Free Traffic Legal Advice

Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: scud121 on April 18, 2024, 11:16:05 am

Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: DWMB2 on April 25, 2024, 06:14:28 pm
That's a contender for the quickest cancellation I've seen  ;D well done and thanks for the update!
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: scud121 on April 25, 2024, 04:40:00 pm
Update =

Sent DWMB2's letter at 0330 last night (was in work), got a reply confirming cancellation at 0740. Havn't pushed ahead with the legal stuff, will keep it in the back pocket.

Thanks so much for all your help and advice.

regards
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: b789 on April 19, 2024, 09:35:40 am
If you do go to Tesco, don't expect someone sitting behind the Customer Service desk to be particularly helpful. You need to go as high up the management food chain as possible. Additionally, you need to get in writing any promises that they will get the PCs cancelled.

Ideally, you should write a complaint by email to the CEO. This will probably be passed to someone at HO that can action a cancellation.
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: DWMB2 on April 19, 2024, 08:27:26 am
Be careful of the dates - make sure you don't miss the deadline to appeal if you can't get to Tesco in time due to work schedules
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: scud121 on April 19, 2024, 08:05:51 am
Many thanks for the assistance, I'll try tescos as first port of call, currently on a spate of nights so I can't get in whilst customer service is actually open for 2-3 days. I went this morning after work. and theres only one camera there so its clearly got me entering twice, I suspect i'd cut the corner and it registered me in the exit lane, but noone checked to see if there were any outstanding pics of that registration on that date. If i get nowhere with tesco, i'll appeal.
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: b789 on April 18, 2024, 01:54:05 pm
The complaint to APCOA about the breach of BPA CoP 22.2 which invalidates their ability to use the KADOE rules to request your data from the DVLA should be made. You should also make a complaint to the DVLA about this breach of KADOE rules. They have breached your GDPR and you are entitled to damages and compensation for that. It is up to you if you are not bothered.

The rest, about suing them for their breach of GDPR is your choice. If it were any other PPC aside from APCOA, I would certainly use the Letter of Claim as a bargaining chip to get them to drop their claim. However, APCOA are benign and will never initiate a claim.

Depending on APCOAs response to your complaint (not the appeal) you should then file a complaint with the BPA about their breach of rule 22.2. You cannot make a complaint about them to the BPA until you have received a response to your complaint to APCOA. It is very easy to make a complaint to the BPA using this online form:

https://portal.britishparking.co.uk/compliance/LogComplaint
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: DWMB2 on April 18, 2024, 01:37:30 pm
I'd advise you only take the above approach if you are prepared to 'put your money where your mouth is' and actually sue APCOA.

If you're just happy to make the charge go away, the appeal I suggested above should achieve that aim, or the one suggested by b789 (but if doing that one, my personal view would be to include a line about the ANPR malfunction. Where one has a meritoious defence, I believe it's always wise to include it).
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: b789 on April 18, 2024, 12:40:16 pm
APCOA are very easy to beat. They do not rely on PoFA to transfer liability from the driver to the keeper. They do not know the identity of the driver and there is no legal obligation for the keeper to identify the driver.

So, as long as you do not dob yourself in the mire by identifying as the driver, they have nowhere to go with this. Always select "Other" when appealing.

They have also breached your GDPR by requesting your DVLA data as they have breached the KADOE rules by not having checked their system for "orphan" images of your car exiting the first time and entering the second time. They are required to have human intervention when checking ANPR images. They have obviously failed to do this.

For now, simply appeal with the following text:

This is an appeal by the registered keeper - No driver details will be given. Please do NOT try the usual trick of asking for driver details in order to get around the fact your NtK does not comply with PoFA. As there is no keeper liability, therefore, liability cannot flow from the driver to the keeper and so, is an automatic win at POPLA. Please cancel the notice or issue a POPLA code at which point you will auto withdraw.

You must also complain (not appeal) to APCOA that they have failed to comply with clause 22.2 of the BPA Code of Practice (CoP) which states:

Quality checks: before you issue a parking charge notice you must carry out a manual quality check of the ANPR images to reduce errors and make sure that it is appropriate to take action.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please consider this correspondence as an official complaint. You have issued a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) [PCN ref.] to me, the registered keeper of vehicle [VRM].

As I can evidence that the vehicle cannot have been at the car park for the whole duration alleged, it is obvious that no manual check was made of the ANPR data because, if it had been done, a search for the "orphan images" which show that the vehicle exited and then subsequently entered the car park in between the times alleged in your NtK would show that there was no valid reason to issue the PCN in the first place. This is a clear case of a "double dip" occurrence.

You have not only breached section 22.2 of the BPA CoP, you have also breached the Keeper At Date Of Event (KADOE) rules which mean that my data was requested from the DVLA in breach of my GDPR. I will be making a separate complaint to the DVLA about this breach. I expect a written apology and an assurance that this failure to follow the required manual check procedure before issuing an NtK will not happen again.

