Paid for parking on arrival but issued with a penalty notice

Paddy_Herbert

I paid for parking at a Three Bridges Railway Station on arrival using APCOA's parking app, the fee for parking was deducted from my bank account. Subsequently APCOA claim that I did not pay and have issued me with a penalty notice. Despite five letters from me advising them of this, they have now passed my data to a debt recovery firm who are threatening me with court action. Any advice as to how I stop this action and end APCOA’s harassment will be much appreciated?

The_Slithy_Tove

Are you certain you got the registration number right when you used the app? You may have paid for the wrong vehicle. Have you sent evidence to APCOA of payment?

A debt recovery company can't take you to court. Neither can APCOA. The only court action possible is for the Train Operating Company (Southern) to prosecute you under the Byelaws. They're unlikely to do this, as they get no money from it. Best thing is to keep stringing them along for 6 months after the event, at which point they can no longer prosecute.

B789

Is it definitely a "Penalty" Charge Notice and not a "Parking" Charge Notice?

When you wrote to APCOA, did you reveal yourself to be the driver?

If it is a "Penalty" CN, then you string this out as it will expire after 6 months. You can safely ignore all the debt collector letters. They are powerless to do anything except intimidate the gullible into paying the now inflated demands.

APCOA are benign and do not litigate which means that eventually, they will seek lower hanging fruit from the gullible tree.

It's all explained fully in the Newbies/FAQ thread.

Coupon-mad

It will time out in 6 months so you are probably already halfway there! NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

Paddy_Herbert

It’s a Penalty Notice. 

APCOA are alleging non payment, but I paid via the app at the time of parking. Payment went through my bank account.

The ‘Penalty’ is for non-payment, I could not see anything in the FAQs dealing with this, I may have missed something.

Thanks for the responses which are very reassuring, I am grateful.

B789

Paddy_Herbert said:

It’s a Penalty Notice. 

APCOA are alleging non payment, but I paid via the app at the time of parking. Payment went through my bank account.

The ‘Penalty’ is for non-payment, I could not see anything in the FAQs dealing with this, I may have missed something.

As long as you have the evidence that you paid, just ignore it and the follow-on debt collector letters and wait for it to time out.

Coupon-mad

Why not just search the form for:

APCOA railway penalty

We have threads about once a week like yours.
NOTHING HAPPENS.

Paddy_Herbert

Found the thread now. Extremely helpful! Thanks.