Please stop stressing and tell your father not to worry either. DRP are a useless debt recovery agent with absolutely zero power to do anything. They are not a party to the contract allegedly breached by the driver. Their sole purpose is to try and get the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear. You can safely ignore any debt recovery letters. Ignore!
As for you, the driver, raise a formal grievance with Tesco:
• Document everything.
• Emphasise the repeated assurances from "James" and the resulting damage/stress caused.
• Request Tesco contact APCOA to cancel all PCNs immediately due to managerial error and employee misdirection.
• Consider escalating to HR or Tesco Head Office if necessary.
Here is a suggested draft you could send:
“I am writing to raise a formal complaint regarding multiple private parking charges issued while I was working at Tesco. I was repeatedly assured by my manager, [James], that my car would be added to the staff exemption list, and that any parking notices would be dealt with internally. Based on this, I did not respond to the notices myself and believed them to be cancelled. I have now learned that none of these were actually cancelled, and my father, as the vehicle’s registered keeper, is being pursued by debt collectors. The situation has caused significant distress. I am requesting that Tesco urgently liaise with APCOA to cancel these charges and provide an explanation as to why this issue was mishandled for so long.”
You should tell your father to send the following by email to APCOA at UKcustomercomplaints@apcoa.com and also CC himself:
[Your Name or business name if vehicle registered as such]
[Your Address]
[Postcode]
[Email address]
[Date]
APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd Legal and Complaints Department
By email: UKcustomercomplaints@apcoa.com
Subject: Formal Complaint – Keeper Not Liable for Unpaid Parking Charges – Failure to Cancel Invalid PCNs
Dear Sir or Madam,
I write as the registered keeper of vehicle registration [VRM] in relation to the following Parking Charge Notices issued by APCOA:
PCN Ref: [PCN1] – Date of Event: [Date1]
PCN Ref: [PCN2] – Date of Event: [Date2]
PCN Ref: [PCN3] – Date of Event: [Date3]
PCN Ref: [PCN4] – Date of Event: [Date4]
PCN Ref: [PCN5] – Date of Event: [Date5]
I make it unequivocally clear that I was not the driver on any of the above occasions. I have never named the driver nor accepted liability in any form. Accordingly, liability has not been established.
Moreover, APCOA's Notices to Keeper do not comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA), meaning you are legally incapable of holding the keeper liable. Any suggestion to the contrary would be a misstatement of the law.
In line with the BPA/IPC Private Parking Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP) section 11.2, this formal complaint must now be treated as an appeal, and I require written confirmation that all outstanding charges issued to me as keeper have been cancelled with immediate effect.
I also demand that you cease sharing my data with third-party debt recovery agents. I will not engage with so-called “Debt Recovery Plus” or any similar entities, who have no standing and are not parties to any alleged contract. Their letters are baseless and amount to nothing more than harassment. Any further contact from such entities will be logged and treated accordingly.
To be clear, APCOA has no viable cause of action, and no prospect of success should you be so misguided as to pursue litigation in my name. Any such attempt would be robustly defended and met with an application for a costs order on the basis of unreasonable conduct.
I expect a response within 14 days confirming:
1. That all PCNs listed above have been cancelled;
2. That no further contact will be made regarding these matters;
3. That my data will no longer be processed or shared in relation to these PCNs.
Failure to address this complaint properly will result in escalation to the DVLA, the BPA, and other relevant authorities.
Yours faithfully,
[Full Name]
Registered Keeper of Vehicle [VRM]
Remind your father that nothing is going to happen and to completely ignore DRP or any other debt collector. They are powerless.