Chippenham Railway Station

John_boy

Well like many I have joined this forum and am writing this topic due to entering the world of Parking Charge Notices. Something that is a tad worrying I have to say, so here is my story......

In Oct 2017 the driver of my vehicle went to collect his girlfriend from Chippenham Railway Station on a very dark evening at about 2000 hrs, expecting to collect her about 2015

Having arrived in the "pick up" car park the driver received a text from his girlfriend explaining that she had walked her disabled friend to Bath Bus Station were there was a group of rowdy youths, the disabled friend was frightened so the girlfriend remained with her until the bus arrived. Unfortunately this meant she had missed her train.

The girlfriend caught the next train, arrived at Chippenham Railway Station at approx. 2100 hrs and they both then left the car park.

Last week (June 2018) I received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus demanding payment of £160 via way of a parking charge notice. The original ticket was issued by APCOA Parking

The delay is due to the fact that having moved house some time ago I have completely forgotten to update my V5 registration document with my new address, the letter states that they have used a tracing service to locate my current address.

I've read a number of threads on various websites but still unclear as to what is my best course of action. Clearly they have taken their time to track me down so surely just ignoring it won't make it go away. They have given me till the 21st June to pay the charge.

So I have a number of questions that I hope people in similar circumstances will be able to guide me on


1) Should I sit it out and see what happens after the 21st June or do something before then ?

2) Can I lodge an appeal for the ticket with the Debt Company or does that have to go via APCOA. Ive been on the APCOA website and having entered the ticket number is says it has been referred to a debt agency and gives me no other options

3) I have revisited the car park and there is signage up, including a "20 Min Max Stay" however none of it is illuminated so clearly wouldn't have been seen on a dark Oct night. Does that make a difference

4) Are the circumstances of the girlfriend looking after the wellbeing of her disabled friend likely to be classed as a mitigating factor

5) If this has to be paid is there any history of the Debt Company settling for a lesser amount ? if the original ticket was paid in 14 days it would have been £50.


Any help, guidance or advice would be really appreciated. Many thanks

Coupon-mad

No-one here takes APCOA or debt collectors seriously. No paying them a penny.

I would post the template appeal from the NEWBIES thread to APCOA, with your correct address at the top and tell them to update their records and to provide a POPLA code, since you have only just heard about the matter.

They should reply to your proper address, and never mind if they don;t give you a POPLA code because it's only APCOA, their cases do not go to court.

Do NOT add any words about the event/who parked. Now remove that from your post!

The_Deep

APCOA know full well that land covered by Railways Byelaws is non scheduled land and keeper liability under POFA does not apply.

If they do nor know who was driving they are Friar Tucked. Refer them to Arkell v Pressdram.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

John_boy

Thank you, I've had a read of the Newbies post and found the letter to use. You mention posting it but on that thread it talks about doing it via the on-line appeal and avoiding posting. I'm guessing I can't do that as the ACPOA site isn't giving me the option to do anything as its been passed to the debt company. Do you know of any other way I can do it online ?

Hockey27

@John_Boy

Can you upload a copy of the letter from the debt recovery clowns?

Also, can you confirm the date on which the car was present at the station?

Fruitcake

Hockey27 wrote: »

@John_Boy

Can you upload a copy of the letter from the debt recovery clowns?

Also, can you confirm the date on which the car was present at the station?

Why on earth do you want to see something that should be ignored. The regulars here certainly don't want to see it.

Hockey27

Fruitcake wrote: »

Why non earth do you want to see something that should be ignored. The regulars here certainly don't want to see it.

To confirm if they are alleging it's byelaw or trespass

Coupon-mad

We know from other APCOA threads (and so will you when you read a few!):

- that you must appeal by post, so keep a free certificate of posting, NOT 'SIGNED FOR'

and

- that they will always give up at POPLA stage v a registered keeper appellant

John_boy

I'm struggling to work out how to upload a picture on the letter on here, it's not giving me an option to browse to my hard-drive.


Looking at the letter it makes no reference to Bye Laws at all, it just says, Use of a private car park without a valid payment / permit.


The Debt company have given me 2 weeks to pay, by 21st June, but surely I have a right of appeal of 28 days.


I intend to post the template letter to APCOA asap.


thanks for all the help everyone.

The_Deep

Write to Apcoa asking them whether or not the land is covered by bye-laws. They will then realise that you are on to them. Ignore the debt collectors.

nosferatu1001

Because you do what everyone else does, and uses tinypics to host, copying a BROKEN link for the regulars to fix and actually post for you. Change "http" to "hxxp"

You dont have any appeal rights when it is with a debt company. You entirely ignore the debt company. They know nothing and cannot be trusted, and have no powers anyway.