Car parking penalty notice

[rowdy]

Received a letter in my name for a fine on my sons car (registered in my name)
It is at a local railway station car park and the company issuing the fine is APCOA parking.
The time of the offence is 5:07am and there are pictures provided from an ANPR cameras of the front and rear of the vehicle.

Now, I don’t know all the facts as I wasn’t driving and speaking to a teenager about these things is not the easiest thing but he said he was there maybe a couple of minutes, but what I can see from the pictures provided is the car is at the entrance of the car park and the lights are on and the car was running.
Should my son just cough up £60 for this or are the just taking the proverbial.

[DoaM]

Get thee over to MSE Forums:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com...-fines-parking

Take a look at the NEWBIES FAQ thread, and start your own new thread there if you still need help. (Clue: APCOA parking invoices rarely include the correct details* to allow them to lawfully pursue the keeper, plus railway land is almost certainly not "relevant land" anyway - so another reason why the keeper can't be pursued).

PS- it is not a fine, it's an invoice for an alleged breach of contractual terms, so don't keep using the F word.

* Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 refers.

[rowdy]

I’ve already had a bit of a look on there as that’s one thing that came up when I googled the parking company. Just wondering if anyone on here has had dealings with APCOA

There page to appeal the fine asks for a ticket number but as the car was not parked and no ticket purchased wondered how to get round this

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by DoaM

PS- it is not a fine, it's an invoice for an alleged breach of contractual terms, so don't keep using the F word.

....and that's the key point. There is no onus or legal obligation on you to pay it or even engage with them. They will have to take you to court if you don't (but they will likely be expert at that).

Never the less, it's still best off resolved amicably and quickly than through legal services. They may only have ANPR stills so I would bob them a nice note saying he was in a few minutes in error etc. see where that goes.

I've had two or three which I considered unjust and have never paid one yet.

[Offgrid]

I have had numerous invoices from these rapacious parking companies, and I have yet to pay one. I took East Hants to arbitration as well, and the charge was dismissed. There is a tremendous forum that is full of advice about this. It is called the fightback forum, and the web address is www.pepipoo.com (yes that is the name of the website ).

I hope the admins don't mind me posting details of another forum, but this one is dedicated to fighting against unreasonable parking charges.

Remember that you have not received a parking fine, but an invoice for a service. For an invoice to be enforceable there has to be an offer, an acceptance and a consideration. There are some fairly strict rules about the offer and acceptance, and these are areas where you may be able to contest the charge.

The Black Belt Barrister has some interesting youtube videos about the topic as well.

[Bonefishblues]

Industry body with associated guidelines, which may be used to the parker's advantage

https://www.britishparking.co.uk/#:~...ent%20industry

[DoaM]

Originally Posted by rowdy

I’ve already had a bit of a look on there as that’s one thing that came up when I googled the parking company. Just wondering if anyone on here has had dealings with APCOA

There page to appeal the fine asks for a ticket number but as the car was not parked and no ticket purchased wondered how to get round this

The MSE Parking board has lots of threads about APCOA and they're easily beat. Seriously, just follow the NEWBIES FAQ advice there.

[RDesign4Life]

You can usually avoid paying these quite easily as long as you DO NOT ignore their letters. Always reply just follow the various forums advice on how to reply. I've usually beaten them by asking for information then complaining because they don't reply they usually just send standard template letters out so as soon as you reply and ask a few specific questions you create an audit trail that shows they have ignored your reasonable requests for information.

Most of them are a disgrace to humanity and the appeals body is funded by them too so obviously not biased at all!

[rowdy]

Well, paid that one (my son had transferred the money into my account for it so paid it because I could do without the hassle)
Then low and behold another fine . . . Ahem sorry, charge, comes through a few weeks later. My son claims he wasn’t there, the pictures look similar, the time is 1 minute different to the last pcn (5:07am instead of 5:08)

I’ve followed the advice on mse website and appealed this one.

Both tickets don’t have a time frame of how long the car was allegedly parked. Both tickets only show the vehicle at the entrance of the car park.

[griston64]

Had two of these and completely ignored them ! They never take anyone to court as it's not worth it