Good Afternoon,
As the registered keeper, I currently have in my possession 4 APCOA private parking fines for Loughborough University and I’m sure to receive more. Payment was made for parking on every day, and despite this and receipt shown the appeal, kept simple only stating payment paid was rejected.
I’ve read through the advice about APCOA being benign and a non threat, and I plan to ignore them however I just wanted to enquire whether having multiple charges (4 in total) may lead to them taking more action than a standard single and leading to a CCJ.
Further to this, the APCOA connect website/app is in gross breach of the GDPR and should be subject to investigation due to the beyond necessary data it attempts to harvest in order to pay for parking.
Thank you for any assistance.
Welcome to FTLA.
To help us provide the best advice, please read the following thread carefully and provide as much of the information it asks for as you are able to:
READ THIS FIRST - Private Parking Charges Forum guide If you're still within the appeal periods, we may be able to make them go away.
Further to this, the APCOA connect website/app is in gross breach of the GDPR and should be subject to investigation due to the beyond necessary data it attempts to harvest in order to pay for parking.
This would be a matter to take up with APCOA/the ICO, but out of curiosity, what 'beyond necessary' personal data does it collect?
It is three days to the appeal stage end for three of them. On the last received one got a few weeks. I do plan to just ignore them, appealed before and shown receipt of parking and they just reject regardless.
The beyond necessary data it requires is address, credit card/debit card details on account creation and phone number. You then need to enter payment details again separately on parking payment. It gives you the options of Apple Pay, debit card etc. So why does account creation require a card number? The users address also is not required data in this instance so why is it forced as a condition of use? The app is an inappropriate use of personal data.
I do apologise if my initial post was in breach of the rules or formatted incorrectly, my main question is, do multiple parking charges stack and lead to increased severity in outcomes (CCJ) rather than empty threats?
On the last received one just ignored it.
If you show us, we can advise on an appeal that may get it cancelled.
We've so far never seen APCOA take a case to court, but they do have up to 6 years to raise a claim. I'd say the chances of them suddenly starting to take court action are low, but we can't offer a cast iron guarantee. If they ever did, there's a chance they'd start with those who had the highest alleged amount owing. If there's an opportunity to get 1 (and potentially any upcoming) ones cancelled, then at the very least it reduces the amount of outstanding charges you'll get pestered by debt collectors for. It also shows you're not an easy target. But if you wish to ignore them you can - I'd certainly ignore the ones that have passed appeal deadline.
Re. GDPR, you can checkout as a guest with APCOA Connect, so they'd likely argue that data provided if you sign up for an optional account is processed based on consent. If making a card payment online, an address is usually required, AIUI partly to reduce the risk of fraud (to verify that the person making the payment is actually the owner of the card and not a fraudster).
You say you "appealed before". Have you made any contact with APCOA and revealed the identity of the driver?
Are the Notices to Keeper (NtKs) you received PoFA compliant? (Unlikely with APCOA but unless we can see them, we'll never know for sure.)
APCOA will never litigate for a single outstanding PCN. However, if there are more than one, they could be incentivised.
You say that payment was made and you have a receipt. What method of payment did you use? Did you pay using an app? If so, has the correct car park location number been entered? Is the correct VRM being used? If using a pay & display terminal, have you entered the correct VRM?
What EXACTLY is the alleged contravention shown on the NTK?
You need to provide much more relevant information if you want to receive advice on how to come out on top in this situation.
No, the appeal was for a charge done last year and rejected despite payment shown. It was written as the registered keeper with no indication of knowing the identity of the driver.
These 4 haven’t been appealed. The contravention was breaching the terms of parking by not having a valid payment/permit, when payment was made for all these days however that doesn’t seem to matter with APCOA. Payment was made using the APCOA connect app for card payment, using the correct vehicle registration. The site operates ANPR on entry and exit, with only one location/parking site number available for selection in the app.
If you could inform me of a response to get them cancelled it would be appreciated, I do know the golden rule never to admit to the identity of the driver.
If you could inform me of a response to get them cancelled it would be appreciated
Once we see a copy of the notice we can advise you how to respond.
Fantastic, is it suitable to reply with a photo of them to this thread? Will send them when home.
Attached is the redacted front side. I have three of these in sequential order from the 12th to the 14th.
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Here is the reverse side. Please let me know if the other two are required as well to assist. Thank you.
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The one that you havee shown us the front of is not PoFA compliant. Just check the dates of the alleged contravention and the issue date of the NtK. Assume two ‘working days from the date of issue. If that date is more than 14 days from the date of the alleged contravention, then the notice has not been given within the relevant period and is therefore not fully compliant with all the requirements of the Act.
Besides, that point, the wording on the NtK is also not PoFA compliant. Simply appeal each PCN as the Keeper with the following:
I am the keeper of the vehicle and I dispute your 'parking charge'. I deny any liability or contractual agreement.
As your Notice to Keeper (NtK) does not fully comply with ALL the requirements of PoFA 2012, you are unable to hold the keeper of the vehicle liable for the charge. Partial or even substantial compliance is not sufficient. There will be no admission as to who was driving and no inference or assumptions can be drawn. 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.
You'll need to submit a separate appeal for each. Once you've done so, keep a close eye on your spam folder for their responses. They'll probably cancel them.
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