Am I too late to appeal to POPLA?

lisbapalea · 24 October 2014 at 9:33PM

I know there have been plenty of these threads but as a newcomer I am somewhat overhwelmed by the multitude of advice available and am hoping someone can help me! I have looked at length on MoneySavingExpert but haven't found a case which I feel matches my own circumstances so I am nervous about copying someone else's appeal template.

I got a parking charge notice from a private parking company (MET, a member of the British Parking Association), back in April 2013. I appealed almost immediately as I had in fact paid for my parking, but by the time I had managed to contact RINGGO to pay (non existant phone signal and no wifi on the train I was on), the session had clicked over from peak into off-peak, so my ticket wasn't as expensive as it was supposed to be.

MET replied and said my appeal was unsuccessful and to pay the charge. I then followed my husband's advice to ignore it all as these people were apparently scammers. I had one or two letters in the aftermath and then they disappeared, so I decided my DH's advice was correct.

But, since September I have received three letters from DRP (a debt recovery agency) asking me to pay before they take me to court! I have now realised that the advice DH gave me was incorrect and the law changed in early 2013 which means appeals are necessary, and ignoring is not recommended.

So I have gone onto the POPLA website to appeal, but that says I should have appealed to them within 28 days! I am clearly 18mths out of date!

Any idea what I should do?

So sorry this is so long - I wanted to get all the facts down....