APCOA Luton

moments_of_sanity

Hi All,

I have read the 'stickies' regarding these parking charges but am not sure if I should proceed to POPLA, could anyone advise me please?

So we got the initial letter with the fine and sent APCOA the email on this site and they have considered it 'unsuccessful on this occasion'. We didn't advise them of who was driving and have no intention of doing so but the part about it being a criminal offence to withhold information under BPA guidelines makes me a little nervous. Is the following just a standard reply?

The letter also has 4 photos attached which contain a small black box on the right of the picture with date/time/coordinates, it shows the car was stopped for precisely 15 seconds...

There letter to us says the following.....

Thank you for your letter of appeal received **/**/2017 against the parking charge notice issued by us to you on the **/**/2017. Having carefully considered the evidence provided by you, we must advise your appeal has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

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 Luton Airport, dropping off outside of a designated parking area, having failed to enter the designated pickup and drop off zone or short term car park.

All restricted areas are signposted and clearly state that no stopping is allowed at any time to drop off, pick up or for any other reason. 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 £80.00. There is a £3.00 Drop Off Zone in place at Luton Airport. This was introduced to ease traffic congestion at the terminal. We do however offer free parking at the Mid Term car park for up to 30 minutes.

Restrictions in place at Luton Airport do not allow passengers to enter or exit the vehicle when on the approach roads or roundabouts; even in the event of a forced stop due to traffic. This rule has been enforced to ensure the safety for pedestrians and drivers around Luton Airport, as well as to maintaining the traffic flow.

APCOA have not claimed to, and do not work, issue or seek payment under POFA as this land is covered by Bye-laws.

Luton Airport is a private property of London Luton Airport all the enforcement are carried out according to British parking association (BPA) guidelines and APCOA being an approved operator of BPA is authorized to manage and enforce the property on behalf of London Luton Airport. Any vehicles in contravention of the T&C of the Luton Airport are sent out to DVLA for registered owner's information under BPA guidelines.

If the registered keeper fails to provide us with the driver's details then the registered keeper therefore maintains liability for the issue of this notice as the Airport is covered by Bye-laws. Bye-laws are conditions set in a Magistrates Court. It is a criminal offence to provide inaccurate information, or to withhold information where required.

Please note as the registered keeper of this vehicle, you are liable for this ticket, unless details of the driver are provided.

For the avoidance of doubt you should note that any offer included in your latter other than to make payment in full of the Parking charge notice is hereby rejected.

As your vehicle was 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 practice, and are therefore not able to waiver the charge on this occasion.

Therefore you now have a number of options:
1. Pay the parking charge notice at the discounted rate of £48.00 within 14 days. Please note that after this time the Parking Charge Notice will increase to £80.00.
You can pay by the following methods......

2. You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure, to make an appeal to POPLA - the Independent Appeals Service, within 28 days of this letter by completing the online appeal form at https://www.popla.co.uk quoting the verification number *********** Please be advised that if you opt for independent arbitration of your case, the parking charge notice will be considered at the full amount of £80.00. If you require a hard copy of the POPLA form please contact out customer service centre on 0345 301 1152 where one of our customer service agents will be happy to assist you. By law we are also required to inform you that the Ombudsman Services https://www.ombudsmanservices.org provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal. However, we have chosen not to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.

3. If you choose to do nothing, we will seek to recover the monies owed to us via our debt.

Yours sincerely

Redx

all the usual guff , but bylaws apply so dont fall for it , APCOA cannot enforce bylaws, and the airport police or management are unlikely to issue a penalty notice or take you to Magistrates court (they never do)

use the blue text appeal as KEEPER and get a popla code

do not reveal who was driving , nor who the owner is, KEEPER only

then crib from any recent LUTON or BHX Birmingham popla appeal and draft your own popla appeal

