ticketed by APCOA Parking for stopping to pick-up passenger at Luton airport

[omoro_kinte]

hello,

firstly, this looks like an incredible site to try and help "the little guys", so many thanks in advance for providing this great resource.

i have found a similar issue to that which i have experienced and have posted a reply to this at the following url:
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...e2?view=thread

many thanks in advance for any thoughts that anyone can provide in respect of the best way to approach this.

best regards, Omoro

PS i have just discovered that somewhat interestingly, APCOA have only given me a 9-digit POPLA Verification Number in their rejection of my challenge; this seems somewhat disingenuous to put it mildly, lol! I'll be having them on about this tomorrow in the meantime...

[EJVD01]

Hi

I received from NCP a parking fine letter (on 23rd September when the actual date of the incident was 18th June). Can they send me a fine from something that was over 3 months ago?

Many thanks
Emily

[SMH69ER]

@EJVD01 No, they cannot. This is not a fine - it is an invoice and you do not have to pay it.

I've recently won an appeal to POPLA where APCOA didn't even offer any evidence. It just got withdrawn. They are chancers and crooks.

[SMH69ER]

Okay, so for everyone's info I have now won two appeals against APCOA.

Both of the tickets (I mean invoices) were for my wife dropping me off or picking me up at the junction before the barrier at the Mid-Stay car park. I was waiting for her and it seemed far more sensible for her to swoop round and pick me up, rather than go through the rigmarole of going into the car park and then coming back out again. I saw the No Entry signs but reasoned that we were not going to cross the imaginary line between the two signs so were okay.

The first invoice came through and my wife thought we should pay it. But I felt it was worth going through the company's appeal service. When I checked the invoice it was dated in the year 202. So, an invoice issued 1820 years before the alleged infringement seemed a bit unreasonable. In addition, I went on to Google Street View and took screenshots of the view of the camera car from the traffic lights heading towards the Mid-Stay and the place where she looped round to show a complete absence of signage. I duly did the online appeal and about ten days later got the failure notice.

Luton is my commuter airport and so I knew we'd done the loop a few times and was expecting another invoice. So a few days later she was dropping me back and I took photos of the area that were contemporary and the meta data on the pictures could show the time, date and location which, again, showed a complete lack of signage.

I started the POPLA appeal on the grounds that APCOA had not answered all of my appeal points (they just sent a blanket statement saying 'You've failed') and that there was a lack of signage and entered my new photos as evidence.

Within a week POPLA emailed to say that the case was closed and APCOA weren't fighting it.

Then the second invoice appeared.

This time, there were 19 days between the invoice issue date and the alleged incident date. But this time I got snotty with them.

Here is a copy of my appeal statement:

According to your document the alleged incident took place on 17/9/23 and your letter is dated 06/10/23
some 19 days later. This is beyond the 14 days for any correspondence to be valid. Furthermore, there is
an absence of signage leading up to this part of the road or at this part of the road that is reasonably visible
to any competent driver. In addition to all of this, I understand that you have no legal ground upon which to
issue this invoice - it is not a council parking ticket. Therefore, I give you notice that this will not be paid. I
have engaged the services of a solicitor on this matter and any and all other matters related to vehicle
(REG NO) and now make you aware of the following under advice:
From today's date and moving forward any correspondence received from Apcoa Parking Ltd, any of its
subsidiaries or any of its appointed representatives in relation to vehicle (REG NO) that require
administrative time will be charged to Apcoa Parking Ltd at a rate of £80 per hour. Invoices will be issued
and any that remain unpaid after 28 days from the invoice date will be pursued by all legal means. This
may include the use of debt collecting agencies if the invoice remains unpaid. By responding in any manner
which requires administation time to be used you will be accepting the terms and conditions of this contract.
Should you reject this appeal then the administrative time taken to proceed with a POPLA appeal and any
further legal action will be charged to Apcoa Parking Ltd.

And a few moments ago I received notice that APCOA had closed the matter.

This company is shady as anything. The road system at the Mid-Stay is perfectly designed to invite the quick swoop and drop off - and this company is making a fortune from issuing invoices to unsuspecting motorists.

Anyway, 2-0 to me!

Oh, and by the way, I would have issued them with an invoice and I would have pursued it right through to the small claims court. My next email is to my local MP.