Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

Castle

The parent company of APCOA FM (Harrow) Ltd is actually a company called APCOA Facilities Management UK Ltd (Co No 2352447) not APCOA Parking UK. So empowering "the parent company" is not possible despite what they claim in answer 3.

Since there is still no evidence of any contract with APCOA Parking UK, I'm not sure how they have updated the original version with them.

Umkomaas

Rover_Driver wrote: »

Makes me think that the replies are being drafted by APCOA, and the trust don't understand the situation.

Especially that GPEOL breakdown which mirrors a number of the recent fanciful attempts of justification to POPLA from a growing number of PPCs.

And if that is a genuine loss, it is further exacerbated by only recovering 50% of it via their 'discount' scheme, thereby requiring the NHS to pick up the remaining 50%. I expect your latest 'friend' the MP will be very interested in this admission of a gross misuse of NHS funds! What have APCOA handed them here? Political dynamite!

Oh dear, they're digging this hole deeper and deeper!

Fruitcake

Fergie76

Baz, gonna do reply to the hospital and I'm interested in attaching a LBCC, cuase their p!ssing me off now. How would I word such a thing?

bazster

Here's a template published by the Consumer Association:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-before-small-claims-court-claim

You (or rather your wife) would be claiming under the terms of the EA 2010 for injury to feelings. There is plenty of material suggesting that the minimum a court would award for this reason is £500. Google "Vento guidelines".

Benefit Master knows his way around the court system, hopefully he might want to comment on anything you propose to send.

Fergie76

Thanks.

I'll do reply as I planned, then I'll do LBCC on behalf of wife separate so the don't get confused, seeing as it doesn't take much to confuse them.

Fergie76

In hospital reply on the Friday, they said:

It is wholly appropriate for London North West Healthcare NHS Trust to empower the parent company and for it to receive the keeper details from the DVLA on the Trust’s behalf.

I have just found this: http://www.apcoa.co.uk/fileadmin/apcoa_uk/files/APCOA_PARKING_Pay_and_Display_Terms_and_Conditions_of_entry_and_parking.pdf

APCOA Parking in the UK comprises the following companies:
APCOA Parking Holdings (UK) Limited, Registered No. 05163792,
APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, Registered No. 02572947,
APCOA Parking Services (UK) Limited, Registered No. 02492280,
APCOA Facilities Management (UK) Limited, Registered No. 02352447,
APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Limited, Registered No. 03481526.

All these companies are registered in England and Wales and their registered offices are at Wellington House, 4–10 CowleyRoad, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 2XW

It was APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947, that issued the ticket, but the contract is in the name of APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Limited, Registered No. 03481526.

Given the above, can APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947, be the parent company or are they sister companies and does it make any difference?

Fergie76

Draft reply to hospital:

