APCOA Parking fine

vickersp

Hi MSE Forum,

We recently went on a family holiday abroad to Turkey for a week. We haven't been abroad for 10+ years. I paid for the Meet and Greet service at Manchester airport. Unfortunately I exited the round about incorrectly and went through the drop off zone. The round about had no clear sign to inform which exit was for the meet and greet which lead to the confusion. I was forced to drive through the drop off zone as there was no way to reverse. Today I got a parking charge notice, which has the date of issue as 27/05/2025.

The letter is quite aggressive in it wording and says if I pay within 14 day I get a reduce rate of £60 rather than £100.

My questions are:

Is it worth appealing? I have no photographic evidence, although the letter states that I was only in the drop off zone between 09:43:44 and 09:44:58 (1 minute and 14 seconds) which tbf seems too long. After driving through I finally corrected my error and got to the meet and greet parking area, where the car was left for 7 days until my our return from the holiday.

If I do appeal and if it is rejected can I still pay the reduce rate. I have tried looking on APCOA website and there isn't anything on it that indicates whether I can still pay the reduce rate.

This is what it says on the letter, which I interpreted as I do still pay the reduce rate.

"Should your appeal be unsuccessful:

You have the right to pay at the rate applicable when your appeal was made, permitted that your appeal is submitted within 28 days of receiving this notice. The applicable rate will be provided for 14 days following an appeal rejection."

Thanks

Gr1pr

Study the Heathrow and Gatwick group thread,  plus other airport thread with dropoffs etc

There is no keeper liability on airport land , so your aim is to pay nothing at all, regardless of if you appeal or not 

No blabbing about who was driving,  no paying 

vickersp

Thanks for your post Gr1pr but I don't like that as a defence to simply say I wasn't the driver and I do not have to tell you who the driver was. Plus, they have a picture front and back on the car.

My feeling on the matter is, that the appeal process should go in my favour on the simple grounds that I drove through without actually parking and proceeded to park in the meet and greet car park, which was always my intention and what service I paid for. However, it would be nice to get some free legal advice from someone on here who know more about this kind of thing than I do.

Coupon-mad

You are not saying you weren't the driver.  We would never tell people to lie!

You simply appeal as the keeper.

However, it would be nice to get some free legal advice from someone on here who know more about this kind of thing than I do.

The appeal in the Heathrow & Gatwick drop off thread is written by a pro bono solicitor, @troublemaker22 (who I know and can vouch for).

Gr1pr

As above,  I never mentioned that you say that you weren't the driver, definitely dont lie,  but you are appealing as keeper,  based on using the 13 year old law named POFA 2012, where schedule 4 does not apply at airports,  same as the advice in the following thread 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6607818/apcoa-pcn-manchester-airport-drop-off#latest

And

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81401344#Comment_81401344?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=manchester+airport+


Nobody here is telling you to lie, but there is no law that compels the keeper to reveal who was driving either

We have hundreds of posts about appealing as keeper based on no keeper liability 

My view is that if you dont understand the topic,  and you ask for advice from those who do, take the advice onboard and follow that advice,  because the same advice has been given out on here for 13 years, yet you were very quick to dismiss my quick reply giving you the right advice and where to look

Lawyers like troublemaker22 have already given the correct legal advice in the London airports group thread I asked you to read  ( clearly you have not done so, whereas I have , replying in such a short time means that the research I indicated wasn't done because too short a time elapsed   )

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81371973#Comment_81371973?utm_source=community-search&utm_medium=organic-search&utm_term=manchester+airport+

Just dont even mention the driver or anything about the incident itself,  think of it as being advised to give a no comment reply after advice from a lawyer,  based on the laws at the time  ( you have the right to remain silent,  anything you do say blah blah , not revealing theactualfacts is a strategy at this early stage )

Please study a dozen airport cases within the last 5 months for up to date advice,  especially when given the correct information by SRA registered lawyers ( and mentioned by forum regulars in response to the numerous queries   )

Thank you 

ChirpyChicken

The below also beats apcoa   

This is an appeal by the registered keeper - No driver details will be given. Please do NOT try the usual Group Nexus Trick of asking for driver details in order to get around the fact your NTK does not comply with POFA. As there is no keeper liability then liability cannot flow from the driver to the keeper and thus is an auto win @ POPLA. Please therefore cancel the notice or issue a POPLA code where you will auto withdraw
**not relevant land for the purposes of POFA**

vickersp

The funny thing is, that it is my wife car and I was the one driving, so she isn't actually lying by saying she wasn't the driver. Unfortunately, I know my wife and she will never go for this as a defense, as she is too scared when it comes to these type of thing.

