they won't be chasing the PPC with sanction points - which is the long way round to say, save your breath and concentrate on your POPLA appeal. That's where you can deliver maximum impact on the PPC.

j4a

Thank you umkomaas for your advise. Sorry for late reply. Only just got round to getting my appeal sorted. Been extremly busy. Actualy, due to time restriction I just copied and pasted one of the templates from earlier threads. Hope it is ok. Here it is for your comments, which, as always, greatly appreciated.

POPLA Ref xxxxx
APCOA Parking.PCN no xxxxxxx

A notice to keeper was issued to me (The Registered Keeper of vehicle reg XXXXXXX) for an alleged contravention of 02-Dropping/Picking up outside of a designated parking area on xx-xx-xxxx.

My Appeal.

1). The notice to keeper is not compliant with paragraph 9 (2)(h) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 in that it does not identify the creditor . The operator is required to specifically "identify" the creditor not simply name them on it .This would require words to the effect of " The creditor is ..... " . The keeper is entitled to know the party with whom any purported contract was made. APCOA have failed to do this and thus have not fulfilled all the requirements necessary under POFA to allow them to attempt recovery of any charge from the keeper.

2). The BPA code of practice contains the following:
21 Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)
21.1 You may use ANPR camera technology to manage, control and enforce parking in private car parks, as long as you do this in a reasonable, consistent and transparent manner. Your signs at the car park must tell drivers that you are using this technology and what you will use the data captured by ANPR cameras for.
21.2 Quality checks: before you issue a parking charge notice you must carry out a manual quality check of the ANPR images to reduce errors and make sure that it is appropriate to take action. Full details of the items you should check are listed in the Operators’ Handbook.
21.3 You must keep any ANPR equipment you use in your car parks in good working order. You need to make sure the data you are collecting is accurate, securely held and cannot be tampered with. The processes that you use to manage your ANPR system may be audited by our compliance team or our agents.
21.4 It is also a condition of the Code that, if you receive and process vehicle or registered keeper data, you must:
• be registered with the Information Commissioner
• keep to the Data Protection Act
• follow the DVLA requirements concerning the data
• follow the guidelines from the Information Commissioner’s Office on the use of CCTV and ANPR cameras, and on keeping and sharing personal data such as vehicle registration marks.
21.5 If you want to make use of the Keeper Liability provisions in Schedule 4 of POFA 2012 and you have not issued and delivered a parking charge notice to the driver in the car park where the parking event took place, your Notice to Keeper must meet the strict requirements and timetable set out in the Schedule (in particular paragraph 9). I have had no evidence that APCOA have complied with these BPA Code requirements for ANPR issued tickets so require them to evidence their compliance to POPLA.

3). The amount of the charge is disproportionate to the loss incurred by APCOA Parking Ltd and is punitive, contravening the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997. I also consider the PCN to be a penalty because APCOA Parking Ltd have alleged a breach of terms and conditions and yet have not quantified their alleged loss (which cannot include business running costs nor the POPLA fee).

4). I do not believe that the Operator has demonstrated a proprietary interest in the land, because they have no legal possession which would give APCOA Parking Ltd any right to offer parking spaces, let alone allege a contract with third party customers of the lawful owner/occupiers. In addition, APCOA Parking Ltd's lack of title in this land means they have no legal standing to allege trespass or loss, if that is the basis of their charge. I require APCOA Parking Ltd to demonstrate their legal ownership of the land to POPLA.

5). I contend that APCOA Parking Ltd are only an agent working for the owner and their signs do not help them to form a contract without any consideration capable of being offered. VCS -v-HMRC 2012 is the binding decision in the Upper Chamber which covers this issue with compelling statements of fact about this sort of business model.

6). I believe there is no contract with the landowner/occupier that entitles them to levy these charges and therefore has no authority to issue parking charge notices (PCNs). This being the case, the burden of proof shifts to APCOA Parking Ltd to prove otherwise so I require that APCOA Parking Ltd produce a copy of their contract with the owner/occupier and that the POPLA adjudicator scrutinises it.

7). Even if a basic contract is produced and mentions PCNs, the lack of ownership or assignment of title or interest in the land reduces any contract to one that exists simply on an agency basis between APCOA Parking Ltd and the owner/occupier, containing nothing that APCOA Parking Ltd can lawfully use in their own name as a mere agent, that could impact on a third party customer.

8) Airport land is not 'relevant land' as it is already covered by statutory bylaws and so is specifically excluded from 'keeper liability' under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. As I am the registered keeper I am not legally liable as this Act does not apply on this land. I put the Operator to strict proof otherwise if they disagree with this point and would require them to show evidence including documentary proof from the Airport Authority that this land is not already covered by bylaws.
9) No contract can be said to be in place between motorist and operator. All contracts must have an offer, acceptance and consideration. All three elements are missing. There is no offer from the operator. There is no acceptance from the driver because the signage cannot be read at driving speed, so the driver cannot be said to be aware of the contractual terms. There is no consideration paid by the driver.
Regards xxxxx xxxxxxx

Coupon-mad

That will do the job!

The_Deep

Was there not a case recently in the CC where this company was thoroughly rubbished by the judge.

bazster

The_Deep wrote: »

Was there not a case recently in the CC where this company was thoroughly rubbished by the judge.

Dunno, but they thoroughly rubbished their own operation in Luton's local rag recently when they admitted that their charges are in fact penalties for not using the official (i.e. paid-for) drop-off zone:

http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/business/business-news/80-for-nine-second-stop-1-5963167

j4a

Thank you all for your time. Before I send it off, one more question. On the POPLA form it says they prefer all appeals to be e-mailed with the form, appeal letter and all the evidence attached. Is it a good idea or shall I stick with posting it and getting a proof of posting.
Thank you.

Umkomaas

To be safe the general forum advice is to do both. The online facility has had a character limit and lengthy submissions have been truncated by the system resulting in serious appeal points being lost. Not sure whether the character limit situation has been resolved, so play it safe.

Make sure that your paper version has your POPLA reference annotated on each page and you staple (not paper clip) all pages together.

Then sit back and await the positive outcome coming your way in about 5 weeks' time.

j4a

HURRAY!!! HURRAY!!! :j :j :j Success!!!
Got POPLA decision. Finaly got round to posting it here.

The Operator has informed us that they have cancelled parking charge notice number LMxxxxxxxx, issued in respect of a vehicle with the registration mark xxxxxxx.

Your appeal therefore has been allowed by order of the Lead Adjudicator.

You are not liable for the parking charge and, where appropriate, any amounts already paid in respect of this parking charge notice will be refunded by the Operator.

Richard Reeve
Service Manager

j4a

To pay for POPLA and then cancel the "ticket", APCOA's management must be either dumb or the chancers.
It has to be the former, cos chancer wouldn't have gone as far as paing for POPLA

Thank you all good people for the job you are doing on this site.

And strong advise to everyone to appeal all these "tickets". Scum should stop.

Coupon-mad

Good on you!