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your reply at Reference E, however I most certainly do not consider that matter closed. In fact I still have many unresolved issues. I will begin with your letter at Reference D and then will deal with your email at Reference F.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So your easiness I will respond to each of your points, where I am unsatisfied with your response in order that you replied to them on Reference [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]1. Breach of Equality[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Providing disabled bays in excess of the laid down minimum is very noble; however it takes more than that to comply with the Equality Act. There are key words in the act such as ‘making reasonable adjustment’ and ‘not to substantially disadvantage’. You have failed to do this, therefore you are breaching the Equality Act 2010. I won’t go into great detail here on why you are, but if you refer to Reference C, I have made a detail explanation as to why.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2. Blue Badge Scheme[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You are missing the point, the blue badge scheme does not apply on private land and therefore how do you make reasonable adjustment for people that require it, but do not have a blue badge? Writing on your signs that Blue Badges are required does not relieve you of your obligations under the Equality Act.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3. Number of Disabled Bays[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Trust may well have 46 disabled bays, however car park 3 in which the driver was parked, there were only one, which was taken. I have already explained why it was necessary to park in this car park and you still have an obligation under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustment.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4. Parking Charge Notice[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Your reply completely confused me, as it does not in any way answer my point. In previous correspondence you have stated that the driver received this charge for breach of contract. To form a contract all terms and conditions must be displayed/agreed at the time the contract is formed (assuming a contract is ever formed). Nowhere on your signs does it say that breaching the T&C’s will cost £60. Therefore no contract can ever be made, therefore all charges in your car parks are illegal. You are responsible for this, as Landowner. APCOA are merely your Agents and you are responsible for their actions.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]5. British Parking Association[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I listed 4 breaches and yet in your reply you only responded to one, regarding not ticketing blue badges. Therefore, I must assume that you condone the breach of the BPA COP AOS, as means to scam people of money. You are complicit in your lack of action to rectify this short-coming.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]6. Freedom of Information Requests[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Well, where do I start with this one… I have submitted two FOI’s and you have failed to respond to both on time. You closed FOI 309-14, despite me informing you had not fully responded to it and still haven’t. The change of name deeds, changes the name to APCOA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (HARROW) LIMITED, company number: 03481526. However, the company that is infesting your car parks is APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947, two completely different companies. You have not supplied any evidence that APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947 has a right to issue charges in your car parks.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have received a copy of two letters from the DVLA that APCOA have supplied to them dated 26 Apr 11 and 7 Jul 14. The letter dated 7 Jul 14, references an agreement dated 1 Jan 14, which is valid for 3 years from 1 Jan 14 to 31 Dec 17 (you will notice that this is in fact 4 years not 3). This appears to be an amendment to the contract and you have not supplied a copy of it or any other letters. Therefore as I requested in FOI 309-14, can you supply fully unredacted copies of all documents relating to the contract and amendments to the contract with APCOA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (HARROW) LIMITED, company number: 03481526 and APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Bear in mind that guidance was in 2004 that you should structure contracts such that you can easily just withhold a single schedule with the prices in and submit EVERYTHING else, including all the main T&Cs.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]7. Contact with the Trust[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Well, I think we can both agree that the Trust has been disgraceful in its handling of my complaints and FOI requests. Routinely, not replying and when you have replied not answering the points that I have made. You need to conduct an overhaul of the way the Trust conducts itself with the public. I have on two occasions had cause to report your to Trust to the Information Commissioners Office. Well we best make that 3, as I will also report that your Trust still has not satisfactory answered my first FOI.[/FONT]




