Apcoa denying access to POPLA-Penalty Charge Notices

bergkamp

Apcoa seem to be 'sending' ghost appeal rejection emails to recipients of Penalty Charge Notices on railway land.

I only found out that my appeal had been rejected because when I logged on to the appeal portal, in small text it stated that I have already challenged the PCN,and that they replied on a certain date.

I had received no such rejection reply. Nor had these poster either;

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6387341/apcoa-missing-popla-code

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79502676#Comment_79502676

I complained to the BPA via their complaints form and received this response;

Thank you for your enquiry.

I can confirm that APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd is a member of our Approved Operator Scheme which means that they are required to adhere to our Code of Practice.

Our role as an Accredited Trade Association is to investigate alleged breaches of our Code of Practice by members of our Approved Operator Scheme where evidence can be supplied and we are unable to become involved in individual ticket disputes or hear appeals.

Please be advised that when a Parking Charge Notice is issued by a member of our Approved Operator Scheme, a motorist will have 28 days to appeal this via the operator's internal appeals procedure if they believe that it was issued either unfairly or incorrectly; the process should be outlined in the Parking Charge Notice. The operator has 35 days to respond. 

If the appeal is rejected the operator should provide details on how to further appeal to the free and independent appeals service, POPLA. A further appeal is available via POPLA for 28 days following the operator rejecting the appeal.

I note that the appeal outcome was not received. In the first instance, we would recommend reaching out to the parking operator to request a copy of this. If the parking operator is able to provide a copy of this document, because we have no way of ascertaining whether documents were or were not sent or received by either party, we would not be able to investigate further.

If the parking operator is unable to supply you with a copy of the appeal outcome, we can look into this further.

I hope this information is helpful.

Now trying to contact Apcoa regarding a PCN once you have appealled, is extremely difficult. Deliberately so it seems.

I am collecting BPA complaint reference numbers and shall be escalating this to;

Sara Roberts, Head of AOS

sara.r@britishparking.co.uk

Obviously it's only Apcoa and nothing will come of these Penalty Notices, but I think they need to be put under a bit of pressure and may be get them some sanction points.

Or at least help them get their faulty software fixed....

Le_Kirk

bergkamp said:

In the first instance, we would recommend reaching out to the parking operator to request a copy of this. If the parking operator is able to provide a copy of this document, because we have no way of ascertaining whether documents were or were not sent or received by either party, we would not be able to investigate further.

............... and remove that horrible phrase!

rowdy75

Did you complain to APCOA via the link to their complaints department someone posted in my thread bergkamp?

APCOA emailed me this morning saying they have cancelled my notice as they can see I did not receive my appeals decision.

bergkamp

rowdy75 said:

Did you complain to APCOA via the link to their complaints department someone posted in my thread bergkamp?

APCOA emailed me this morning saying they have cancelled my notice as they can see I did not receive my appeals decision.

No I didn't rowdy75.   And I don't think I will yet
Sara Roberts needs to hear about the  ghost appeals we know about as there will be lot more....

rowdy75

Ukcustomercomplaints@apcoa.co.uk 

I’ll leave that here for you if you decide to chase them up.

bergkamp

bergkamp said:

Apcoa seem to be 'sending' ghost appeal rejection emails to recipients of Penalty Charge Notices on railway land.

I only found out that my appeal had been rejected because when I logged on to the appeal portal, in small text it stated that I have already challenged the PCN,and that they replied on a certain date.

I had received no such rejection reply. 

SAR sent to Apcoa resulting in disclosure of two 'ghost' emails supposedly sent to me regarding my appeal .

One included a POPLA code...        So i used it.

POPLA appeal was simply;

I am the registered keeper of VRM XXXXXXX.

I am NOT the owner of the vehicle and was not the driver on the date of the event.

The Railway byelaws state:

In England and Wales

(i) The owner of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance used, left or placed in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to 14(3) may be liable to pay a penalty as displayed in that area.

In their 'letter' dated Xth October, which I had to obtain via a SAR request as it was never sent to me, Apcoa state;

If the Penalty Notice remains unpaid, APCOA Parking is entitled to pursue you as the keeper through the Magistrates Court by way of a private criminal prosecution for payment of the Penalty Notice.

Apcoa are at best mistaken in this assumption, or at worst deliberately misleading the public.

The ONLY law that allows keeper liablity for a drivers actions, is Schedule 4 of the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012. This obviously can not be used as the land is covered by Railway Byelaws and as such is not relevent land.

To clarify, as registered keeper of VRM XXXXXXX I am not liable for this Penalty Charge Notice.

XXXX  XXXXXX

Registered keeper

Today I received the following;

Mon, 21 Nov at 16:50

Dear bergkamp,

Your parking charge appeal against APCOA Parking - EW.

APCOA Parking - EW has now uploaded its evidence to your appeal. This will be available for you to view by clicking here.

blah blah blah

Yours sincerely

POPLA Team

A full 26 page evidence pack was on the POPLA portal.

Then I received another email, ELEVEN minutes later;

Mon, 21 Nov at 17:01

Dear  bergkamp,

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

Kind regards

POPLA Team

I'll let you use your own words to describe Apcoa...      

Coupon-mad

Nicely done, @bergkamp!

bergkamp

I managed to download Apcoas POPLA evidence pack in the 11 minutes between them uploading it and then withdrawing.

Case Summary;

Penalty Notice: £85.

Legistlastion: POFA.

The contract;

Contract duration: 20/09/2018 – 19/09/2024.

Parking Charge amount: £80 reduced to £50.

Enforcement type: ANPR,Parking Attendant,Penalty under Byelaws.

We all know how impotent Apcoa are,but it seems that they are breaking their contract with SWT by having £85 on the signage at possibly 150+ sites and not £80...

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dttby7x8zbx6e8t/checklist case summary contract.pdf?dl=0

Coupon-mad

"Parking Charge amount: £80 reduced to £50" isn't a 40% discount.