APCOA Penalty Notice - Taxi Rank

paleemperor

I have read the  newbies post, but wanted to check that the process is the same for me, as I believe that my case may honestly be slightly different.

I received a PN from APCOA, for 'use of a taxi rank without a valid authorised permit' at the Brighton station pick-up area. This area has a taxi rank, around the edge of a round-about, which you have to drive round anyway, in order to turn around and exit. There are also some bays that are designated for short term parking, or for waiting to collect someone. I have spoken with my wife, who was driving at the time, and below is what occurred, on the night in question.

She went to the station to pick someone up. She thought she saw them, and drove the car onto the taxi rank, which was empty at the time. She then realised that it wasn't them, and continued round the round-about, towards the short-term parking bays, where she waited for them. She barely stopped on the taxi rank at all, and couldn't have been there for more than a few seconds. At no point did she even switch off the engine.

Would this case be subject to the same rules as for someone who has overstayed their paid time in the car park, which I gather is based on contract law? As such, is it subject to the same process of defence, i.e.

1. Complaints to the land owner.
2. Appeal on 26th day - according to the penalty notice, it appears that I have to appeal first to APCOA, before an apeal can be considered by POPLA
3. Take as long as possible over each stage, in the hope that it takes longer than 6 months to bring the case to court, in which case APCOA are out of time.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Coupon-mad

Easypeasy, no need to wait as it's a postal PCN.

Tell your wife there are no short term parking bays there any more.  You CANNOT turn left at the second mini roundabout any more.

You can use the drop off/ pick-up bays within the covered car park but are then in danger of an ANPR charge if overstaying the short time limit.

What you should do is stop ON STREET on the double yellows, either at the bottom of the steps or by going straight across the first mini roundabout and stopping to wait on yellow lines beside the flats/offices.

ALL of that IS allowed on yellow lines.  Don't believe the urban myth that you can't stop on double yellows.  Picking up/dropping off or loading/unloading is the 'exempt activity' they are there for, on public streets.

I am from Sussex and this is the one I wrote for a friend entrapped by the badly-signed 'taxi area' zone at Brighton station last month (worked first time):


advice:

Tell them to appeal online, NOT ticking anything that says 'I was the driver'.  I think APCOA give 2 options to identify the status of appellant.  If so, chose the one that says something like: 'I was not the driver or the PCN was incorrectly issued' (the latter is true).

Put in the keeper's details as per the PCN letter, including VRM and PCN number and copy & paste this wording in the appeal box:

appeal:

I am the registered keeper and your Penalty Charge cites a date several weeks ago, a time when I was not the driver.   The driver will not be named.

Further, the car appears to be on an unidentifiable public highway with no identifying landmarks and nor does it appear to be a marked 'no-stopping zone'. There is no evidence that the vehicle:

- was parked in a 'Taxi Rank' as claimed;

- was stationary (your photos show what looks like a moving car in 'Lane 1' then 'Lane 2' wherever this may be);

- exceeded a reasonable consideration period, which in the BPA Code of Practice is a 5 minute minimum (longer needed in darkness);

- passed repeater signs with full t&cs or Railway Byelaws, affording a fair opportunity for a driver to read it all in darkness while moving;

- passed a prominent, lit sign warning of ANPR nor its purpose (ref: ICO Surveillance Camera Code - cannot be carried out covertly).

Kindly provide a full copy of the Railway Byelaws with your reply, identifying which element/section within 'Byelaw 14' APCOA believes was breached.

I require all your evidence and a full response to all of appeal points, including a photo of the full Railway Byelaws Board on a prominent sign in situ (image must be recent and taken in darkness without a torch) and a map of where that sign is and where the car was, in relation to it.

The driver was not me and she will not be named.  This matters because you have not used the wording in the POFA 2012.  Keeper liability is denied and any breach of Railway Byelaws is denied, so there is no owner liability either.

The new DLUHC Code of Practice, published on 7th February 2022 to replace the self-serving BPA Code, says  "it is important that parking operators do not confuse the enforcement of byelaws with the contractual application of parking charges" yet the back of your notice mentions 'debt enforcement partners'.

Which is it then, a 'debt' or a penalty?  This is a clear attempt to confuse and mislead the recipient about remedies available under byelaws.  This can never be a contractual 'debt' for you to pass to third parties and neither you nor your agents can lawfully add sums to the parking charge, because the DLUHC has banned debt recovery 'fees'.

You must not pass my data to any third party except POPLA, if used.  Given APCOA can't win at POPLA,  I suggest you cancel this charge forthwith.

paleemperor

Hi Coupon Mad,

Thank you very much for your help.

The letter that you included looks good. The photos in my case were also very poor, being taken at night without a flash, and like the photos in your friends case, they do not show the surroundings, or any signage.

My only query, is the section on 'debt recovery'. They may have changed the wording, as it now says 'APCOA's payment enforcement contractors'. Is this a problem? I have attached a scan of the back of the PN. Strangely, it also says that I may be liable. even if I was not the driver.