[FONT=&quot]8. POPLA Outcome[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You state that the outcome of my POPLA appeal does not affect your view on the validity of parking charges? This is very concerning. It has been deemed by an Independent Assessor that the charges were not justified and yet you still back them? I can’t comment on this anymore as I am lost for words other than to say that your contractor APCOA has still not sent me any confirmation that they have cancelled the charge. So is it cancelled or not?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]9. Email [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Again I will take your email reply at Reference F in turn.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]1. You say the contract does not cover charges for breach of contract and to see response 3. I think response 3 refers to the document entitle ParkingPolicy-April2010v3, it’s not too clear. I have looked at this document and still fail to see where it says APCOA can apply charges; again can you please point me in the direction of the relevant paragraph. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]All I can see is a table at Annex 1 which states current tarrifs. This relates to penalty charges, which we know you cannot apply. It also states that these penalties are only £15. Nowhere does it explicitly say that APCOA can charge penalty charges.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2. Yet again you state the company that you have a contract with is APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd and not APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd, who is the one dishing out the penalties.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3. You say that it is entirely appropriate for you to empower the parent company to deliver the Trusts Parking policy. What evidence do you have they are the parent company? Why was this not supplied as part of the FOI for the contract?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]4. Genuine Pre-estimate of Loss (GPEOL)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I get the feeling that this has been supplied by APCOA and is not your GPEOL. You do realise that APCOA have submitted this GPEOL to POPLA and have been defeated every time for not being a GPEOL?[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Loss of P&D revenue Tariff £12.20[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Cost of PCN issuance: Labour Cost / Licences / Software upload / Consumables / Misc. £12.25[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Associated Labour cost of officer patrol per hour: £9.05[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]DVLA Fees / Processing Costs for appeals £15.00[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Admin Expenses for appeal: Stationery £3.00[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Postage £2.00[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Printing £2.00[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Attendant and POPLA Appeals staff wages and salaries including Employers National InsuranceAttendants (PCN recording and issuing) for a standard case £15.38[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Appeals Staff 1 hour (call handling / appeals writing) for a case £9.13[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Management at 3 hours (quality control / evidence gathering / appeal writing ) for a case £30.28[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Loss of P&D revenue[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – why £12.20? An hours parking is only £2.40 and a full days parking is £12.00. You can’t assume someone will stay all day. What if the person has paid for a P&D, but is delayed by circumstances out with their control, for example clinic over running. Your loss is not £12.20.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Cost of PCN issuance: Labour costs / Licences / Software upload / Consumables / Misc[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – You do realise that these are the costs of running a business and you will have them regardless if any one breaks your made up rules or not, therefore can’t be included in a GPEOL. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Associated Labour Costs of Patrol Officer per hour[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – Again a normal business cost that cannot be included in a GPEOL, unless of course you are telling me that the poor car parking attendant does not get paid unless he tickets cars and therefore incentivising the issuing of tickets?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]DVLA Fee / Processing Costs[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – The DVLA fee may be valid, if you had a valid excuse for obtaining the Registered Keepers details in the first place, however this is only £2.50, not £15.00.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Stationary[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – Again may be valid, if you had a valid claim.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Postage[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – Assuming that APCOA send their letters first class this is only £0.62 not £2.00.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Printing[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – See stationary.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Attendant and POPLA Appeals staff wages and salaries including Employers National InsuranceAttendants (PCN recording and issuing) for a standard case[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – Again this a business cost and not part of a GPEOL.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Appeals Staff 1 hour[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – If someone pays up between 14 and 28 days, without appealing, why are they being charged for an appeal they have never made? Also this is a normal business cost.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Management at 3 hours (quality control / evidence gathering / appeal writing ) for a case[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – See Appeals staff.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This GPEOL is quite clearly a work of fiction and as I have already said is routinely dismissed at POPLA.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Taking the above, the true GPEOL would:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Loss of P&D - £2.40[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]DVLA cost - £2.50[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Stationary (including printing) - £3.00[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Postage - £0.62[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Total - £8.52.[/FONT]

bazster

Your point 9.3 seems to imply that if they can provide evidence that APCOA (UK) is the parent company then you will accept what the Trust says about it being "appropriate to empower the parent company".

Well it's not appropriate. Regardless of ownership or subsidiarity they are separate and distinct legal entities. One has a contract with the Trust, the other does not, and it seems that the one dishing out the fake fines is not the one that has the contract.

Companies can be bought, sold, wound up or go bust at the drop of a hat. So the Trust thinks it can empower the parent to do stuff, even though it has no contract with the parent? So what happens if the parent sells or winds up the subsidiary today? What happens then to the "empowerment"?

Nope, only the company named in the contract has a legal relationship with the Trust, and the Trust might just as well claim it can empower your local newsagent to do something, that would be equally nonsensical.

Redx

not wishing to be picky but dont allow them to dwell on any spelling mistakes like the word tariff in 9.1, so please proof read it and check with spell checker before submission, so not giving them any distractions from the actual content of your letter, taking the moral high ground so to speak with no errors whatsoever on your part and let them make all the errors like they have done up to now

also, I would mention "as according to Jeremy Hunts autumn 2014 statement" at the end of 4)

keep up the good work as these arrogant so and so`s really need a bonfire lit under their backsides because these problems continue daily until they fix them, to others if not yourself or your wife, plus your wife deserves better than this which I why I 100% agree with an LBC etc , from her (or you writing on her behalf) , due to the fact you are quite right and they acted disgracefully regarding her rights under the EA2010 at the moment or previously

just trying to help, so not a criticism at all on my part , I like the professional way you are doing this so always stay on your pedestal whilst knocking these overpaid fools off theirs , our local CEO was a fool too and eventually her house of cards came tumbling down and she resigned

good luck