APCOA will likely throw in the towel at seeing your forum aided popla appeal

or POPLA will put it on hold pending a DfT review on bylaws land (railways , airports and ports)

read the other Luton and BHX threads to see what , why etc

like this recent one , ready made for you

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5679585

moments_of_sanity

Redx wrote: »

all the usual guff , but bylaws apply so dont fall for it , APCOA cannot enforce bylaws, and the airport police or management are unlikely to issue a penalty notice or take you to Magistrates court (they never do)

use the blue text appeal as KEEPER and get a popla code

do not reveal who was driving , nor who the owner is, KEEPER only

then crib from any recent LUTON or BHX Birmingham popla appeal and draft your own popla appeal

APCOA will likely throw in the towel at seeing your forum aided popla appeal

or POPLA will put it on hold pending a DfT review on bylaws land (railways , airports and ports)

read the other Luton and BHX threads to see what , why etc

like this recent one , ready made for you

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5679585

Thank you for your reply. We did send the blue text appeal email to them and that is what they are responding to. We haven't revealed any information to them regarding driver or owner is, they know who the keeper is as that's who they addressed the letter to.

I am currently cribbing a version at the moment, it seems they were very efficient in sending out the penalty notice as it was within the 14 days! :rotfl:

Am I correct in assuming that once I have the POPLA letter done, I save it via a PDF and attach that to my appeal? (sorry, not very savvy I know)

Guys_Dad

So much on APCOA Luton and other airports on this forum, I feel like petitioning the mods to open a sub-sub forum ! :rotfl::rotfl:

Seriously, do a forum search and see what has already happened on this well trodden path while waiting for some more comments on your thread.

Redx

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

I am currently cribbing a version at the moment, it seems they were very efficient in sending out the penalty notice as it was within the 14 days! :rotfl:

Am I correct in assuming that once I have the POPLA letter done, I save it via a PDF and attach that to my appeal? (sorry, not very savvy I know)

I can assure you that the paperwork you received was NOT a penalty notice, they do not have the authority to issue penalty notices, hence why they cannot prosecute under the current bylaws

the KEEPER received a parking charge notice , not a penalty charge notice (there is a difference)

no you are not correct

yes you save the completed popla appeal as a pdf

you then go to the POPLA site , choose OTHER and then UPLOAD the completed pdf to the site and you get a tiny bin icon to show its there (putting see attached appeal in any notes box)

so no email , no postal appeal, its upload as an attachment

I gave you a link to a recent winner so should take you 10 minutes to adapt it

at least you have followed all the correct steps so far , so keep going

ps:- read this similar advice given recently too, its all the SSDD with apcoa and luton and BHX too (so its not new , its all old hat and comes up weekly)

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5676823

moments_of_sanity

Sorry, blond moment (if only I was blond)!. Which appeal box do I choose? 'I was not improperly parked' or 'I was not the driver or registered keeper at the time'...

Also when do I save the appeal as a PDF, is this something I do once completed?

Redx

I did say choose "OTHER" , so choose "other" , as in "OTHER" capiche ?

YES save as a PDF file after completion as a word doc , just before submission to popla

Coupon-mad

The NEWBIES thread already tells you this...in the section about POPLA, post #3:

These then get saved as PDFs and uploaded to POPLA under OTHER (ONLY) - do not think you only have 2000 characters!

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/new-popla-process.html

fisherjim

We didn't advise them of who was driving and have no intention of doing so but the part about it being a criminal offence to withhold information under BPA guidelines makes me a little nervous

They have not said that.

Bye-laws are conditions set in a Magistrates Court. It is a criminal offence to provide inaccurate information, or to withhold information where required

It won't be going to a Magistrates Court, they just send a mish mash of rubbish to confuse you into paying up.

moments_of_sanity

Thank you to everyone for all your help, I did the on line appeal this morning so fingers crossed we will hear something soon.

Apologies for all the previous questions asked, legalities are not my thing but if you need help on cross stitch or quilting.......I'm your girl! :rotfl:

Again, thanks all and I will let you know the outcome.