APCOA Grand Arcade Wigan

Poseidondevil

Hi all,

I've gone through the Newbies Sticky thread and I must say its brilliant. But I do have a few questions regarding a PCN that I've received. I've read one post about the grand arcade but I wanted to highlight some issues here

As the registered keeper of the car I received a PCN from APCOA a few days ago for use of car park without a valid payment. The letter states the contravention occured in the beginning of Dec 18' (well past the 14 days as per POPLA 2012). I wasn't the driver and the person in question has proof that he has infact made a payment for parking. Luckily there are receipts to back this up

A bit of background, The Grand Arcade mall in Wigan town centre has started using ANPR since last year and its been a real mess! There are already newspaper articles out there that show that honest motorists have been fined inspite of paying for parking.

Now this is where its a bit odd/confusing. Grand arcade has 2 separate sections for the car park named Millgate and Crompton street (both run by APCOA and both attached right into the mall). There was no visible payment machine on the floor where the car was parked so the payment was made inside the Mall on the top floor (which is apparently crompton street parking). My assumption is that because the payment was not made on the same floor as the car was parked, it has thrown up the PCN. Now, no where does it state that payments made on the crompton floor do not apply for the millgate entrance parking. Is this even justified??

On another note, the purchase receipt shows that the payment time is 10:18 (time changed for anonymity) for a period from 9:26 to 10:27 but the ANPR shows that the vehicle left at 10:15 which is impossible! Is there a possibility they can change the timings on the screen grab because it doesn't and in any case wasn't the payment made for the time the car allegedly left? The entry screen grab states the time as 9:22 (again seems dubious but well within the grace period to pay?)

Should I add this fact and images of the payments while making my first appeal or do you think the APCOA will not heed to this and I should just wait it out till the POPLA stage? How can I alert other motorists about the unscrupulous method employed by APCOA of having different pay points within the same mall and not mentioning that payments are to be made at the designated entrances ONLY.?

Sorry for the long post!

Ibcus

This thread may help you
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5832962/apcoa-new-car-parking-system-pcn


Cut through all my ramblings, I was a bit of a d.ck in most of the thread.

Poseidondevil

Thanks mate,

do u think its worthwhile complaining to grand arcade about this as I want them to rectify this so that others dont get stung or who else should i write to?

Ralph-y

yes .... complain loud and clear to every one you can think of ...


Ralph:cool:

gorses

Same car park, similar contravention date (dec18) here.
NTK only received late Jan19.
Can't prove whether parking was paid for, possibly wasn't by mistake.
The whole setup is a honeypot. No barriers, no tickets, no tokens. Drive in, park up, drive out. So easy to forget to pay.

Starting appeals process now.

Are we really saying these charges are unenforceable??

KeithP

gorses wrote: »

Are we really saying these charges are unenforceable??

Has anybody said that?

gorses

Not in those exact words, but I've seen posts stating Apcoa is a 100% win ie they always cave at 2nd stage?
Or maybe I'm totally mis-reading.

waamo

The fact the company chooses not to challenge an appeal doesn't make it unenforceable.

Many companies do take tickets to court and win.

Poseidondevil

Sorry for the delay to update this thread. But its only been a week since I received a decision from APCOA

Fortunately they cancelled the ticket even before the POPLA stage.

Thanks guys for all your help

Umkomaas

Poseidondevil wrote: »

Sorry for the delay to update this thread. But its only been a week since I received a decision from APCOA

Fortunately they cancelled the ticket even before the POPLA stage.

Thanks guys for all your help

Well done. Monkey off your back.

Are you saying that the cancellation came without you making any representation to APCOA, or was it after your initial appeal, or did you send a POPLA appeal, but they withdrew before POPLA had to make a decision?

The_Deep

Whatever the circumstance, they have wasted your timr, now waste theirs, complain to your MP.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Hopefully, this will become law by Easter .