APCOA unsuccessful appeal

hatecockies

Hi everyone,

I hope someone can help. I have appealed a PNC at Luton Airport for unattended vehicle base on the fact that the registered keeper cannot be held liable and that I am not required to provide them with the details of the driver:



*****I am the registered keeper of the vehicle. I note that this PCN has been issued while the vehicle was on land that is subject to byelaws. As such, I, the keeper, can not be held liable as POFA does not apply. Even if POFA was applicable then you PCN fails to confirm to the requirements to hold the keeper liable. I have, as requested, handed the PCN to the driver at the time and leave it to them to decide if they will contact you. I will not be identifying the driver, as I have no legal requirement to do so.
As I have no liability in this matter, I request that you remove my details from your records to avoid further distress. Please take this as a request under the DPA and confirm this has been done within 21 days, as required. Apart from this, I do not expect to hear from you again.*******

Their response:

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

Is this a new law or are they running a scam?

Your help on the matter would be much appreciated.

Best wishes

Fruitcake

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

Did they really use those exact words? If so, complain to the BPA and DVLA about the scammers making untruthful statements. Put another way, the scammers are lying. Imagine my surprise.

Please also complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

The DVLA do not hold owner information, only that of the registered keeper. They are not relying on the PoFA which is the only way the keeper could be held liable, but not in this case since they have helpfully agreed that byelaws apply and the keeper cannot therefore be liable.

Other than that I would ignore the scammers or rebut the absolute borax they have quoted.

The_Deep

Are they going to rely on Elliot V Loake I wonder? If so, they will struggle.

Scam! Complain to Trading Standards and your MP.

The whole industry is a scam, relying on threats of court, and the public's ignorance of the Law, A bill is currently before parliament which will regulate the scammers, many of whom are ex-clampers.

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 has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Second Reading in the Lords this month, and, with a fair wind, will l become Law later this year..

All five readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 7-8 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

Redx

APCOA routinely reject appeals, regardless, if they did state that the KEEPER is liable, then report them to the BPA AOS team

a KEEPER is not liable, and they have handed you a win on POFA by stating that they are not following it , so an own goal there

the more important question is :-

DID THEY INCLUDE A POPLA CODE ?

if yes, look for recent LUTON POPLA APPEALS or BHX appeals like this one that they failed to contest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5963239/apcoa-pcn-for-dropping-off-picking-up-at-birmingham-airport

you can see the typical popla appeal in that one, because airports are identical and the same legal arguments apply

so if you have a POPLA code , start your popla appeal draft

if not, report them to ther BPA AOS team for not providing it

hatecockies

All of you guys are amazing, thank you for the help.

It is an exact quote from APCOA reply. I do have a POPLA code. Should I write to APCOA this letter before POPLA?

Dear APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd,

I am writing to you in regards to XXXXXX

Before I complain to the BPA, DVLA and my MP and then appeal to POPLA, can you prove your statement on the letter that rejected my appeal, please? This is an exact extract of your reply.

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

Or should I just start my POPLA appeal draft?

Thanks and I hope this can help others in my position.

Coupon-mad

No, just copy any APCOA byelaws POPLA appeal from another winning thread.

Redx

as above , I already told you that if you had a popla code you start drafting your POPLA appeal, easy peasy by reading a recent apcoa popla appeal and adapting it to suit your own case, take you ten minutes to do


do not engage with APCOA any further, let your POPLA appeal frighten them off, they will throw the towel in as soon as they see it on the popla website, after you have uploaded it as a pdf by choosing OTHER and attaching it

hatecockies

Thank you, I will upload the POPLA decision later on.

Redx

chances are that there wont be a decision made by POPLA

they will merely inform YOU that APCOA have told them that they are not contesting the appeal, meaning that you win by default (this saves APCOA money as far as we know, yet allows apcoa to take it to the wire)

and yes we know they should be punished for this, its a well known sc@m that goes unpunished

waamo

Do complain to the BPA about one of their members telling downright lies. Complain to your MP too as there is a bill going through parliament to try and curtail these outrageous scams.

Redx

agreed , 3rd reading in the lords next monday , 04 march 2019