APCOA PCN - Tesco Rotherham

SkatzWizard

Hi all.
I am new to the forum and have read the NEWBIES Sticky on PCN's and how to appeal them and many other posts but I am still unsure of how to go about getting this PCN withdrawn.
Firstly, I have read that the first thing to do is contact the store manager and or the CEO of Tesco and complain. I have found the email of Ken Murphy CEO of Tesco UK but I was wondering if there is a DO's & DONT's of complaining.
I am unsure of who was driving the car that day as a relative often borrows my car and I usually validate parking on the occasions I personally shop at Tesco. I have no proof of purchase and as seen on other threads, there have been times that the machines weren't working! I often drop off my spouse at Tesco and collect her there. I think this may have been the case on the date in question, could the ANPR not have picked my VRN up?
I may have been browsing at Tesco Mobile and visited the cafe as well, i'm really not sure!
The PCN I received was issued 29 days after the alleged breach and past the 14 days that the PoFA said is required.
Basically, I want to ask should I email the CEO of TESCO first before appealing the PCN with APCOA and what should I say?
Or just appeal the PCN on APCOA website with the BLUE template in NEWBIES section?
Many thanks in advance.

Coupon-mad

I wouldn't bother with the landowner complaint with this one as it is SO EASY to win simply by not saying who parked.

The registered keeper should appeal online to APCOA as the registered keeper, putting in his details but must NOT TICK ANY BOX THAT IMPLIES THE KEEPER WAS DRIVING.  Just choose the contravention did not occur and then ignore the stuff about having to upload evidence, and choose 'OTHER' in the boxes on their appeal page.

Put in this appeal:

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement agreed by the driver.  The blurry photos in your non-POFA Notice to Keeper don't show any signage terms, nor any evidence of breach or what the alleged breach was.  There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. 

Since your PCN is a vague template, if you choose not to cancel it now, I require an explanation of the allegation and your evidence and cause of action. You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date and how exactly you contend you will be holding me liable, given the lack of  POFA Schedule 4 wording on the Notice to Keeper and the fact you took almost a month to post it to me.

D_P_Dance

 I was wondering if there is a DO's & DONT's of complaining.

This may help,otherwise there are plenty of books, Do not forget to complain to your MP.

theguardian.com/money/2010/feb/18/how-to-complain-effectively-complaints-procedure

SkatzWizard

Thank you both for your responses. I have appealed using the statement from @Coupon-mad and wait there response. I will post my reply if I get one!

SkatzWizard

Sorry, THEIR reply. 

SkatzWizard

Hi all.
UPDATE. Received the following email today from APCOA re:

Subject: Outcome of challenge to Parking Charge Notice

Thank you for your letter received on 04 June 2021 regarding the above Parking Charge Notice.

Whilst we appreciate your comments, the records have been checked and no validated parking session has been matched to your vehicle.

The signage on site informs customers of the need to visit a validation machine and validate their parking session prior to leaving the store, and in so doing, checking whether the validation was successful.

If you are unable to validate your parking session prior to leaving the store, the option to validate online using the details found on the validation receipt is available.

The tickets to validate are automatically printed at the till once the minimum required spend has been met. If you do not receive a validation ticket, please speak to customer services and ask them to record your vehicle registration on the exemption tablet. This will prevent a PCN from being issued when the ANPR cameras notice that the vehicle has been parked without the parking session being validated.

Having considered the circumstances, we have cancelled the Parking Charge Notice on this occasion.

We would like to take this opportunity to explain that if you receive further Parking Charge Notices under similar circumstances, we will be unable to cancel them.

Please retain this letter as proof of cancellation, should you need it in the future.

Yours sincerely

Appeals Department

APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd

PS

I have since received 2 more PCN's since this one and appealed them in the same way. I don't know what on earth is going on there but have stopped shopping at Tesco.

Thank you all for your help!

Redx

Well done

Whilst Apcoa still fail to comply with a law enacted 8.75 years ago , POFA , innit , they cannot hold a keeper liable , so will fail every time if no driver is divulged , be it one PCN , three PCN s or 50 PCN s

The underlying problem will be the issues causing the PCN s , typically overstaying , which should never happen to genuine customers , if they want you to spend in their stores , especially with covid queuing etc , then there should be no time limits , or realistic limits , say 4 hours , to stop all day parking by non customers

Easily solved if they tried harder , providing they are using fair terms that benefit customers

D_P_Dance

...  I don't know what on earth is going on there but have stopped shopping at Tesco.

Oh dear, I hold shares in Tesco, please complain to the CEO.  

Coupon-mad

Same as this case today:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78443337/#Comment_78443337

We rest our case = ''POFA, innit'' is what shut them up.


PLEASE COME BACK  IN JULY/AUGUST, THOUGH! 

WE NEED YOU.

Please do us and yourself (and the driving public) a favour and stick around on this forum every week - at least for the Summer - to ensure you see when the Government publish and open the final Technical Consultation.

We will be talking about it and the public will have about 4 weeks we think, to tell the MHCLG what you think about the level of parking charges, that the MHCLG has admirably decided already will start at £50 (50% discount) and not £100:

Outcome of 2020 Consultation (look what the public comments achieved so far):

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/parking-code-enforcement-framework/outcome/parking-code-enforcement-framework-consultation-response

Planned Summer 2021 additional Public Consultation:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-open-technical-consultation-on-fairer-parking-charges

It's not open yet but please keep check here to see when it is. 

We need real people like you to counter the spamming that happened last time from the industry.

Umkomaas

I have since received 2 more PCN's since this one and appealed them in the same way. I don't know what on earth is going on there but have stopped shopping at Tesco.

I'd go into Tesco, ask to see the store manager and show them the NtKs. You obviously know how the in-store VRM verification system works, but something is seriously going awry there. Politely tell the manager that as you can no longer take the risk with this unpredictable system, which when it misfires, you end up with a £100 bill, you will now no longer use the store, shopping instead at << choose your supermarket to insert here >>.

See how that goes. 

SkatzWizard

Received response from APCOA again for the second PCN.
The response was as follows:-

Thank you for your letter received on 16 June 2021 regarding the above Parking Charge Notice.

Whilst we appreciate your comments, the records have been checked and no validated parking session has been matched to your vehicle.

The signage on site informs customers of the need to visit a validation machine and validate their parking session prior to leaving the store, and in so doing, checking whether the validation was successful.

If you are unable to validate your parking session prior to leaving the store, the option to validate online using the details found on the validation receipt is available.

Having considered the circumstances, we have cancelled the Parking Charge Notice on this occasion and as a gesture of good will, we have also cancelled PCN: TT########.

We would like to take this opportunity to explain that if you receive further Parking Charge Notices' under similar

circumstances, we will be unable to cancel them. Please retain this letter as proof of cancellation, should you need it in the future.

Yours sincerely

Appeals Department

APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd

This is a great and meaningful result!
I will attempt to speak to the manager at Tesco and lodge a complaint in the hope that they will reassess their relationship with APCOA and the effect it is having on customers. 

Many thanks once again everyone for all your help.