APCOA Private Penalty Notice gone to debt collectors - What do I do?

kodiplod

Driver parked in local train station and left car there. It's one of those car parks that are very hard to actually pay for a ticket, there's a review on Google about this too. The driver tried paying using the app and it kept not working. So much so that the driver tired numerous cards. Driver was already on the train at this point. Driver thought the payment went through but clearly not.

Received a letter to driver parents address (drivers previous address, moved out 3 months ago!) and the letter is dated 26th September 2023. It was received on 6th November so this letter is very very late.

Asked around on some forums and was told to send an appeal letter to the company which I did, here is a copy of what I said:
"I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 26th September 2023. Please note that I am the registered keeper of the vehicle. I am not obliged to identify the driver and I decline to do so. Please note the following:-
You are not able to transfer the liability of the driver (if any) for these parking charges to me as keeper because the PCNs relate to alleged parking events on land which is not 'relevant land' as defined in Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 ('POFA').
Furthermore, even if (which is not the case) the location was relevant land, the PCNs were issued after the expiry of the 'relevant period' as defined in POFA, so your client would still be unable to transfer liability to the keeper.
3 In addition, as keeper I am entitled to all defences open to the driver including (without limitation) that the alleged breaches of contract did not occur.
Any one of the above points is alone sufficient to absolve me from liability. Therefore, I refuse to pay your purported parking charges. As I am not liable for these purported parking charges, you have no right to continue to hold my personal information and I require you and your client to delete all my personal information from your respective databases."

Since then, I received a letter approx 2 days ago from a debt recovery company for the amount of £170.
What am I supposed to do here? Take the loss and pay the debt company now?
Please see attached notice, any help would be really appreciated.
https://ibb.co/z25c3LT
https://ibb.co/xg81qVW

la531983

Do nothing. Ignore, ignore ignore.

Return here if they issue a court claim.

Umkomaas

Completely ignore debt collector demands. They can do absolutely nothing (other than send you silly letters), and especially for unpaid 'Penalty' charges. APCOA would need to prosecute in the Magistrates Court within 6 months of the parking incident, a much more costly procedure than chasing 'Parking' charges in the small claims court. They have never done either. Even if they took you to the Mags Court and they won, the fine you would have to pay goes straight to The Exchequer - not to APCOA, not to the Train Operating Company and definitely not to any debt crawler. 

The NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, fourth post, tells you all you need to know about debt beggars!

Now, to a more important issue 

Received a letter to driver parents address (drivers previous address, moved out 3 months ago!)

This needs sorting sharpish. The address showing on your V5C needs to be updated with the DVLA (can be done online) as you can be issued with a real fine of £1,000 for having out of date details. You should do the same with your driving licence - they both need to be done separately, there is no read-across from one to the other. 

So, stop worrying about APCOA and whichever debt collector is involved, and don't even think about paying, it's going nowhere.