APCOA POPLA Stage - Railway Station

Fussy

Hello everyone
I have read the NEWBIE thread and have been reviewing these forums and in particular this thread and would greatly appreciate some words of advice on the following APCOA PCN POPLA scenario.

19/11/19 Vehicle Parked out of a Bay but not causing obstruction at Bicester Village Railway Station. Valid one day parking charge was paid via the app. There were no available bays at the time.
Windscreen Parking Notice received for "Parking within a Restricted Area"

14/12/19 - Appeal submitted to APCOA as templated in the Newbies Sticky Thread.
31/12/19 - Appeal denied and POPLA code issued via email.

As the Keeper, I have 28 days to submit a POPLA appeal on the following grounds, but have some questions about what to include/needs to be relevant
1. Railway Land Is Not Relevant Land
Is ALL railway parking considered "railway land" ? - I cannot find anywhere that confirms who actually owns the land at Bicester Village. All the signs simply say it is Private Land and the logos of APCOA and Chiltern Railways are splattered across the bottom.
2. A compliant Notice to Keeper was never served - no Keeper Liability can apply
56 days have not yet passed since notice to the driver via a PCN was issued - As the keeper, should I wait longer to submit my POPLA appeal to be closer to the 56th day?
3. Appellant not being the individual liable - Relevant
4. Lack of standing / authority from landowner - Dependant on 1?
5. Non-compliant signage
Do I still reference this point 5 regardless or just stick with Points 1-4?
The car park is fairly new and there are signs placed every few yards about the "Ts & Cs" of parking there. Most of them are obscured by parked vehicles though which was the case when the vehicle was parked in November by the driver. The vehicle was actually parked underneath a sign, which I can attach a photo of if necessary. The actual "Terms & Conditions" listed and the fine amount are quite high up and you would need a ladder to get close enough to actually read the wording.

Do I need to mention the fact that the "Restricted Area" which the fine was issued under is not clear at all in the car park (there are no yellow lines for instance to clearly indicate you can't park there)

I intend to add the full appeal wording for each Point from other forum posts at the time of POPLA submission, but just wanted to clarify the points above first
Many thanks
Liz

Redx

1) more or less , especially if their are TOC signs , so yes assume it's railway land

2) do not miss the 32 day deadline for your popla appeal , but yes string it out in order to get past day 56 , regardless , there is no need to rush but you must not miss the popla deadline

Add ALL points , the more the merrier , they have to win on each and every point , whereas you only need to win on one point only

Apcoa will throw the towel in when they see a decent popla Appeal

Slowly , slowly catchee monkee

ashley_cohen

Also, even if you lose at POPLA, APCOA internal policy (when I worked there) is that they do not go to court.

Fussy

Perfect - thank you both !

The_Deep

If the signs mention the TOC then the land is highly likely to be covered by bye laws. As long as the PPC do not know who was driving, different laws may apply. It is explained in the stickies.

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT][/FONT]

Fussy

Got a win at POPLA today folks - Thank you so much for all the advice and templates !