Depending on your response, I reserve my right to take this matter further due to your breach of Article 12 of the UK GDPR. Further action may include a claim for damages and compensation for breach of my GDPR by processing my personal data unlawfully.

I expect a full response to my complaint within 14 days as required by the BPA CoP section 31.24.

Yours faithfully,

For your information, Article 12 of the UK GDPR legally requires data controllers to store and process personal data accurately: clearly, any data controller issuing an invoice to you because it has wrongly recorded that you parked in breach of the alleged contract between you and the landowner (or, as in this case, an agent of the landowner) is processing your personal data unlawfully.

The precedents for claiming damages and compensation for such unlawful processing are the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Zeta Jones & Douglas v Hello! Magazine [2003] EWHC 786 and Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd (CCF) [2013] EWCA Civ 333, both being binding on all County Courts in England and Wales.  In the latter claim, Mr Halliday was awarded compensation of £750 at what the Court regarded was the lowest level of award, and although this was a claim under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998, similar provisions - amended to take account of a decision by the EU Grand Chamber that the 1998 Act did not properly implement EU law into UK domestic legislation - replaced the old Section 13 provisions with Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

In short, you ought to give 21 days notice (the pre-action protocol only really requires 14 days but hey, you can be charitable!) to the data controller of your intention to seek (say) £300 nominal damages and compensation under Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018 for their unlawful processing of your personal data: you could say that you will not file your claim with the County Court if they confirm in writing that all references to this alleged debt have been deleted within (say) 14 days. Clearly mark your letter as a "Letter before County Court proceedings".

Anyone who is fairly confident can claim as a litigant-in-person in Part 27 proceedings in the County Court (commonly but wrongly described as "the Small Claims Court").  Each party is responsible for their own legal costs whether they win or lose and the claim for £300 can be issued online for a fee of £35 at moneyclaimonline.gov.uk which also gives useful advice if you want to have a look at what is involved.  Your claim will automatically be listed as being for a total of £335, i.e. the successful party gets their Court fees back.
Title: Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: DWMB2 on April 18, 2024, 11:59:53 am
"Plan A" as it is often called, is to speak to the management of Tesco to see if they will intervene.

APCOA are generally fairly easy to beat, so you could appeal as the keeper, being very careful not to tick any boxes or select any options that reveal who was driving. If in doubt, choose 'other' as the appeal option, and add text along the lines of the below:

Dear Sirs,

I have received your Parking Charge Notice (Ref: ________) for vehicle registration mark ____ ___, in which you allege that the driver has incurred a parking charge.

I am appealing this notice on the grounds that firstly the contravention did not occur, and secondly that even if it did, which is denied, I have no liability for this matter as the registered keeper of the vehicle.

On the date in question, the vehicle made two separate visits to Truro Tesco, the first at around [TIME], and a second at around [TIME]. Both visits took no longer than [TIME] each. Your ANPR system has failed to properly record this and has incorrectly recorded these two visits as one continuous stay.

Furthermore, I note from your correspondence that you are not seeking to hold me liable as the registered keeper, under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 ("The Act"). You have chosen not to issue a Notice to Keeper in accordance with The Act, and it is now too late for you to do so.

There is no obligation for me to name the driver and I will not be doing so. As I have no liability for this charge for the reasons outlined above, I look forward to your confirmation that my appeal has been accepted and you will not be seeking to recover this charge from me. If you do not accept this appeal you must issue a POPLA code.

Yours
If appealing online keep an eye on your spam emails and chase them up if they do not respond.

Quote from: scud121 on April 18, 2024, 11:16:05 am
Its also worth noting that they spelled my surname incorrectly.
They will have got your name and address from the DVLA - it could be an error at APCOA's end, but it would be worth getting out your car's V5C document and checking your name isn't spelt incorrectly on there. If it is you ought to correct this with DVLA.
Title: APCOA Parking PCN - Overstay - Tesco Carpark, Truro
Post by: scud121 on April 18, 2024, 11:16:05 am
I received a PCN as keeper from APCOA for TESCO carparks for overstaying - the photos show the vehicle arriving at 0621 on the 4th April, and its photo'd again at 2155 on the 4th. Whilst the vehicle was there at those times, it was 2 separate visits as the driver is a night shift worker who did shopping in the morning after finishing work, and called in in the evening to pick up a meal deal. the photos (attached) seem to show the same camera took the photos, which to me at least implies 2 seperate visits, and i have 2 seperate charges on my bank account. Its also worth noting that they spelled my surname incorrectly. As per usual, the options for the appeal seem a bit wishy washy -

My vehicle was stolen

The contravention did not occur

The amount specified on the notice is incorrect

I was not the Registered Keeper/Driver at the time of the contravention

Mitigating circumstances prevented me from parking correctly

My vehicle has been cloned

Other

IMO the contravention did not occur, as I didn't overstay even combining the 2 periods (about 45min total)

Any advice appreciated.

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