Apcoa nightmare- advice needed!

shep76

My situation is as follows:

I received, sequentially, various letters relating to fines for multiple failed parking in December last year. It became clear that when my main car had been in the garage & I switched to a second car, I made a mistake when parking at a railway station. When I got my main car back, I forgot to reset APCOA's app settings to my original car, so they had no record of my parking. I also pressed the "purchase again" button (as I usually did) for later parking sessions during that week.

When fined I contacted APCOA immediately to explain, sending receipts and I was told that the later fine had been recinced as I could prove that the payments had been made (albeit for the wrong car), but that I must pay the £20 for the original error, which I did on December 28th.

Later letters arrived with what I mistook as the same fine and were confusing as I was not aware about how many fines there were: it turns out that only the first of the follow up fines had been rescinded, although this was not made clear. When it was, I was asked to pay APCOA  another £20 for a later day in the week, which I felt was unfair as I had considered the matter closed when the first fine was rescinded, so I appealed this to POPLA who have not agreed that I can be exempted legally. I then paid £170 on March 18th as instructed. APCOA treated each of these as independent events, despite the single mistake I had made being not to switch car details back. Their app is designed to shortcut the process and repeat previous actions.

This week I learned that again this matter was still not closed when I recieved, on Wednesday, a letter from Debt recovery plus saying I had not paid the £170 and had till Thursday to do so. Confused since the first two payments had been accepted and I had understood that this matter was over, it now appears that this is for a fourth fine, which I had not understood was still in the mix until talking to APCOA again on Wednesday evening.
The person from APCOA who explained this to me said they would check with a manager and call me back on Thursday. They have not. I tried calling APCOA on Saturday, sat on hold for 85 minutes before giving up, and have not had my subsequent email replied to.

I have already paid them an extra £190 for parking that APCOA have accepted that I had already paid for, simply because because I once forgot to switch details back over on an app at 7am one morning. The idea that I now need to increase this amount to £360, when these matters have never been made crystal clear to me, is grotesque. This is money I cannot throw away and APCOA are fully aware that I am a basic customer being pummeled for one single, simple error.

As a teacher, I am not available often to speak during working hours. I am not sure how I am supposed to be able to resolve this matter, and all the while debt collection companies send me threatening letters. Can anyone advise?!

B789

You have made so many cardinal mistakes. If only you'd come here when you first received the original PCN, you would not have paid them a penny.

The first thing you now need to do is go and read the Newbies/FAQ thread near the top of this forum. Come back after you have thoroughly read it. It is no use skim-reading it. You will need to study it as it explains fully the process you are in and you will see why you have made a terrible mistake in paying them anything.

Every time you have a question, go back and read the Newbies/FAQ thread again. It is your go-to reference.

As a starter... ignore all debt collection letters. They are only useful as lining for the bottom of a birdcage. Debt collectors are powerless, no matter how threatening or scary they seem.

I blame the education system for not teaching enough basics about civil law. Ignorance of basics like the process of a CCJ and basic Consumer Rights is so obvious to us on here. These are things that affect everyone in their daily lives at some point or other.

Boat_to_Bolivia

STOP paying them and stop worrying about debt recovery letters, just ignore them.

As @B789 take a deep breath and start reading the NEWBIES thread.

Fruitcake

You have not received any fines.

Debt collectors are powerless and can safely be ignored.

APCOA are benign and to date have never taken anyone to court. Of course that may change, but they make enough money from gullible motorists who pay up without first doing some basic research that it really isn't worth their while to issue court claims.

Railway stations, ports, and airports are not relevant land, but are instead covered by byelaws that do not allow the keeper to be held liable for a parking charge, even if it is dressed up to look like a penalty. 

Read the NEWBIES as advised, learn and understand how the unregulated private parking industry operates, and learn how to beat them.

For any unfair private parking charge notice (the vast majority) from any parking company the advice is always the same. Do not pay, do not ignore, do not reveal the driver's identity, complain to the landowner and your MP.

Coupon-mad

I then paid £170 on March 18th as instructed. 

Oh no.  I'm afraid to tell you, this is a scam.

You do not pay 'parking' debt collectors nor talk to them at all about the £170 demands they send for PPCs.

IGNORE IT. ENTIRELY.

Stop engaging.

These are railway penalties so they time out in June (6 months)!  Nothing will happen and you are not advised to ever pay these.

Things will change for the better. The Government is regulating this rogue industry as it is completely out of control but APCOA are easy to ignore.

I blame the education system for not teaching enough basics about civil law. Ignorance of basics like the process of a CCJ and basic Consumer Rights is so obvious to us on here. These are things that affect everyone in their daily lives at some point or other.

I agree.

It also annoys me that driving instructors fail to even mention where you can or cannot park, such that UK drivers wrongly think they can't stop to drop a passenger off on a double yellow on street (perfectly legal) and yet have no idea about scam private parking charges. 

Umkomaas

Apcoa nightmare- advice needed!

I have to tell you that APCOA are far nearer to a sweet dream than ever they are to a nightmare!