Forbidden parking at Travelodge

JustAnotherMotorist

Hello all,

I'm posting on behalf of a relative.


Thing 1:
She received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus as passed on to her by a friend for £170. It was sent to her previous address. The creditor is named on the letter as "Park & Control". She recently moved so I suspect she was slow to update her V5.

Thing 2:
She phoned DRP and may have said or implied who was driving. DRP said the creditor is "Park and Control Ltd" (presumably "Park & Control (UK) Ltd"?). I don't know for sure what she said to them and she didn't contact me until after.


We've sent a SAR each to P&C and DRP to try and recover any previous communications along with photos and anything else they have since their web portal doesn't accept the PCN number on the letter.

The car park signage is obviously forbidding which I gather is a good thing, "no parking unless...", "no parking in..." type clauses and her charge letter from DRP says "unauthorised parking".

The sign says "Park & Control Parking Management" in the top left, "APCOA Parking" in the top right, and "APCOA Parking UK" in the bottom left. The only address and contact details (website and phone number) on the sign are under APCOA Parking UK. There are none for Park & Control. As far as I can tell there is an "APCOA Parking UK Ltd" I can find which is a separate company to "Park & Control (UK) Ltd".

The sign can be seen here (replace xx with tt).
hxxps://ibb.co/nPpBPFv

Based on the sign, who would any contract be with?
Can they put one company details on the sign but issue charges from the other?

Umkomaas

Your relative isn't based in Northern Ireland is she as the only 'Park & Control (UK) Ltd' is based there. 

She must update the parking company (whoever it is) immediately with her current address (send email to the DPO email address found on the PPC's website 'Privacy' page) telling them to 'erase' (use that word) the former address and replace with the current one. She must stop any further post from anyone involved in this going to the old address. 

JustAnotherMotorist

Umkomaas said:

Your relative isn't based in Northern Ireland is she as the only 'Park & Control (UK) Ltd' is based there. 

She must update the parking company (whoever it is) immediately with her current address (send email to the DPO email address found on the PPC's website 'Privacy' page) telling them to 'erase' (use that word) the former address and replace with the current one. She must stop any further post from anyone involved in this going to the old address. 

If the PPC isn't "Park & Control (UK) Ltd" who is it? I've found this, maybe the PPC is APCOA afterall? APCOA are not mentioned on the letter from DRP though which is the only letter we have, only "Park & Control".

hxxps://www.apcoa.co.uk/parkandcontrol/

JustAnotherMotorist

Sorry, forgot to say not in NI. This was in England.

JustAnotherMotorist

I believe the PPC is "Park & Control (UK) Ltd" I tried their online portal again just now and instead of the previous error saying they couldn't find the PCN it now says, "It is no longer possible to appeal this Parking Charge Notice as it has been paid, cancelled or passed on to debt recovery."

Umkomaas

JustAnotherMotorist said:

I believe the PPC is "Park & Control (UK) Ltd" I tried their online portal again just now and instead of the previous error saying they couldn't find the PCN it now says, "It is no longer possible to appeal this Parking Charge Notice as it has been paid, cancelled or passed on to debt recovery."

Just ignore DRP and any of their silly letters, the can do nowt else - see NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, fourth post.  If APCOA are involved, this won't progress any further - they don't issue court proceedings. Keep an eye on it, come back if anything strays away from the advice I've given. 

Umkomaas

Just to add .... further checking of 'Park & Control (UK) Ltd' confirms a link up with APCOA. Take a look at the directors of P&C and click each one's name to see the other companies they are linked to. Gemini (recently incorporated into APCOA) and APCOA themselves are both there. 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/NI071262/officers

APCOA all over this.

KeithP

From that sign you have shown us...


and...


Clearly your beef is with APCOA Parking (UK) Limited.

JustAnotherMotorist

KeithP said:

From that sign you have shown us...


and...


Clearly your beef is with APCOA Parking (UK) Limited.

Beef perhaps ought to be with them but the letter we have does not carry their name, DRP did not mention them on the phone, and the portal on P&C website accepts the PCN and reg number combo.

My relative would like this put to bed one way or another rather than having it time out over six years. Would they accept a lesser amount or could we sue them for data protection breach first of the charge could never have been valid?

JustAnotherMotorist

Umkomaas said:

Just to add .... further checking of 'Park & Control (UK) Ltd' confirms a link up with APCOA. Take a look at the directors of P&C and click each one's name to see the other companies they are linked to. Gemini (recently incorporated into APCOA) and APCOA themselves are both there. 

APCOA all over this.

Does this mean they can put one set of contact details on the sign and then issue a charge from the other? To my simple mind they're still separate legal entities and if P&C don't have contact details on the sign they can't enter into contracts there?

Umkomaas

You are completely overthinking this. Nothing, other than silly letters, will happen. Unless you get a landowner cancellation or pay them what they are demanding (highly unlikely to accept less) you cannot 'put this to bed'.