APCOA Luton Airport

Air_Poot

1. A friend was dropped off at the roundabout at Luton Airport on 01/08/2014. I received the following PCN from APCOA dated 22/08/2014:

"Notice is hereby served to the registered keeper of vehicle registration: xxxxxx
For the alleged contravention of 02-Dropping off/Picking up outside of a designated parking area at LUTON AIRPORT on 01/08/2014

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.

(3 photos of friend leaving car)
Please note that the driver of the vehicle at the time of the breach of terms and conditions detailed above is required to pay the parking charges in respect of the above and these have not yet been paid in full.

As we do not know either the name of the driver or their current serviceable address, we request that you either pay the full amount outstanding as noted above; or if you were not the driver of the vehicle at the specified period provide us with the name of the driver and their current serviceable address and pass this notice onto them. If you have sold the vehicle, please provide us with the details of whom the vehicle was sold to as well a proof of sale.

If you are a Hire Company please provide the name and serviceable address for the Hirer along with a statement by or on behalf of your firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement, a copy of the hire agreement and a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hirer agreement, within 28 days of the 'date given' above.

A charge of £80 is payable and must be paid before the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the 'date given' above. If the charge is paid before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the 'date given', the amount of the charge will be reduced by 50%.

The vehicle keeper data has been obtained from the DVLA (under Regulation 27(1)(e) of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002). They have provided the details above as the registered keeper of the vehicle at the date and time of issue of the Parking Charge Notice. If you believe your data has been used/provided inappropriately, you can notify the DVLA by contacting xxxxx


Collection activity may result in increased charges and APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd may engage third party Debt Collectors or commence legal proceedings for the recovery of the charge together with all associated costs.

Should you wish to dispute .....


2. As per the NEWBIES Thread I sent the standard 1st appeal, making no indication as to who was driving the car:

APCOA Parking
Re: PCN No. xxxxxxxxxxx


Speculative invoice dated 22 August 2014, some 21 days after the date of the alleged event.


I refer to the above notice which I appeal against, as keeper of the car, on the following grounds:

a). The sum sought does not represent a genuine pre-estimate of yours or your principal's loss.
b). The signage on site is deficient and fails to comply with the British Parking Association's Code of Practice, Annexe B.
c). In the absence of any evidence it is my case that you lack any or sufficient proprietary interest in the land.
d). Your notice was deficient and fails to comply with Schedule 4, Protection of Freedoms Act.


Please uphold this appeal or send a rejection letter so I can escalate this matter to the independent service offered by your Trade Body.

Yours faithfully



3. Today I received APCOA's rejection of the appeal, as expected, with the POPLA appeal form attached. I want to ask advice on events so far to enable me to draft a successful appeal to POPLA as per #3. I must admit I am confused as if I need to any more or go back to the "Ignore" option after recent posts? Thanks in advance for all your help.

"You were issued a notice having received an allegation of contravention at Luton Airport. Having investigated further, we have found that your vehicle was pictured in breach of the above terms set by London Luton airport, parked at the main roundabout to drop off the passenger, having failed to enter the pickup and drop off zone, or short term car park which is just on the right where you have stopped your vehicle.

Luton airport does not allow people to enter or exit any vehicle when going round the roundabout. This rule has been enforced to ensure the safety for pedestrians and drivers around Luton Airport, as well as to maintaining the traffic flow.

All restricted areas are signposted and clearly state that no stopping is allowed at any time to drop off or pick up, or entry unless authorised by the London Luton Airport or any other authorised bodies. Bus lanes and restricted areas are all monitored by CCTV and number plate recognition is in operation. Anyone in contravention of this restriction will be liable for a Parking Charge Notice of up to £80. There is a £2 Drop Off Zone in place at Luton Airport. This was introduced to ease traffic congestion at the terminal. We do also offer free parking at the Mid Term car park for up to 30 minutes.

In regards to your comments on receiving a Parking Charge Notice, it is out understanding that as we have not referred to this in our documentation, we are able to work in accordance with the BPA code of practise (June 2013) which states that we have up to 28 days to deliver a postal PCN from the date of contravention.


