Cheltenham Spa PCN

Spudding

Any thoughts?

Should have looked here 1st! I had a PCN over 3 months ago, issued at Cheltenham Spa station. I appealed as the driver but used a nickname and a previous address with no house number (as it is private land and not legally binding, did not want to hand over info on a plate). APCOA did not accept appeal, so appealed to POPLA. The POPLA appeal failed, but I truly do not feel the assessor understood my case. My parking notice mentioned NOT PARKED IN A BAY. Paid for parking on-line and parked. The information where I parked my car did not mention the terms and conditions of the car park (although those are displayed on entry to the car park and in at least one other place- too busy trying to avoid heavy machiary to read any signage in detail on entering the car park, as carpark was a building site at the time).

1- As a contract, I believe that APCOA accepted my parking as they did not refund the parking fee paid - I paid on-line so they can see that the reg number they issued a ticket to has also paid for parking. Does that mean they accepted my parking?

2- My photo shows all the wording next to the pay and display machine neares to where Parked, all instructions on how to pay for parking but no terms and conditions. APCOA photos shows their terms and conditions in different locations within the car-park, but does not show the same sign that I have a photograph of - APCOA photographs of the terms and conditions do not appear to be date stamped. I.e APCOA have shown they display T & C’s, but have not proven they display them in all pay locations.

3- Many of the alleged parking bays do not have clear white or yellow lines showing they are parking bays.

4- There were no NO PARKING signs where I parked. I was not causing an obstruction.

5- I purchased my train ticket on-line, so shouldn’t GWR have warned me via e-mail that Cheltenham Spa train station was a building site at that time and that parking was limited?

6- At least 50 other cars had the same issue, we should have exchanged details...APCOA must have made huge profits that day if 50 % of the drivers paid up.

7- Have not had a NTK yet and the parking charge notice was issued over 3 months ago.

I don’t know if Cheltenham Spa station is subject to bylaws or not, so have no idea if POFA 2012 applies. The PCN that was stuck to the windscreen mentions that APCOA may apply to the DVLA for KEEPER DETAILS. The notice also states that APCOA have the right to pursue the registered keeper for unpaid parking charges, which suggests that Cheltenham Spa is subject to POFA 2012.

Going to take more pictures now to collate more evidence in case I end up in court! and wait to see if a NTK arrives.

Any advice gratefully received.

Parkingfines

There is no advice after writing all that , other to ignore any debt collector letters you get and then only come back here if you get a court claim. Other than that there is absolutely nothing else to be done

And no it is not subject to bylaws at that car park. You wont get an NTK now as you already given them driver details. Unlikely to end up in court as its APCOA

Coupon-mad

Never heard of anyone losing at POPLA v APCOA. Wow...you missed a trick.

Sorry to say, they are the easiest to beat. 100% win, had you appealed as keeper.

Happy to say, they never sue anyone. So ignore the eejits.

Spudding

I appealed to POPLA under procedural error - photos submitted by APCOA showed that the T & Cs they are saying were present at the time of the alleged offence were from a different era, as the parking charges were completely different to what they were when the vehicle was parked. This was over 4 weeks ago. POPLA confirmed receipt of my complaint and stated that they would respond within 21 days - they have not responded yet. Does anyone think this counts as a procedural error? As evidence sent in by ACPOA is not really evidence because they are not from the day in question. Also, I know the registered keeper has not had a NOTICE TO KEEPER YET, should they have had one by now? The alleged offence was in October 2018.

KeithP

No 'procedural error' there.

You simply failed to challenge their evidence to PoPLA at the appropriate time.

Ok, they should've replied to your complaint, but if/when they do, it will not be what you are hoping for.

As Parkingfines said earlier, ignore everything unless you receive either a Letter of Claim or official court correspondence.

ShakeItOff

Worth saying that while they may not be minded currently, they do have 6 years in which to bring a claim.

Ignore the debt collector letters. Come back if a claim is issued.

Coupon-mad

APCOA had no need to issue a NTK, as you made the mistake of appealing as driver.

Ignore them. Next time, appeal as keeper and it's easy!