Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: spinningfish on July 09, 2025, 10:53:23 am
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What the Keeper has been sent is a fake penalty notice. It is a fraudulent attempt to gain money without lawful reason. In other words, it is a criminal act that APCOA are undertaking.
There is a whole essay on this elsewhere on this forum that I have explained. Any attempt to recover a supposed penalty issued under byelaws, can only be challenged in the magistrates court after information has been laid and a summons issued.
APCOA will try to recover the "penalty" into their own coffers, whereas, if the penalty were challenged in court and the challenge was unsuccessful, any fine imposed would go to the public purse, not APCOA's back account. However, APCOA are offering an appeal and secondary appeal route through POPLA, which is not the platform for challenging "penalty" purportedly issued under statutory belaws.
You can read up on the reasoning here: Why APCOA have no authority to issue Penalty Notices under railway bylaws (https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/why-apcoa-have-no-authority-to-issue-penalty-notices-under-railway-bylaws/)
You should also read this thread, whilst it applies to SABA rather than APCOA, it is fully relevant to this and any other "penalty" issued by an unregulated private parking firm: Saba Parking Services - Railway parking site - debt collector before initial notice? (https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/saba-parking-services-railway-parking-site-debt-collector-before-initial-notice/msg50540/#msg50540)
So, I advise that you follow the advice given in that second link about SABA and you make contact with the police, not the useless Action Fraud, and report APCOA for fraud by false representation (Fraud Act 2006, s.2),
Contact your MP, report APCOA to the DVLA and your local police force economic crime unit, as per the examples in the thread linked above.
You will never pay a penny to this firm that operates outside of the law.
Even if you did nothing and ignored all letters about this, whether from APCOA or powerless debt collectors, nothing would happen. Whilst it shouldn't be appealed or subsequently t POPLA, you could simply appeal on the basis that APCOA have no authority to issue Penalty Notices, only Parking Charge Notices.
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A member of our household is registered disabled and is a Blue Badge holder, which allows free parking at Welwyn North Railway station.
The APCOA website allows two vehicles to be registered on their website, but only ONE to be registered against the Blue Badge permit at any one time.
The household's main vehicle was in the garage for repair, so the registration number was changed to a different vehicle on the APCOA Blue Badge permit. When the main vehicle was back from the garage, the permit was mistakenly not reverted back again, hence the below penalty notice.
Sadly, the vehicle below has visited the same station another three times before this penalty charge was received and the registration amended again on the APCOA website, so unsure if more penalties will be incoming in the next few days.
It's dated 28th June, but wasn't received until 5th July.
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