#2 Anyone successfully appealed Heathrow drop off?
on 22 Jul, 2025 13:01 in Private parking tickets
Mistakenly went through Heathrow T4 drop-off due to missed turn. Got letter from APCOA and then their silly debt recovery goons. Frankly I'm done with this country and I'm happy to just ignore it, but the letters are going to my Mum's address. She is older and is very easily fooled and intimidated by scary sounding letters such as TV licensing etc. So I wanna make it go away. Money is not really an issue but on principle I'm not wanting to pay these parasites. I'm prepared to be petty and put in more time than it's worth, just to ruin someone's day who works for parking enforcement. I've seen people use the following defence:QuoteI am the registered keeper. APCOA cannot hold a registered keeper liable for any alleged contravention on land that is under statutory control. As a matter of fact and law, APCOA will be well aware that they cannot use the PoFA provisions because Heathrow Airport is not 'relevant land'.If Heathrow Airport wanted to hold owners or keepers liable under airport bylaws, that would be within the landowner's gift and another matter entirely. However, not only is that not pleaded, it is also not legally possible because APCOA is not the Airport owner and your 'parking charge' is not and never attempts to be a penalty. It is created for APCOA's own profit (as opposed to a bylaws penalty that goes to the public purse) and APCOA has relied on contract law allegations of breach against the driver only.The registered keeper cannot be presumed or inferred to have been the driver, nor pursued under some twisted interpretation of the law of agency. Your NTK can only hold the driver liable. APCOA have no hope at POPLA, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.(from this thread: https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/heathrow-pcn-inadvertently-went-through-drop-off-not-car-park-but-did-not-stop!/msg36854/#msg36854)It sounds really smart but does it actually work? Has anyone used this successfully?Cheers.