Free Traffic Legal Advice

Quote from: DavCrav on April 24, 2024, 12:34:41 pm

As you said, I did notice that when clicking some boxes in the appeal to test out the system (without submitting anything) that anything other than choosing "Other" adds this extra statement at the top saying that you agree you are the driver and you definitely did it and agree it's your fault, which is added in addition to the chosen reason.

Is this visible where you are on the page, or only when you scroll up?

It is visible, but I missed it the first time I scanned the page. It says:

"Whilst there are no specific legal grounds which you believe make this notice invalid, nevertheless you believe that it was either unfair or unreasonable to issue the notice and would like the Company to cancel it. You will need to provide very good supporting evidence for this. Some possible reasons that this might be considered are given below, this is not an exhaustive list and you must provide supporting evidence to strengthen your appeal."

Note that clicking anything other than Other means that you agree the notice is legally valid, even when you click on options that suggest the notice is not legally valid. Sneaky.

Hello,

I've received a PCN invoice from APCOA for "Use of a Private Car Park without a valid payment/permit", with the standard £50. This is technically the driver's fault, as they entered the number plate in incorrectly. The car number plate starts with two copies of the same letter, and on the small screen in the standard car park poor lighting the driver did not notice that the machine had registered three presses of the button, so ZZ12ABC became ZZZ12ABC. This is, of course, not a valid UK number plate, but I guess the machine allows eight characters for foreign vehicles.

They still have a copy of the ticket, saying payment until 14:59, and the car left at 15:02 (it's a multi-storey car park, so took a few minutes to leave). I know it's within the 10-minutes grace period that APCOA should allow under the BPA code of practice, so that doesn't worry me. The driver has clearly made a genuine attempt to pay, and did indeed pay, so is there a 'gold standard' thing to write in the appeal box?

Here is the front: https://imgur.com/a/WJqy27p
and the rear: https://imgur.com/a/tDgznCq

Edit: If this matters, the car park involved, Didcot Parkway Station car park, appears to be owned by Great Western Railway. As such it's railway land and POFA2012 doesn't apply? This is the first I've heard about this, and so I might well be completely wrong about this.

Edit 2: Having read the BPA code of practice further, I believe this falls under a combination of 13.3 for the grace period and 17.4 for a minor keying error.