Does the rule about issuing a penaly not later than 14 days from the date of the incident still apply? In this case, the date of the notice is 18 days after the alleged incident occurred.

Coupon-mad

Nope, that's not relevant to this PCN.

Don't fixate on the date because this is not claiming to be issued under the POFA.  No 14 day rule applies.  Copy my version, it'll win.

paleemperor

Thank you very much for your help.

benr007

Hello paleempeor 

I think we have just made the same error as you describe in your question  - can you tell me if the outcome of your appeal against the PN?

I am hoping the excellent advice by Coupon-mad did the trick 😁

thank you in advance

Coupon-mad

If yours wasn't a 'penalty' at a station then change that word.

If it was Brighton (Seeeeeeeaguuuulllss!) then it will work. 

benr007

Yes it was Brighton 

Thank you for your help

Pete_Thruxton1965

Hi - The same thing happened to me recently at Brighton station. I cut and pasted the appeal as submitted by Coupon mad above and i received a letter yesterday saying it had been cancelled. I'm glad I 'rolled the dice' on this and appreciate the help from people on this forum. 

Coupon-mad

Great, glad it worked again!

Here it is again for anyone else caught by the APCOA Brighton Station unclear 'taxi zone' entrapment trick: 

I am from Sussex and this is the one I wrote for a friend entrapped by the badly-signed 'taxi area' zone at Brighton station last month (worked first time):


advice:
Tell them to appeal online, NOT ticking anything that says 'I was the driver'.  I think APCOA give 2 options to identify the status of appellant.  If so, chose the one that says something like: 'I was not the driver or the PCN was incorrectly issued' (the latter is true).

Put in the keeper's details as per the PCN letter, including VRM and PCN number and copy & paste this wording in the appeal box:


appeal:

I am the registered keeper and your Penalty Charge cites a date several weeks ago, a time when I was not the driver.   The driver will not be named.

Further, the car appears to be on an unidentifiable public highway with no identifying landmarks and nor does it appear to be a marked 'no-stopping zone'. There is no evidence that the vehicle:

- was stationary (your photos show what looks like a moving car in 'Lane 1' then 'Lane 2' wherever this may be);

- exceeded a reasonable consideration period, which in the BPA Code of Practice is a 5 minute minimum (longer needed in darkness);

- passed repeater signs with full t&cs or Railway Byelaws, affording a fair opportunity for a driver to read it all in darkness while moving;

- passed a prominent, lit sign warning of ANPR nor its purpose (ref: ICO Surveillance Camera Code - cannot be carried out covertly).

-  was parked in a 'Taxi Rank' as claimed;

Kindly provide a full copy of the Railway Byelaws with your reply, identifying which element/section within 'Byelaw 14' APCOA believes was breached.

I require all your evidence and a full response to all of appeal points, including a photo of the full Railway Byelaws Board on a prominent sign in situ (image must be recent and taken in darkness without a torch) and a map of where that sign is and where the car was, in relation to it.

The driver was not me and she will not be named.  This matters because you have not used the wording in the POFA 2012.  Keeper liability is denied and any breach of Railway Byelaws is denied, so there is no owner liability either.

The new DLUHC Code of Practice, published on 7th February 2022 to replace the self-serving BPA Code, says  "it is important that parking operators do not confuse the enforcement of byelaws with the contractual application of parking charges" yet the back of your notice mentions 'debt enforcement partners'.

Which is it then, a 'debt' or a penalty?  This is a clear attempt to confuse and mislead the recipient about remedies available under byelaws.  This can never be a contractual 'debt' for you to pass to third parties and neither you nor your agents will be allowed to add extortionate sums to the parking charge, because the DLUHC intends to ban debt recovery 'fees'.

You must not pass my data to any third party except POPLA, if used.  Given APCOA can't win at POPLA,  I suggest you cancel this charge forthwith.

Potentially could be adapted for Heathrow drop off PCNs from APCOA, particularly in cases where a person just drove through without stopping: changing 'taxi rank' to 'drop off bays' and 'Railway byelaws' to 'Airport byelaws'.

It will 100% win at POPLA.

Simon321456

Hi there

Just wanted to say a massive thanks to @Coupon-mad for coming up trumps yet again

Copied the above text word for word into their online appeals system and just got this back, 3 days later - 

Dear XXX

PENALTY NOTICE NUMBER: XXXX

VEHICLE REGISTRATION: XXXX

CONTRAVENTION DATE: 30 September 2022 11:21

Thank you for your letter received on 01 November 2022 regarding the above Penalty Notice.

Whilst we appreciate the points made in your appeal, this is a private road and we must advise that the terms and conditions

regarding having a valid permit apply to all motorists accessing it. As the signage clearly states, a valid permit must be held.

This would verify that the vehicle is permitted to be on site.

As a gesture of good will, we have cancelled the Penalty Notice on this occasion.

We would like to take this opportunity to explain that if you receive further Penalty 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.

Absolute legend. Thank you