APCOA Penalty Notice

goldstone12

I have read through the FAQs and template approach am a bit confused by it.  I may also be too late because I have already appealed to APCOA and had the appeal rejected.  But I have not told them who the vehicle driver was.

The person driving the car in question was rushing to catch a train.  They parked in a station car park and used the APCOA app to pay for parking.  The app geolocates and gives options for location.  Unfortunately the wrong location ( another station car park a few miles away ) was clicked on and when the car was collected it had a penalty notice stuck on it.

I appealed to APCOA with evidence that parking had been paid for but simply the wrong location selected.  The appeal was rejected because ' paying to park at the incorrect location breaks the terms and conditions of parking '. This seems technically correct but very harsh.

I suspect that an appeal to POPLA will not be successful.  One of their FAQs says that a keying error of one digit in a car registration number should be forgiven but a ' major ' keying error should only qualify for a £20 rebate on the charge.  I have written to them anonymously to ask whether making one click in an app and getting the location wrong is a minor or major error.

I would greatly appreciate the advice from this forum on how I might be able to proceed.
Thanks very much for your help.

KeithP

goldstone12 said:

The person driving the car... parked in a station car park and used the APCOA app to pay for parking.

Which station car park?

Gr1pr

If its a penalty notice, it times out after 6 months, so you string it out by submitting a Popla appeal around day 32 following the rejection, as keeper 

No blabbing about who was driving 

Did APCOA offer the £20 keying error option. ?  Yes or no. ?

The £20 option is in the BPA CoP version 9, have you read it. ?  Its not a rebate, it's a settlement figure 

Coupon-mad

@goldstone12  I love your username!

Great memories. 

Nobody ever pays an APCOA PN or PCN.

goldstone12

KeithP said:

goldstone12 said:

The person driving the car... parked in a station car park and used the APCOA app to pay for parking.

Which station car park?

I was keeping personal identifiable details out.  But I'm happy to tell you if it is important and folks feel it is ok to put that detail out there.

goldstone12

Gr1pr said:

If its a penalty notice, it times out after 6 months, so you string it out by submitting a Popla appeal around day 32 following the rejection, as keeper 

No blabbing about who was driving 

Did APCOA offer the £20 keying error option. ?  Yes or no. ?

The £20 option is in the BPA CoP version 9, have you read it. ?  Its not a rebate, it's a settlement figure 

No they haven't offered the £20 option.  Thanks for the reference, I'll check it out.

goldstone12

Coupon-mad said:

@goldstone12  I love your username!

Great memories. 

Nobody ever pays an APCOA PN or PCN.

Oh, for those that know I guess I've divulged some personal info....

Coupon-mad

So does my seagull avatar and the fact I was filmed and interviewed by Alexis Conran; I'm the lady on Shoreham Beach in the TV show Parking - The Big Con? (still available to view on CH5 I think).

I'm unconcerned, despite the parking industry hating me.  Us good guys & gals do not need to hide. @bargepole was also interviewed at his own house for that TV show (must admit I ducked out of that idea and used neutral Sussex ground).

You've got nowt to worry about!  Anyway yours is APCOA so you are safe to ignore them, regardless.

Or take it to POPLA and point out that they failed to offer £20 for a keying error case.  That'll win.

  

LDast

Ignore, or tell POPLA that you are appealing as the keeper as only the driver can be liable for the charge and as you are under no legal obligation to name the driver you decline to do so. As the location was under statutory control, APCOA cannot transfer liability from the driver to the keeper as PoFA does not apply. APCOA have not shown that the person they are pursuing was the driver. APCOA are not allowed to presume not infer that the keeper was the driver and has been proven in persuasive case law. Therefore the PCN cannot have been issued correctly and the appeal must be upheld.

It's only APCOA and they are not normally litigious but if you must put any effort into a POPLA appeal, the minimum shown above should be enough to get it cancelled. The assessor may just like you for submitting such a short but to the point appeal and give it to you anyway.

goldstone12

Thanks very much for all the help folks.  I have a few questions.

1.  Is the advice to simply ignore the penalty notice simply because APCOA tend not to pursue these matters and it will expire in 6 months ?
2.  If I ignore it and they do pursue it, we will get a letter to the registered keeper.  Are we able to appeal to POPLA at that stage ?
3.  If I appeal to POPLA, when is the latest I can do so ?  Someone upthread said 32 days, but the APCOA rejection says appeals to POPLA must be within 28 days of the rejection notice. ( By the way, the rejection notice is dated July 8 )
4.  I think my plan would be to appeal to POPLA at the latest possible date, with the appeal to use LDast's rationale from the last post and also Coupon Mad's rationale from the post before.
5.  If I appeal to POPLA and lose, can I still simply ignore the penalty notice or would all be lost at that point ?

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

1. It is an option.

2. No.  If you are going to do POPLA do it now.  You may not even get a NTO because your first appeal sounds like you implied you were driving. Therefore APCOA probably reckon they know who was driving, so don't have grounds to get DVLA data.

3.  Day 33 is the last day. Trust me. I do these all the time for friends on day 32 or 33. 

4.  Yep. I would. Strings it out even more.

5.  Of course you ignore losing at POPLA.