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APCOA railway station fine - read newbie stuff, clarification

Hello everone, I have spent the last couple of hours reading through the newbie thread and lots of others too including appeals.

Date of infraction: 22/05/22
Date of notice of issue: 31/05/22
"Penalty Notice" sent to address of the registered keeper of the vehicle, opened 08/06/22
Offense: Use of Private Car Park without making a valid payment
Detected by ANPR, two photos provided of a vehicle, taken 1hr 45 minutes apart in the evening/late evening. Second image is very dark, and can barely see vehicle (will figure out how to post image and display here soon.
"....parked on railway assets in breach of railway byelaws as displayed in the signage at the location"

I have some questions generally which I haven't seem to have found any answers for:
1. If the car was in the car park to drop the passenger off, but the passenger missed their train and had to wait longer for a total of <2hrs in the car as it was too cold to wait outside (station was closed), would that be a case for mitigating circumstances (APCOA allows appeals under a category 'mitigating circumstances')? What if there was a recent bereavement? I wonder if it is better not to submit to APCOA mitigating circumstances, as it may divulge a lot more information that necessary/comfortable.
2. Does waiting (if the driver is in the car, whilst it is on) still count as parking?
3. It seems that the Notice to Keeper seems to have been served in the correct time frame (within 14 days of the infraction). Does POFA (2012) still apply in any way? If not, does it invalidate the main basis for the usual appeal teamplate?
4. Is it still worth pursuing an appeal under the usual template, but with the notice to keeper paragraph taken out?
5. The second image they took is really really dark, and can barely see the license plate. Possible to use this as evidence of intermittent poor lighting, that can obstruct signage? If so, should this be mentioned explicitly?

Thank you for your input everyone :)

Comments

  • Fruitcake
    Fruitcake Posts: 59,467 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 9 June 2022 at 9:29AM
    1. Forget it.
    2. That's called parking
    3. The PoFA 2012 states that railway assets where byelaws apply is not relevant land and the keeper cannot be held liable.
    4 Send the appeal template in blue test, unaltered from the keeper, save for a one liner as per my answer in 3, above. Send it on day 26.
    5. Save that for PoPLA if it gets that far.

    Do not under any circumstances reveal the driver's identity.

    Complain to your MP that APCOA are trying to infer that a keeper can be held liable when in fact the PoFA 2012 states that they cannot.


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  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 153,572 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Do everything on the last day, like in all the other APCOA railway threads. Reasons all discussed on other threads including a recent reply in POPLA Decisions. 
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
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