I'm 100% sure she will just pay the fine as she was ready to pay it last night until i pleaded with her to leave and let me have a look into it.

On the other hand, it does make my blood boil, as the letter was worded way too aggressively and they bully the timid with further tricks like pay early or pay more later and if you do appeal you have to do it by letter and the appeal process will take 28 days, which if unsuccessful it applies the fine will be at the higher rate and could involve bailiffs.

The law is unfortunately for the brave or people who have waaay to much money to care. Sadly we're neither.

Anyways, Thanks for all your advice.

ChirpyChicken

Sorry but none of what you state is true - what it says is the keeper has no liability
No one here is saying lie, that isnt what the text says at all
Stop here wasting her money!!!
You will win this within a few days its that easy - i am finding away from this forum that APCOA cases are getting cancelled normally within 4 to 5 days
You dont do it by letter
there is no higher rate to pay
you wont lose
there are no bailiffs

I am not why you think any of this is the case

You simply go onto the website select keeper and copy and paste - get her to come here, why do people want to throw money away

https://payments.apcoa.co.uk/

that is the link for using the appeal text -its 2 minutes of your time and you say money, what isn't to like 

I simply wish people had the correct advice rather then believing stuff which isnt true 

Please dont be a willing victim to these parking firms

Gr1pr

They posted the letter to the keeper 

The keeper is not legally liable on airport land, the actual driver might be,  if a judge agreed , if someone actually told them who it was, which she wont be doing  ( the no blabbing about who was driving I mentioned   )

We are telling you to tell the keeper to use the appeal template shown earlier on the Apcoa site to inform Apcoa that the keeper has no liability So cancel the PCN and go and chase the unnamed driver,  because the non driving keeper is not going to reveal who was driving, she appeals as the actual keeper,  she is definitely not lying, but being very economical with the truth,  as in , no comment. She is protected by the 13 year old law, so she uses it, simple,  free , no money involved 

Ps, it wasn't a fine   ( magistrates issue fines  not Apcoa   ) , it's either a Penalty Notice or a Parking Charge Notice,  or Charge Notice 

She should save her money and follow the advice that you asked for here, following a well trodden path,  a path where words and laws have meaning  ( trust the advice   )

Once the 5 minutes keeper appeal is completed,  expect a cancellation in a few days 

Coupon-mad

vickersp said:

The funny thing is, that it is my wife car and I was the one driving, so she isn't actually lying by saying she wasn't the driver. Unfortunately, I know my wife and she will never go for this as a defense, as she is too scared when it comes to these type of thing.

It is literally one email.

She doesn't have a fine. Please wise up. Why would she pay a scam when she can kill it with one email?

doubledotcom

vickersp, how about this... if you use the appeal below and it is not cancelled, I will give you £100. However, if it is cancelled, you only need to give me £25. Surely that is an offer you can't refuse?

You appeal only as the Keeper of the vehicle and you don't changer any of the wording:

I am the registered keeper. APCOA cannot hold a registered keeper liable for any alleged contravention on land that is under statutory control. As a matter of fact and law, APCOA will be well aware that they cannot use the PoFA provisions because Manchester Airport is not 'relevant land'.

If Manchester Airport wanted to hold owners or keepers liable under Airport Bylaws, that would be within the landowner's gift and another matter entirely. However, not only is that not pleaded, it is also not legally possible because APCOA is not the Airport owner and your 'parking charge' is not and never attempts to be a penalty. It is created for APCOA's own profit (as opposed to a bylaws penalty that goes to the public purse) and APCOA has relied on contract law allegations of breach against the driver only.

The registered keeper cannot be presumed or inferred to have been the driver, nor pursued under some twisted interpretation of the law of agency. Your NtK can only hold the driver liable. APCOA have no hope at POPLA, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.

I'm confident that I have saved you £75 and you will receive a response from APCOA telling you not to be such a naughty person in future by depriving them of their profits but they'll let you off this time.