Heathrow parking charge notice

pilkie_01

A quick question, there may be no clear answer which is fine. I have previously used this forum due to inappropriate parking charge notices at a hopsital I used to work at (while I was paying for parking from my salary at the time). The advice was very helpful but in the end I just decided to ignore the letters including various debt collector nonsense. Luckily nothing happened and this was 5 years ago. The letters have stopped. 

More recently I went through the healthrow drop off and foolishly forgot to pay when I got home. I have a working memory like a sieve for stuff like this and am really frustrated at myself. 

My question is, from the experience on this forum, are the heathrow parking charge notices any more risky than most other parking tickets? I was considering just ignoring letters and seeing what happened but just wonder if I should be more cautious with healthrow?

Many thanks

Mark_d

The Heathrow parking charge notice was not inappropriate.  You forgot to pay at the time.  I would just pay the fee rather than hope to get away with it.

Half_way

ignore the above, that advice is not helpful

Heathrow and other airports have an issue with the ability to enforce these, as long as the driver is not identified either on here or to the parking company.
 Search heathrow on this forum and you should find a way to get rid of this, however do not ignore it 

troublemaker22

@Half-way is right.  APCOA's drop off arrangements at Heathrow are so chaotic that nobody ever has to pay their PCN and APCOA always cancels the PCN in response to any properly written appeal rather than pay a POPLA fee just for POPLA to order them to cancel it.  Just bang in the following appeal online being careful not to click anything to indicate whether or not you were the driver:

I appeal as keeper. I am not obliged to identify the driver and I decline to do so. I appeal on the following grounds:-

1. You are unable to transfer liability to the keeper pursuant to Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 ('POFA') because the drop off zones at Heathrow are not ‘relevant land’ as defined in POFA.

2. Even if (which is not the case) the land in question is relevant land your notice does not conform to the requirements set out in POFA paragraph 9(2)(f).

Furthermore, as keeper I am entitled to all the defences available to the driver including (without limitation) the following:

3. The parking charge is not notified until after the contract is entered into and under the principles set out by the Court of Appeal in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking, does not form part of the contract between the driver and APCOA.

4. The signage is not compliant with the BPA Code of Practice.

[5.  The car was present in the drop off zone for not more than 5 minutes and the driver is entitled to the 5 minute consideration period mandated by the BPA Code of Practice.]*

Any one of the above reasons is alone sufficient to require cancellation of the PCN.  

I require you to cancel the PCN or issue a POPLA Code so POPLA can order you to cancel it.

* Delete 5 if the car was in the drop off zone for more than 5 minutes.

mexican_dave

I think we can all benefit from that advice. I had a similar experience when I had to drive around Gatwick Airport North Terminal looking for my pre-booked parking space. When I returned from holiday I was threatened with a fine, from NCP for overstaying in the "drop-off" zone. None of the accompanying photos showed my car in the "drop-off", so I pointed this out in my formal appeal and asked for the camera locations alledging this infringement. They cancelled the fine!

troublemaker22

It was never a "fine".  It's good that you got it cancelled on other grounds, but refusing to identify the driver and citing the relevant land / POFA point is the golden ticket  

Coupon-mad

Mark_d said:

The Heathrow parking charge notice was not inappropriate.  You forgot to pay at the time.  I would just pay the fee rather than hope to get away with it.

Ouch, would you really? £60?!  £100?!

Wow.  APCOA are 100% beatable.  Really easy guaranteed 'golden ticket' win at POPLA for all registered keeper appellants.

troublemaker22

Mark_d , there is  nothing appropriate about the Heathrow drop-off rip-off.  The whole thing is designed as a trap.  The signage is woeful and there's no barrier or means to pay on site.  

awdaad

troublemaker22

I failed to pay Heathrow's £5 charge on time, settling it three days late, resulting in the issuance of a penalty notice. I appealed against the PCN without identifying the driver. The reason for my appeal was that I had forgotten to pay it.

I got the following reply from APCOA:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your letter regarding the above mentioned Parking Charge Notice (PCN) which was received on %% January 2024. We can only consider an appeal from either the registered keeper of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle when the alleged contravention occurred. From the correspondence we have received it appears that you are neither the registered keeper nor we are unable to determine if you were the driver at the time of the contravention. Therefore, we are unable to process your appeal without first receiving signed authorisation from either the driver or the registered keeper at the time of the alleged contravention.

How to provide written consent:

If the driver or registered keeper would like you to deal with this matter on their behalf, please ask them to send their written consent to us, ensuring that it shows:

· Their full name and address.
· Their signature.
· The date they signed the consent.
· Our reference numbers.
· The registration number of the vehicle concerned.
· Your full name and address and contact details.
· A brief description of the issue you want us to consider.

 Alternatively, if you were the driver of the vehicle that incurred the parking charge, please confirm this within 14 days of the date of this letter. Once we have this confirmation, we will be able to update our records and process your appeal.

Please send the correct information with full name, address and PCN number within 14 days of the date of this letter to. Please send the required information to: appealevidence.dw@apcoa.com.

I'll submit a new appeal using your form above and will also email a copy to appealevidence.dw@apcoa.com. What do you think? What is my fighting chance?

Coupon-mad

What? Obviously by appealing as keeper you can't lose but this isn't your thread.

KXL88

Sorry to hijack this thread, but assuming that if the car is leased, it is just more cost effective to just pay the drop off fee, since the leasing company charges £10 for every forwarded PCN either way.