Lost POPLA appeal - APCOA PCN - Advice for next steps welcomed

FLITWICK-PARKING-FARCE

I appealed against an APCOA PCN to POPLA on the grounds that I had a valid ticket. APCOA had issued the PCN because I had parked in a 'Premier' parking slot, whilst paying for a 'Premium' one. When APCOA sent their evidence to POPLA a few days before the decision was due to be made, they mentioned for the first time that my ticket was invalid - because I had entered the letter 'O' instead of the number '0' for my registration number. I did not respond as this seemed ridiculous. I had been using the phone system for several years so the registration number was entered in their system years ago. In that time I parked in several station car parks, including APCOA's Flitwick station car park without ever getting a PCN. And I've parked it in same place since without getting a PCN. However yesterday I received an email stating that the appeal had found:

'Considering all the evidence before me, I find that the photographs provided by the appellant show that the signage in the area of the car park they parked in appears to distinguish between premier reserved bays and other premier bays, a distinction which appears not to have actually been present. As no evidence of the location of any premier bays in the car park has been provided, I find that the operator has not shown that the signage was sufficient to make it clear that a premium customer was not entitled to park where the appellant did.
However, I also find that the operator has produced evidence from their system showing that the appellant entered the letter ‘O’ instead of the number ‘0’ when entering their vehicle registration mark into the payment system. This means that the appellant did not purchase parking for their vehicle, so was parked without a valid entitlement to do so. This means that the appellant breached the terms of parking and that the charge notice was therefore validly issued.
Accordingly, I refuse the appeal.'

As a result I'm expected to pay a further £85 in penalties over and above the £8.40 already paid to avoid escalation.

With hindsight I wish I had been aware of this forum before responding to APCOA and appealing to POPLA as my appeal would have been much more robust in following the advice here, particularly in getting APCOA to justify the estimate of their loss in the form of a penalty. It also grates that APCOA were unable to provide the orginal PCN in their evidence - stating
'Original PCN unavailable as APCOA only retain electronic information. No notes taken at the time of contravention'

All advice on how to proceed would be very welcome. Thanks.

gertysingh

why have you created another thread with the same details? Look at your profile and find the thread you started and continue posting there. Folks have already provided you some advice.

pogofish

Yup - Your hijacks were split into their own thread last night - Please continue there.