APCOA is not liable to justify the charge as set out in section 19.5 of the BPA guidelines, 'If the parking charge that the driver is being asked to pay is for a breach of contract or act of trespass, this charge must be based on the genuine pre-estimate of loss that you suffer. We would not expect this amount to be more than £100. If the charge is more than this, operators must be able to justify the amount in advance.'

As per the BPA guidelines we believe the parking charge is fair and reasonable at £80 reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days. The sum, and calculations which have been made in setting it, have been approved and agreed by the landowner.

It is established that a contract can be made by offer, in the form of the terms and conditions set out on the notice and acceptance by parking a vehicle. If a motorist is unhappy with the contract terms, they should not remain on the site. By choosing to remain on the site you agreed to the terms and conditions and as such agreed to abide by the condition set out on clear signs throughout the site.

(4 photos including one of Restricted ZONE, No Stopping notice)

As your vehicle as parked in contravention of the terms and conditions of the car park we are satisfied that the notice was correctly issued in accordance with the BPA code of practise and are not able to waver the charge on this occasion.

(POPLA appeal forms attached)

Redx

if you are in england and wales you need to appeal it to popla within 28 days or less, using post #3 of the NEWBIES sticky thread, using an airport popla appeal example, there are plenty on here if you use the search box and APCOA or LUTON etc, so little work to do as its mainly copy , paste , send

Coupon-mad

Today I received APCOA's rejection of the appeal, as expected, with the POPLA appeal form attached. I want to ask advice on events so far to enable me to draft a successful appeal to POPLA as per #3. I must admit I am confused as if I need to any more or go back to the "Ignore" option after recent posts? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Not sure what you mean 'after recent posts'? Nothing has changed about the advice - you always appeal to POPLA using our templates and you will win, what's to be confused about? If it was an IPC firm rather than a BPA one then we have had a bit of discussion about 'why bother with IAS' (because the IAS is as useful as a chocolate teapot). But nothing has changed about POPLA and you will win so you need to do the appeal.

Air_Poot

Sorry Coupon Mad

I was all geared up to do the appeal after poring over the forum for weeks then I found a thread on 27/09 which made me ask the question so I wanted to make sure:

"APCOA no longer alleges keeper liability at its airport sites so the PoFA timescales are irrelevant.

Your options now are:

(i) ignore them (assuming you haven't disclosed the identity of the driver); there is no keeper liability so they can only pursue the driver, and if they don't know who that was...

(ii) appeal using the PoPLA code and all the usual appeal points, except don't bother with "out of time or non-compliant NtK", that one will not fly."

I don't know why I've got myself so worried about this, I'm not usually a wuss honest!

I'll get the #3 POPLA appeal done post haste.

Massive thanks to you, Redx and all for the help and support.

Coupon-mad

But you can use 'out of time or non-compliant NtK' as part of a general argument that tells POPLA there is no keeper liability at all (because it's not relevant land and even if POPLA get themselves convinced by some spurious 'evidence' that it is, the NTK is pants anyway!).

Air_Poot

Just wondered how long it usually takes for the POPLA decision from making the appeal. I see from other posts that they have a date given to them for an appeal but all I have so far is a summary of my appeal.

Umkomaas

Air_Poot wrote: »

Just wondered how long it usually takes for the POPLA decision from making the appeal. I see from other posts that they have a date given to them for an appeal but all I have so far is a summary of my appeal.

6 to 8 weeks.

Air_Poot

Wahey! Result from POPLA. All that initial worry for nothing, APCOA didn't even fight it? Will post the result to the sticky but, again, big thanks for the help.

APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd (Operator)

The Operator issued parking charge notice number xxxxxxxx arising
out of a presence on private land, of a vehicle with registration mark
xxxxxxx.

The Appellant appealed against liability for the parking charge.

The Assessor has considered the evidence of both parties and has
determined that the appeal be allowed.

The Assessor’s reasons are as set out.

The Operator should now cancel the parking charge notice forthwith. xxxxxxxxx 13 November 2014

Reasons for the Assessor’s Determination
It is the Appellant’s case that the parking charge notice was issued
incorrectly.
The Operator has not produced a copy of the parking charge notice, nor any
evidence to show a breach of the conditions of parking occurred, nor any
evidence that shows what the conditions of parking, in fact, were.
Accordingly I have no option but to allow the appeal.
Shehla Pirwany
Assessor