Parking charge from APCOA - now sending debt collector letter

Tonykidd1

Hi

We received a letter from DRP debt recovery plus in the post this morning asking for a payment of £160 for a parking charge that was sent for a alleged 'offence' on the 16th of January thia year at Westbury in Wiltshire. As I hadn't updated our new address with the DVLA we never received the original parking charge notice, just this debt recovery letter. The letter is in my wife's name as she is the registered keeper. I know I have no chance going to POLA as I never received the original parking charge notice. The letter for the debt agency also doesn't specify where in Westbury the 'offence' took place, it just says 'the parking charge was issued because the vehicle was parked in a manner where the driver attracted a parking charge as brought to the drivers attention via signage and agreed to by the driver when the vehicle was parked on private land managed by the creditor'.

I would appreciate any advice as to what to do next.

Thanks

Umkomaas

I would appreciate any advice as to what to do next

Not much you can do now with DRP (ignore them - see NEWBIES FAQ sticky, section 4) or with APCOA (come back if they issue court papers, which is unlikely - see below link).

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/APCOA_Parking_UK.html

What you can do is get the landowner involved via a written complaint and get them to cancel the parking charge. This is the only way now to kill this, otherwise it's 6 years of some hassle from (powerless) DRP and the not knowing if APCOA might start taking motorists to court (which they don't currently).

Have you updated your address with the DVLA yet - 2 separate notification, 1 for your driver licence and 1 for you V5C (there's no read-across)? Failure to notify carries a real fine - up to £1,000.

Fruitcake

Was this by any chance at Westbury train station? If so, byelaws are likely to apply and thr parking charge will become statute barred after six months, whereas it is six years if byelaws don't apply.

Tonykidd1

Hi,

I do believe it was Westbury train station as we haven't parked anywhere else in Westbury recently, so I will check that out. I was also contact Great Western railway asking to them to cancel the charge with APCOA.

Thanks

Coupon-mad

Oh, it's only APCOA. No worries!

Presumably you've searched he forum for them and realised that already.

Tonykidd1

I've read a bit about APCOA - would you advise ignoring the debt recovery letters as well?

Umkomaas

Tonykidd1 wrote: »

I've read a bit about APCOA - would you advise ignoring the debt recovery letters as well?

We always advise ignoring debt collector letters. Please read section 4 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, tells you all you want to know about debt collectors.