Free Traffic Legal Advice

Easy one to deal with… as long as the unknown drivers identity is not revealed. There is no legal obligation on the known keeper (the recipient of the Notice to Keeper (NtK)) to reveal the identity of the unknown driver and no inference or assumptions can be made.

The NtK is not compliant with all the requirements of PoFA which means that if the unknown driver is not identified, they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper.

Use the following as your appeal. Only appeal as the Keeper. No need to embellish or remove anything from it:

I 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 Manchester Airport is not 'relevant land'.

If Manchester 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.

Apologies, can someone please explain statutory control in regards to airports please

In order to be able to transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper, the operator has to comply with all the requirements of PoFA. However PoFA does not apply to land that is under statutory control, such as airports, which are covered by statutory byelaws.

As such, land under statutory control means that there can be no keeper liability. As APCOA have no idea who the driver is, unless the Keeper blabs it to them, the have to cancel the PCN.

Too late to appeal now. All you can do now is weather the useless debt recovery letters. Debt collectors are powerless to do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear.

APCOA do not litigate so, eventually, it will all stop. It's just a pity you din't appeal in time as you could have avoided all the wasted paper from the powerless debt collectors.