Received parking charge notice - parking was paid for but not showing in bank statement

Trumpington

Hi,

I received a parking charge notice as registered keeper from APCOA parking for the alleged contravention of: Overstay above allowed period/failure to register vehicle for per (the rest is cut off!). I'm guessing it was supposed to say "period"? Anyway, there were photos of the car being driven in and out. My wife was driving the car and she said she was pretty sure that she did pay as it was a multi-storey car park 'pay and display'. She's never had a parking ticket before in her life so was shocked that we received this. She checked her bank statements to confirm that it had been paid but there was no transaction. We paid the £60 fine as we had no proof of payment and she said that although she was pretty sure she paid she can't be 100% sure as there was nothing in her bank statements and any parking tickets that were kept in the car would have been thrown away (we won't be doing that again!). Anyway, we received another Parking charge notice for the same car park just a few days later for another occasion specifying exactly the same as before. This time my wife was adamant that she paid at a machine using her debit card (contactless) and had displayed the ticket on the dashboard. My son was with her so could confirm that he remembered her doing buying the ticket. Again though there was nothing on the bank statement. It's clear that there was obviously an issue with the ticket machine. I've looked at google reviews of that car park and although I can't see anything relating exactly to what my wife experienced it does mention a lot of reviews saying that the ticket machines were not working.

As we have no proof whatsoever of a parking receipt or the parking charge appearing on a bank statement do we have any case at all to appeal?

Boat_to_Bolivia

Unfortunately, by paying you have been marked down as a mug and will now be targeted by these thuggish scammers.

Please NO more paying.

Yes you have a case and should certainly appeal. This is a common problem and often crops up on these boards.

Are you sure the speculative invoice has been issued for not paying or could it possibly be that she needed to enter her VRM and did so incorrectly?

You need to read the NEWBIES thread which provides you with the information you need. Also search APCOA on this forum changing the search from Best Match to Newest.

DO NOT PAY IT.

B789

Yup... you paid the scamming APCOA... what a mistake. Not only have you been marked as a "mug" by them, but you are now known as a mug and they will come after you whenever they can. If only you had come here first.

The next thing you need to stop doing is identifying the driver. No mentioning "My wife was driving..." or "I drove..." or anything that throws away your golden ticket. It should always be "The driver parked..." or words to that effect.

Go and STUDY the Newbies/FAQ thread. There is a lot of information in there and you will need to refer back to it every time you have a question. You need to get an understanding of how these scammers work and how they rely on the gullibility of their victims to fund their scams.

APCOA don't use PoFA so they can't hold the registered keeper liable.

Where was this car park? Was it at a railway station? APCOA are, thankfully, benign and don't take cases all the way to court. However, you really need to have a read of the Newbies/FAQ thread to see what you should be doing next.

Coupon-mad

It's unfortunate that you paid one.  There was no need. No APCOA private PCN should be paid, there is no risk.

100% winnable on appeal by the keeper (you, NOT an appeal from the driver).  You only need to appeal as registered keeper, saying you were not the driver and that their PCN is non-POFA (DO NOT NAME THE DRIVER).

Fully explained in the NEWBIES thread.

Is this a railway station Penalty Notice or is it a Parking Charge Notice?

Trumpington

Thanks very much for all your comments and help. Yes, I wish I had come to this forum first - what a mug! I'll know for next time. It wasn't parking for a railway station but for a multi-storey car park. She says she entered the VRM correctly. We'll also now make sure we keep all those parking receipts for at least a couple of months.

Coupon-mad

So you now know how one appeal will kill it?

Trumpington

Coupon-mad said:

So you now know how one appeal will kill it?

Yes, having read through the Newbie section I use the "TEMPLATE ''ONE SIZE FITS ALL'' FIRST APPEAL THAT DOESN'T SAY WHO WAS DRIVING:" to send back to APCOA via the their online appeal page? I can't though provide them with photographic evidence though as the contactless payment didn't appear on the bank statement and the ticket obtained from the machine wasn't kept (will do in future!).

Fruitcake

Trumpington said:

Coupon-mad said:

So you now know how one appeal will kill it?

Yes, having read through the Newbie section I use the "TEMPLATE ''ONE SIZE FITS ALL'' FIRST APPEAL THAT DOESN'T SAY WHO WAS DRIVING:" to send back to APCOA via the their online appeal page? I can't though provide them with photographic evidence though as the contactless payment didn't appear on the bank statement and the ticket obtained from the machine wasn't kept (will do in future!).

Add a one liner to the template appeal stating that the NTK was not PoFA compliant and therefore the keeper cannot be held liable.

Trumpington

Fruitcake said:

Trumpington said:

Coupon-mad said:

So you now know how one appeal will kill it?

Yes, having read through the Newbie section I use the "TEMPLATE ''ONE SIZE FITS ALL'' FIRST APPEAL THAT DOESN'T SAY WHO WAS DRIVING:" to send back to APCOA via the their online appeal page? I can't though provide them with photographic evidence though as the contactless payment didn't appear on the bank statement and the ticket obtained from the machine wasn't kept (will do in future!).

Add a one liner to the template appeal stating that the NTK was not PoFA compliant and therefore the keeper cannot be held liable.

Ah, I've seen in other posts this one pop up quite a few times:

As your Parking Charge Notice does not comply with the requirements of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Schedule 4), you are, in law, unable to hold the registered keeper of the vehicle liable for the parking charge; I suggest therefore that you contact the driver. As there is no legal requirement placed on the registered keeper to identify the driver, I will not be doing so.

Fruitcake

That's the one, although I favour, "... so you should cancel now and save yourselves some money."