£60 admin fee from Auxillis and APCOA PCN

Jammin1

Ok thanks, I've emailed APCOA to their complaints address trying to establish what is going on and I'll wait to hear what they say

Jammin1

Hey everyone

APCOA responded to my complaint with the following

'I can confirm when a notice is issued the registered keeper has the option to transfer the liability of a notice within 28 days of the notice being issued. As no transfer of liability has been submitted for the notice, this still currently stands with the registered keeper. If the registered keeper would like to discuss this further, they would need to contact APCOA directly.'

I'm not sure why the hiring company didn't transfer the liability. They told me that they had done, and I had also told them that ' they must provide my details to APCOA in accordance with Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedom Act 2012'.

What are my next steps now? The hirer has taken £60 from my bank using the card details I provided when hiring the vehicle which I want back! But I still don't have a NTH, so I have nothing to appeal.

Coupon-mad

You show them that email and insist they transfer liability NOW so you can appeal.  And threaten to report them to the BVRLA whose clear advice to members is to transfer liability.

YankeeBrit

Do you have a copy of the correspondence/email between you and your lessor? You know that a telephone conversation isn't worth the paper it is written on.

You can always contact your credit card company and request a hold on the payment as it is in dispute. Have you looked over your lease and found the bit about "speculative invoices" or anything about unregulated private parking companies? You should remind your lessor that you are disputing their admin charge and any amount they have paid to an unregulated private parking firm.

You can SAR your lessor to show proof that they did transfer liability from them as the RK to you as the hirer. Likewise, SAR the PPC to show proof of any correspondence containing your data from the lessor.

Jammin1

Thanks guys. Yes everything has been by email. No telephone conversations so it's all on paper. I've contacted the bank to request a chargeback and I'm waiting for them to 'investigate' apparently. The T&Cs in the contract I signed are as follows:

"You accept that it is Your responsibility to pay all penalties for which You are liable pursuant to this Agreement including the terms and conditions overleaf.

20. You must pay all road tolls, penalties, impounded vehicle charges, infringements, congestion charges or any other charges imposed by statute or otherwise relating to the way in which the Hire Vehicle is used, driven or parked

21. You must when asked pay Us on demand (i) the reasonable retail cost of providing or arranging roadside assistance (except where it is provided to rectify or deal with a matter that is Our liability under this agreement) (ii) for any of the costs set out in clause 20 which We have paid on Your behalf and (iii) an administration fee of £50 plus VAT for each occasion We deal with a damage claim relating to the Hire Vehicle or receives a charge and/or penalty or notification of any of them and each time We demand payment from You in respect of payments due under this agreement other than Charges."

I'll contact the hiring company to demand they transfer liability and put in SAR requests as advised. Thanks again

Jammin1

Hi, I received the following response from the hiring company who claim they did send the transfer of liability:

'In reference to your stating the penalty notice is from an unregulated company. We are unsure where you have obtained this information from, APCOA Parking is an accredited car park management company and a British Parking Association member.

With regard APCOA Parking stating we have not represented your details to them. Attached is a copy of the representation posted to them on 14.06.2023, the same day we notified you of the penalty notice by email. We can not be held responsible for any postal issues or administrative failure on the part of APCOA Parking, we do not know which of these issues has caused APCOA Parking to state they have not received the representation. We have processed the representation of your details as advised and in line with process. To date we have received nothing further relating to this penalty from APCOA Parking to suggest the representation was not received such as a reminder notice which would have flagged with our offices there had been a problem.

Please find attached a letter of authority which will enable you to submit an appeal with APCOA Parking while your penalty remains in Auxillis' name. You can also use the representation evidence attached to further support our authority for you to appeal the penalty notice. We do this to speed up the appeal process for you and you can immediately submit your appeal with APCOA Parking.'

So I've forwarded the letter of authority to APCOA, and again asked them to send me a NTH. I've also submitted SARs with both APCOA and the hiring company (Auxillis). So I guess I just wait to hear back from APCOA and see if they will send me a NTH? The hiring company said that I could use representation evidence to immediately submit an appeal with APCOA but I don't think I'm able to do that because it's already gone through to enforcement agent stage.

Coupon-mad

Perfect.  See what APCOA come back with and you may have to report them to the BPA if they received that transfer of liability and failed to send you a NTH.

Auxillis' retort about APCOA not being an 'unregulated parking firm' made me laugh.  Wow they are deluded.  Of course PPCs are all UNREGULATED!  That's why the Govt is regulating the industry in 2024...

...the BPA is an old boys' club Trade Body apologist for parking operators, not a poxy 'regulator'!

Half_way

Cant post a link right now, but on the BPA limited website it clearly states they are not regulators

YankeeBrit

Half_way said:

Cant post a link right now, but on the BPA limited website it clearly states they are not regulators

So, write back to the intellectually malnourished Auxillis, using the exact words provided by @Coupon-mad and also highlighting what it says on the BPA website. Explain to them that the PCN is in now or form a "penalty" and perhaps they should look up the definition in order to educate themselves.

They are probably using the term "penalty" so that they can justify an admin charge to you, hence the advice to get your credit card company to put a hold on it.

Half_way

Here is the link that for technical incompetence/ reasons  I couldn't post previously

https://www.britishparking.co.uk/about

What don’t we do?

We are a membership association and not a regulatory body. This means that whilst we will address any concerns raised about our members’ working practices, we do not have the resource to deal with complaints about individual enforcement notices.