Stansted Airport Drop off/Pick up

golden_retriever

Hi all,

I used the Stansted Airport drop-off/pick-up area on Tuesday night, entering at around 23:45 and likely leaving within a few minutes—probably before midnight. As you know, payment is required online by midnight the next day.

However, when I tried to pay, the website only offers payment options starting from 1:00am on Wednesday, and not for my actual entry time on Tuesday night. I called customer services to check if anything could be done, but unfortunately, they were unable to assist and advised that a penalty notice would still likely be issued regardless of any payment made now.

I’m wondering whether I should go ahead and pay for the earliest available slot (Wednesday 1am) in case it might help with an appeal, or if there’s a chance no penalty will be issued despite what I was told.

As the vehicle is registered in my mum’s name, I’d like to avoid any penalty charges if possible.

Many thanks in advance for your advice!

Gr1pr

As its an airport,  the keeper has no liability no matter what the driver did, does, or doesnt do

As long as the keeper does not reveal who was driving, it cannot go to any court,  especially not by any private parking company   (  is it Marstons there or another company   ?  )

I suggest that you both save your money and do nothing,  same as all the other airport threads like Manchester,  Gatwick and Heathrow 

doubledotcom

golden_retriever said:

Hi all,

I used the Stansted Airport drop-off/pick-up area on Tuesday night, entering at around 23:45 and likely leaving within a few minutes—probably before midnight. As you know, payment is required online by midnight the next day.

However, when I tried to pay, the website only offers payment options starting from 1:00am on Wednesday, and not for my actual entry time on Tuesday night. I called customer services to check if anything could be done, but unfortunately, they were unable to assist and advised that a penalty notice would still likely be issued regardless of any payment made now.

I’m wondering whether I should go ahead and pay for the earliest available slot (Wednesday 1am) in case it might help with an appeal, or if there’s a chance no penalty will be issued despite what I was told.

As the vehicle is registered in my mum’s name, I’d like to avoid any penalty charges if possible.

Many thanks in advance for your advice!

Don't waste your money on paying a scammer. It will be your mum who receives the Charge Notice, which is only a speculative invoice for an alleged breach of contract by the driver, whose identity is unknown to them.

When your mum (the Keeper) receives the Notice, you can simply appeal to APCOA, on her behalf but in her name, ONLY as the Keeper with the following and it will be cancelled:

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 Stansted Airport is not 'relevant land'.

If Stansted 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.

golden_retriever

doubledotcom said:

golden_retriever said:

Hi all,

I used the Stansted Airport drop-off/pick-up area on Tuesday night, entering at around 23:45 and likely leaving within a few minutes—probably before midnight. As you know, payment is required online by midnight the next day.

However, when I tried to pay, the website only offers payment options starting from 1:00am on Wednesday, and not for my actual entry time on Tuesday night. I called customer services to check if anything could be done, but unfortunately, they were unable to assist and advised that a penalty notice would still likely be issued regardless of any payment made now.

I’m wondering whether I should go ahead and pay for the earliest available slot (Wednesday 1am) in case it might help with an appeal, or if there’s a chance no penalty will be issued despite what I was told.

As the vehicle is registered in my mum’s name, I’d like to avoid any penalty charges if possible.

Many thanks in advance for your advice!

Don't waste your money on paying a scammer. It will be your mum who receives the Charge Notice, which is only a speculative invoice for an alleged breach of contract by the driver, whose identity is unknown to them.

When your mum (the Keeper) receives the Notice, you can simply appeal to APCOA, on her behalf but in her name, ONLY as the Keeper with the following and it will be cancelled:

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 Stansted Airport is not 'relevant land'.

If Stansted 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.

Many thanks!

So just to clarify - does that mean in cases like this, people effectively don’t have to pay the £7 drop-off/pick-up fee, as long as they’re willing to go through the process of appealing any penalty charge notices that may be issued?

Coupon-mad

No. It doesn't mean that at all!

Discussed here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81496743/#Comment_81496743

And it is impossible for your mum to get a 'Penalty' Charge. She'll get a bog standard Parking Charge Notice and she passes it to you, DOES NOT PAY and you can then follow the process on the forum. 

golden_retriever

I definitely don’t want to avoid paying unfairly - that’s why I was planning to make the payment even though the website didn’t give me the option to select Tuesday, and then explain the situation in my appeal.

That said, would you still recommend not paying at this stage and simply going through the appeal process as outlined above? Or do you think it’s better to make the payment (even if it’s technically a day late) and still proceed with the appeal outlined above and mention I paid a day late.

Thanks again for your guidance!

Gr1pr

If your conscience is bothering you,  make the payment online 

Then the keeper deals with any future paperwork,  in the manner mentioned above,  because its not their problem , even if they appeal stating that THE DRIVER paid 

You wont be admitting anything to anybody,  paid or unpaid,  you keep stum  !

Coupon-mad

To be clear: if you want to pay a drop off fee now then pay that, but when the PCN arrives, the KEEPER appeals without saying who was driving (and you'll never pay the PCN so don't let the keeper panic).

AnonimouseUsername101

Hi - sorry if I’ve missed something that’s already been covered and thank you in advance for any help…
Like many others I got stung by the short turnaround to pay since it went barrierless. I used the text I’ve found on these forums here to appeal neither confirming nor denying the driver and I just got the reply below. Should I just respond with the same text as before, again reiterating I am not saying who was arriving and they don’t have authority to hold me responsible as the registered keeper? Are they just fishing?

“ Thank you for your correspondence regarding Parking Charge ##########.

We have carefully reviewed your appeal and understand that you were not the driver at the time the alleged contravention took place. To allow us to fully investigate your case, we kindly request that you provide the following details of the driver:

• Name and Surname

• Complete address including postcode

Please provide your information within 14 days of the date of this letter of request.

We have placed your case on hold for 14 days to allow you to comply with this request.

Coupon-mad

Well you just ignore that, obviously!