Apcoa PCN Railway Station

sjtw119

So long story short, my wife and i parked at a railway station, and paid. A week or so later a PCN came through in the post. I was selling my car so had removed the private plate from it, but out of autopilot had paid for parking on the private plate.

I assumed send details of valid payment to Apcoa and all sorted. Apparantly not.

They sent me an appeal rejection letter today with £20 offer and a popla code. Do i fight this or just pay the £20 and be done with it

Gr1pr

If you were to draft a popla appeal, what legal arguments would you use that might win at popla. ?

Apcoa believe that you choosing the wrong VRM is a major keying error and so they believe that the pcn was correctly issued ! The BPA Code of Practice lets them offer the £20 option

Are you willing to fight your corner in court if they issue a court claim against you within the next 6 years (via Oak Legal)

sjtw119

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82113911#Comment_82113911

To be honest thats really the question I am asking. I paid for parking, they are whole, but they are trying to squeeze additional revenue for what amounts to a keying error. Is this something POPLA will uphold or is there an argument that will work here?

Gr1pr

Popla won't accept mitigating factors, plus Apcoa offered the £20 option too, so if you decide to fight then it MAY end up in a court claim with around £212 at stake, so be sure about your stance, because its either pay or run the risk of a possibly larger amount

Apcoa are perfectly aware of the fact that you paid a parking fee, but you breached the parking contract, because you paid for a number plate that wasn't there, meaning that there is no record of payment against the number plate on the car park that was on your vehicle, so it wasn't authorised by way of correct identification

Currently, Oak legal are pursuing unpaid Invoices for Apcoa, so who knows what Apcoa will do, certainly not us ( since the law changed on Boxing Day last year )

cooldude255220

Which railway station, out of interest?

sjtw119

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82114621#Comment_82114621

Potters Bar

sjtw119

OK Thanks, i think ill just suck it up and pay this one, it just really grates that they can get away with this stuff.

Le_Kirk

Apcoa are perfectly aware of the fact that you paid a parking fee, but you breached the parking contract, because you paid for a number plate that wasn't there, meaning that there is no record of payment against the number plate on the car park that was on your vehicle, so it wasn't authorised by way of correct identification

Of course one could always cite contributory negligence on the part of the parking company; they knew the VRM you stated wasn't in the car park (via ANPR) but still allowed you to pay for it!

Gr1pr

I agree, but that is an unlikely win at popla, because you paid the TOC for the parking, not Apcoa, but Apcoa had a contract with the driver to correctly follow the rules on behalf of the TOC, or a pcn would be incurred, but a defendant possibly might win in a future court claim, which is why I said its either pay, or fight ( some people are risk averse )

James_Poisson

You won't win at POPLA and although you paid, the landowner received that money not APCOA they have imposed a £20 admin fee to cover their costs simply due to your error.

Looks like you admitted being the driver so that avenue is closed, if APCOA are breaking their habit of a lifetime and are starting small claims is it worth going down that route for £20 maybe not, it's your choice.