Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: dangermouse on March 11, 2025, 09:32:44 am
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POPLA will probably say this is in line with the code of practice (https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/NEW%20Redesigned%20Documents/sectorsingleCodeofPractice.pdf) F.3 for a “major keying error” so you need a different appeal point or just pay up and put it down to experience.
Of course, I understand what you’re saying and that you don’t believe you made the error, but is it worth it for £20?
You could simply not pay and wait for APCOA to take you to court (they won’t) but suffer threatening letters for a while. If so, please read the sticky thread (https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/) and post what you’ve received here as requested.
Read other threads here for how APCOA operates on land covered by bylaws, essentially it pretends to be able to issue a “penalty notice” (it can’t legally do so) which is a bribe to stop it from trying to initiate a prosecution, which it doesn’t want to do because it gets no money even if succesful.
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The driver parked at Tonbridge Station as they have done previously. The driver noticed an attendant scanning cars in the car park. They paid APCOA for parking via their app, in which the vehicle is already registered as they have used it before. Parking session started at 0843. Upon return , a ticket was affixed to the windscreen ("Penalty Notice" stating that the vehicle was scanned at 0848 with no valid ticket.
The keeper (me) then appealed using APCOA online form on the same day, assuming that there was a system glitch in that the parking database hadn't updated by the time the attendant scanned the vehicle and that this would be an open and shut case, so just to get rid of it. I sent a copy of the VAT receipt which has date and time of parking. I do not remember whether there was a box to identify the driver on the form.
this was rejected in with the following reason:
"Although we appreciate the evidence provided, the payment made has been allocated to a different Vehicle Registration
Number (VRN).
The payment was made for the Vehicle Registration: NISSAN
The Penalty Notice has been issued for the Vehicle Registration: XXXXXXX
For a payment to be valid, it must be allocated to the VRN of the vehicle that has been parked. As such, the payment
provided was not valid for the time your vehicle was parked. When paying for parking online, by phone or by the App,
please make sure you enter the correct VRN."
Upon checking the app, it appears the *Make* of the vehicle has appeared in the VRN box, and the *Model* in the "Make" . the vehicle has not changed nor been updated in the app so I am puzzled on how this happened.
I am now being offered the "opportunity to make a payment of £20 to cover the processing costs incurred in issuing this Penalty Notice"
I would like some advice on the next steps should choose not to pay. Should I go to POPLA as per the response? Should I write to APCOA with a Subject Access Request to see if they have details of previous successful parking sessions and tell them I will not do anything until this appears?
Any help gratefully received