APCOA - "Not parked in a designated parking space"

mightyblu

Hi All,

I have received a PCN from APCOA at my local Railway station, for failing to park in a parking bay.
I'm intending on appealing the ticket, but wondering if I have a realistic chance? (I've got 6 days left to pay their 'discount' fine)

Here's the background:
Upon driving into the car park, I saw that it was very full (no sign to indicate this before entering), all the painted parking bays were taken, and some of the people who had arrived earlier than me, decided to park at the back of the car park. I've been using this car park for a number of years, and parking at the back is somewhat of an unwritten rule when it fills up to capacity.
The nearest alternative car park was full (they had a sign outside to notify drivers before entering), and other car parks were much further away, and I would risk paying significantly more because their main purpose was to provide parking for the shopping centre.

So with time limited to me, I decided to take the chance of parking near the entrance of the car park, in an open space - similarly to the cars parked at the back. Pay for my ticket, and write a note on my windshield. My logic being that I haven't parked any differently to the people who parked at the back of the car park, I'm not blocking anyone else from leaving & I'm not parked on any double yellow lines or violating any other road laws.
Also the signs are small to read from your car & even if you got out.

When I returned to my car, I had a PCN with the above reasoning plastered on my screen.
I went to go to the back of the car park to see if the cars parked there had also received PCN's, - they didn't. There were other cars who had parked next to the end of a parking bay, who had received PCN's though - i'm sure the parking attendant was happy that day!

Do I have a case for appealing on the basis that my method of parking wasn't too dissimilar to other cars who didn't receive PCNs on the same date?

Also for some reason the APCOA website isn't recognising my PCN right now, thus I'm unable to view the evidence on their platform.

Many thanks in advance!

The_Deep

Read up on parking tickets on land covered by Railway bye laws, there are plent6y of such threads on here, also read 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]

Redx

if you stay as keeper you cannot be held liable, due to POFA and bylaws

so a KEEPER who appeals using the blue text template should ALWAYS win, because APCOA fail on several counts each and every time , so they throw the towel in at the POPLA stage

so will you win ? if you appeal as KEEPER and keep stum about who was driving , then IMHO you will prevail


its the fools that admit to being a driver that lose

Coupon-mad

Here's the background:

We don't need any. I just read it's APCOA at a railway = easy as pie!!

So follow what the NEWBIES thread tells you to do and no ticking 'driver' on the online appeals pages.

At POPLA stage when the appeal is rejected, copy ANY other APCOA one!

mightyblu

Thanks all!