Heathrow Drop Off Charge - PCN never received but Received NTK after 2 months - APCOA

steady.alone

Hello Everyone,
 
I am in receipt of a reminder letter (NOT PCN) for the contravention of Use of Drop Off Zone at Heathrow Airport without making a valid payment of £5. This is the first letter/ communication received from APCOA but PCN never received.

The driver used meet and greet parking service where the driver first drove to parking company's office, picked up the service rep and had been dropped off at the airport. Parking company do not take responsibility for paying £5 charges it says on their website now.

When the driver returned from holidays after 3 weeks they noticed the sign board near arrivals area and immediately pays the £5. They have the payment reference number for record. They also called APCOA to ensure payment text is received (I know biggest mistake, never contact them as forums suggests)

Now after 2 months, APCOA sends me (registered keeper) a reminder letter with PCN number, Contravention date and 2 blurry pictures of vehicle entering and leaving the drop off zone.

I have read the other posts, and thought to create my own thread as my situation is slightly different (but same result though).

I need to appeal to APCOA, do you recommend using blue text newbie template and include any different details in my appeal?

I would appreciate your help in this matter.

KeithP

The only difference between your thread and the others is the driver "first drove to parking company's office, picked up the service rep...".

Everything else is the same and that makes no difference.
By reading the other threads you know APCOA are easy to beat.

The keeper should send the blue text template unchanged.

steady.alone

KeithP said:

The keeper should send the blue text template unchanged.

Thanks for your quick response.
Quite surprised by the letter heading "Reminder Letter" instead of NTK etc.
Payment of £5 wasn't enough for cowboy's greed.

Fruitcake

The £5 doesn't go to the PPC. It could be free parking but they still want their your £100.

steady.alone

Hello all,

As expected they rejected my appeal and I have now prepared my POPLA appeal template based on template used by others recently.
However, I think I have made an error in choosing the grounds for appeal. When I appealed with APCOA, I chose "Others" and now POPLA is asking it again.

Do I need to choose "Others" again or should I choose "I was not the driver or the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged improper parking"?

Le_Kirk

I believe that you, having completed your pdf document, attach it to your appeal using "Other"

BrownTrout

Other is fine
No keeper liability 
Non pofa due to byelaw 
So simple

Coupon-mad

This is explained in the 3rd post of the NEWBIES thread, including template appeal points and the fact the keeper uploads a PDF under OTHER only.

steady.alone

Thank you all.

I have just submitted my appeal to POLA using similar template as below

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6340578/heathrow-airport-pcn/p2

As suggested, my appeal was based on Non POFA and No Keeper liability.

Also, I did not mention about the payment of £5 made (it was late though) which may help them identify the driver.

Fingers crossed for the positive result and I will keep you all posted.

steady.alone

Hi

Just heard back from POPLA and guess what they said........

"The operator has contacted us and told us that they have withdrawn your appeal"

Thank you all for your help and support, much appreciated.

Also, I visited Heathrow again recently and saw that lane to short stay parking was diverted and merging with pick & drop. Though it get unmerged further up but I noticed few drivers ended up driving into pickup and drop taking uturns. So be pls careful when you drive up there.