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I would be grateful for some advice on a Heathrow APCOA drop-off parking charge penalty.

•   Vehicle is registered to my son.
•   My son, his wife and children emigrated to Dubai on the day of the alleged contravention and are no longer UK residents.
•   The PCN relates to an alleged failure to pay the Heathrow Terminal 3 drop-off charge on 02/05/2026.
•   The Parking Charge Notice is dated 19/05/2026.
•   The notice was sent to my son's former UK address.
•   I have only recently collected the post from that address and discovered the notice, so both the 14-day discount period and the 28-day appeal period have expired.

The notice is from APCOA acting on behalf of Heathrow Airport and states:
•   Contravention: "Use of Drop Off Zone without making a valid payment".
•   Charge: £80, reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days.
•   The notice is addressed to the registered keeper.
•   APCOA states that they do not know the driver's identity.

Additional Facts
My son, his wife, and children travelled to the airport by taxi (which can be confirmed with receipt). The driver of my son’s car followed the taxi into the drop zone - and then proceeded to the short stay car park - and a £20 short-stay parking charge was paid before leaving (also to APCOA) at the car park ticket machine. The driver was not aware that the £7 drop off charge would be additional to car parking. Evidence of the £20 payment to APCOA is also available.

I can also provide documentation showing that my son has emigrated and now resides in Dubai if required.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for this. The registered keeper is my son, he's passed this to me to see if I can help.

The 92 year old is my mother-in-law. Her property does come with two designated parking spaces but those were occupied at the time. Other residents are aware that she does not have a car so they tend to use her spaces.

The parking controls for the visitor bay were introduced 4-5 years ago, but until now we're not aware of an enforcement officer ever visiting. Family have therefore been relaxed about simply parking here rather than getting others to move out of her bay.

Will take no action and come back to you if we receive a Letter of Claim. And will look at the lease in the meantime.

Many thanks for the input on this representation.

Even though this PCN was clearly issued correctly by the CEO, I'm pleased to say that the Council have taken the unusual cirumstances into account and agreed to cancel accordingly.

Good to see common sense prevailing for a change.

If I'm understanding correctly I have 28 days from 20th October which would be this Thursday 16th November.

Do you have any further suggestions before I proceed?

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Just before part exchanging my car in July I put my personalised number K7 NDK on retention, and swapped the plates over to previous registration VE67 DZR as directed by DVLA.

Unfortunately, my wife didn't realise and used the stored number in her paybyphone app when parking the car in a Council car park.

Received a ticket as the warden (understandably) couldn't see that parking was paid for. However, app payment was unquestionably for this vehicle, so I emailed the council as below assuming it would be straightforward to get the charge cancelled.

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My Black Mazda was parked in Kemp Place car park today, and payment of £3.34 was made using the PayByPhone App (see attached) for the period 11:07 to 14:07.

As I am part exchanging my car at the weekend, I put the personalised plate K7 NDK on retention using the DVLA online service, and changed the registration plates to the replacement number VE67 DZR the day before yesterday. Please see confirmation email from DVLA instructing the change.

Unfortunately, my wife used the normal ‘K7 NDK’ registration stored in the app when paying for parking for the Mazda today.

As it is clear that the payment for parking covers the observed parking time of 11:34 to 11:36, and that the payment was obviously for this same vehicle, please cancel this PCN accordingly.

... and I also added this the following day:-

Just thought it’s worth clarifying that the registration ‘K7 NDK’ has not been assigned to any other vehicle, as demonstrated by the DVLA screenshot attached.

There is no question that the £3.34 payment was for parking of this black Mazda.

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Amazed to receive a 'notice of rejection' last Friday despite the overwhelming evidence showing that we paid.

I would be grateful for any thoughts on how I should proceed with this. Am I right in saying my maximum downside is £50 if I fight it all the way if necessary?