MAN Airport - appealed before reading recommended APCOA text

Umkomaas

reysham said:

@doubledotcom, thanks for your input.

To clarfiy, would you recommend just sending the single paragraph appeal?

doubledotcom said:

It doesn't require the map or any of the other superfluous waffle. A single-point appeal suffices:

The appellant is the registered Keeper and exercises their legal right not to identify the driver. As Manchester Airport is subject to statutory control and therefore not 'relevant land' under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Keeper liability does not apply. APCOA has no lawful basis to pursue the appellant.

All the other stuff is not required as APCOA have never claimed Keeper liability in their NtK and POPLA couldn't care less about KADOE.

🎵 'That's what the man said.' 🎵

reysham

Thank you all.

Going in.

Nellymoser

Care to join the 1,612 people who are asking Govt to:

Ban Drop-off charges at airports

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/724381

Sign and share

reysham

POPLA have responded, with evidence supplied by APCOA. Some of the evidence supplied:


a) The ANPR images provided show the vehicle enter and exit the Express Drop Off. As the Single Code of Practice states, Under Section 5.2 Grace Period Note 2: The grace period does not apply to short stay areas – controlled land where the parking of a vehicle is permissible for a limited period not greater than 30 minutes, for example at airport and railway station drop off and pick up zones.
b) A search of the payments system confirmed that no payment was made towards VRN xxx for the visit on xxx.
c) Signage is displayed at the approach to this Drop Off along the location and upon exit, advising all motorists that a payment to use the Drop Off is required to be made online.
d) The Express Drop off zone operates a Barrierless and cashless payment system.
e) A payment is allowed to be paid up to midnight on the day after the drop off event.
f) On this occasion, the motorist was allowed over xx hours to make a payment. The motorist chose not to do this.
g) The driver entered onto private land freely and in full acceptance of the terms of the Drop Off clearly displayed. A tariff and terms and conditions are offered; and by using the Drop Off to drop passengers off, these are accepted.
h) We can confirm that the motorist was afforded the opportunity to settle this Parking Charge at the reduced rate of £60 if paid in 14 days. They have however elected to decline this offer.

The driver now appeals to POPLA. “The appellant is the registered Keeper and exercises their legal right not to identify the driver. As Manchester Airport is subject to statutory control and therefore not 'relevant land' under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Keeper liability does not apply. APCOA has no lawful basis to pursue the appellant.”

At the POPLA stage, the motorist states: 1. The motorist denied liability 2. They state that Manchester Airport is not ‘Relevant land’ under PoFa.

In response to the above statement, as shown in Section E, the appellant had the opportunity to decline (or provide) the identity of the driver at the initial appeal stage, but they chose not to do so. Therefore, any further change of statement has only been made so at the POPLA stage which was after driver liability was established and a decision made.
A) As per the Single Code of Practice dated 27/06/2024 – Annex C – Liability: It is the driver that is liable for the parking charge. NOTE: The driver is often the same person as the keeper and/or the hirer. Where a keeper or hirer fails or refuses to provide the name and serviceable address of the driver when requested to, it may be assumed they are the driver, based on that failure or refusal.
As highlighted in Section C, the Parking Charge issued to the Registered Keeper clearly and specifically requests that “If you were not the driver of the vehicle at the specified time, please provide us with the name of the driver and their current serviceable address and pass this notice onto them…”
C) As the Registered Keeper had the opportunity to decline (or provide) the name and serviceable address of the driver during the first stage of appeal but failed to do so (nor made any mention of them) then it was assumed, as per the Single Code of Practice Annex C: Liability, that they (the Registered Keeper) were the driver on the date of contravention.
D) With the driver identified as per above, and with the fact that no payment was made, the decision letter was issued.

As driver liability has been established, we will not be relying on PoFA to enforce keeper liability. The Parking Charge was not issued under PoFA, therefore we will not be making any claims under the Act. As a member of the BPA’s approved operator scheme, the Parking Charge has been issued in accordance with the Single Code of Practice guidelines for issuing a Non-PoFA Parking Charge. APCOA have had a contract in place with Manchester Airport since 25/03/2025. The current landowner’s authority runs until 25/03/2030. Manchester Airport is situated on private land where APCOA have been appointed to enforce their terms on their behalf. In response to the motorists’ comments regarding the landowner’s agreement, APCOA have had a contract in place with Manchester Airport since 25/03/2025. The current landowner’s authority runs until 25/03/2030. Manchester Airport is situated on private land where APCOA have been appointed to enforce their terms on their behalf. Please see section G for evidence of the landowner’s authority agreement. In response to the motorists’ comments, while we appreciate that this might have not been an intentional breach of the terms of use, the fact remains that no payment was made by midnight the next day and a parking charge was issued correctly. We must advise that there is no requirement for there to be a physical payment option available on site. There is ample signage on entry, throughout the area and on exit which clearly advertise the payment options and reminds motorists to pay by midnight the next day. It is the drivers responsibility to seek out, read, understand and comply with the terms and conditions which are stipulated on the signage (also available on Drop Off Zone Terms and Conditions | Manchester Airport) on site of the T2 Upper Express Drop off. The motorist is afforded the opportunity to consider the terms and conditions, and by utilising the Parking site the motorist is considered to have agreed to the Terms of use and does so under contract to the Parking Operator. The signage on site stipulates that a breach of the Terms and conditions will result in a Parking Charge being issued. The signage throughout the site complies with all requirements under the single sector code of practice and as such is BPA approved. The signage stipulates that payment needs to be done by midnight the next day online or by phone and states that non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the site will result in a £100 Parking Charge (reduced to £60 if paid in 14 days) 

I have a few days to appeal, after which POPLA's decision is considered final.
Am I in a position to appeal at this point?

Thanks all.

Gr1pr

You only get one chance of appeal at popla, which you have already done 

They have supplied their evidence pack to popla, so you have 6 days to add your popla comments,  commenting on their evidence pack