APCOA - Railway Penalty Charge

BuzzingBee

Hi everyone,

I’ve read through all the newb articles and just wanted to clarify if you made reference to being the driver, would you still proceed with the Popla defence with the usual template including Keeper Liability and maximise the appeal process?

thanks!

Gr1pr

No, once a driver is outed,  any appeals are based on the contract,  signage,  plus other factors 

There is no keeper lliability on railway land,  the main point being that the driver should not be outed when appealing in the first place 

With penalty notices, you obfuscate to get them past the 6 months deadline 

BuzzingBee

So don’t bother mentioning about the keeper liability, focus on the appeals re contract, unclear signage etc and target 6 months?

LDast

Just ignore everything to do with a fake APCOA Penalty Notice. Simply report APCOA to the police. This is not a real Penalty Notice. APCOA is a private company with no legal authority to issue or enforce penalties under Railway Byelaws. Only a Train Operating Company or other 'authority' can issue a genuine Penalty Notice, and any money must be paid to the public purse—not to a private company.

This also cannot be a Parking Charge Notice (PCN), because a PCN is a civil matter based on a contract. It must be clearly presented as a civil contractual charge, not disguised as a criminal penalty. If a private company issues a notice that looks like a fine or uses legal-sounding language to suggest criminal consequences, that is deliberately misleading.

What laws are being broken?

Under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, this is:

Fraud by false representation – when someone dishonestly makes a false statement to gain money or cause someone a loss.

APCOA is pretending the notice is a real criminal penalty, when it isn’t, and demanding payment by threatening prosecution they cannot carry out. That is a false representation made for financial gain, and it should be reported to the police.

Coupon-mad

I would never report this to the Police. They won't be the slightest bit interested.

However there is one appeal point that potentially wins, if APCOA issued a PENALTY notice? If yes, then put as your POPLA single point appeal that APCOA don't have landowner authority to issue PNs, only parking charge notices at Railway sites.

BuzzingBee

On the railway website it makes reference to Parking notice as well, so this was one of my defences. 

Many thanks!

LDast

The whole point of reporting these to the police (not through Action Fraud) is that you are not merely reporting a civil dispute about a parking ticket—you are alleging that a known private company (e.g. APCOA or SABA) has issued what purport to be Penalty Notices using the language, structure and implied authority of statutory enforcement. But in fact, these are not statutory fines and no legal power exists to demand payment in this way.

There is an intention to deceive recipients into paying under the false belief that this is a criminal or statutory penalty. This aligns with the criminal offence of fraud by false representation (Fraud Act 2006, §.2).

All you need to do is visit or call your local police station (via 101) and request to report a crime of fraud by false representation. Clearly state that the suspect is a known legal entity (e.g. APCOA Parking or SABA) and provide documentation.

You can present the Penalty Notice showing misleading use of terms like “fines” and "penalty", threats of legal consequences and payment instructions directed to a private company, not to a public body or authority. Also the absence of any enabling legislation (e.g. Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984) or any reference to proper byelaw prosecution.

You ask that the matter be recorded as a crime, not just “information”, and request a crime reference number and the name and number of the reporting officer.

You can state it in this way:

“I am reporting a crime under the Fraud Act 2006. A private company is issuing documents falsely purporting to be statutory Penalty Notices. These documents mislead recipients into believing they are obliged under law to pay a fine, when in fact no such legal power exists. I believe this constitutes fraud by false representation, due to the implied threats and misuse of legal language. I have evidence, and the identity of the company is known. I am requesting that this be recorded as a crime and a crime reference number issued.”

If the officer refuses or tries to fob you off to Action Fraud, quote the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): if a notifiable offence is reported, and the victim believes a crime has occurred, the police must record it unless there is credible evidence to the contrary. Mention that fraud by a known suspect can and should be dealt with by local police and not passed off to Action Fraud.

Action Fraud only records data and passes it to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), which investigates only a small fraction of cases. They are not a police force and do not allocate crime reference numbers in the same way local police do.

Where the suspect is known, as in this case (APCOA/SABA), and the fraud is ongoing and targeted, the local police have jurisdiction and are responsible for investigating. This is not a generic scam—it involves deliberate false representation by a known legal entity, potentially even amounting to blackmail, which is a serious criminal offence outside the scope of Action Fraud’s remit.

BikingBud

And complain to DVLA about please of personal information?

Coupon-mad

Police will laugh at you. It's pointless to try that route. MP complaints are better.

BuzzingBee

Coupon-mad said:

I would never report this to the Police. They won't be the slightest bit interested.

However there is one appeal point that potentially wins, if APCOA issued a PENALTY notice? If yes, then put as your POPLA single point appeal that APCOA don't have landowner authority to issue PNs, only parking charge notices at Railway sites.

Which appeal option for Popla would be most relatable, “I was not improperly parked?”

BuzzingBee

The other option would be other?