3. APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
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APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
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Hello,



A car was parked at Welwyn Garden City APCOA Network Rail car park on 13th November. The driver forgot to pay for parking on the day. We contacted APCOA via their app on 15th November stating "Hi, I realised I forgot to pay for parking on Wednesday and I was wondering if I might be able to pay now?".


APCOA replied on 20th November stating "...Unfortunately we are unable to take payment for this parking now... you may be at risk of receiving a notice..."


We then received no further communication from either APCOA customer service, nor a PCN in the mail. Having happened a few months ago, we assumed that APCOA had therefore not issued a PCN due to our contact with them.


Today, 14th February, the registered keeper received a letter in the mail from Debt Recover Plus dated 6th February with a 7-day deadline (yesterday, 13th February), stating:
  • "All previous letters were sent to the DVLA obtained address for the registered keeper..." - no previous letters have been received in relation to this matter
  • "Due to no response a tracing service was utilised" - there was no response as no letters were received.
  • "You owe £155.00" - as the driver made a good faith effort to make payment as soon as they realised their error, we believe that this amount is excessive.
  • "You have missed 2 payment deadlines already"
As stated, we have received neither the original PCN in the post, nor any prior notifications about the charge. As the driver did forget to pay for parking, we were looking out for one.


Is anyone able to provide any advice on the next steps we should be taking, considering:

1. We made an offer to pay within 72 hours of parking

2. We have not received any communications until this letter

3. The 7-day period on this letter had already expired before it was delivered


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Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
« Reply #1 on: »
As a preliminary matter - please get out the paper V5C document for the vehicle in question and confirm that it contains your correct name and address. Where multiple letters go missing like this, it is often due to a previously unnoticed error on the V5C, or because the document is not up-to-date (we see a lot of people who move house and update their driving licence address but not their V5C documents).

APCOA are pretty benign. My advice would be to ignore them. If you move before the alleged debt becomes time-barred (6 years after the parking incident), let APCOA know by contacting their Data Protection Officer, but otherwise, just get on with your life. We've never seen them take court action before, ever.
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Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
« Reply #2 on: »
Thank you for the response.

I have checked the V5C, and despite us being sure that we had updated it on moving here, it seems that it is still registered to our previous address.

On this basis, would you recommend contacting APCOA and offering to pay a reduced fine/the initial parking charge again as we offered within days of parking, or still to ignore it entirely?

Thanks.
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Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
« Reply #3 on: »
Quote from: Curliness8852 on February 14, 2025, 11:28:21 am
I have checked the V5C, and despite us being sure that we had updated it on moving here, it seems that it is still registered to our previous address.
Update that ASAP. You can do so online: https://www.gov.uk/change-address-v5c
It may be sensible to also send a Subject Access Request to DVLA to see if any other companies have accessed the data since you moved, as any correspondence from them would likewise have gone to your old address.

I would write to the Data Protection Officer at APCOA (email is fine), with a Data Rectification Notice, to tell them your new address for service, then continue to ignore them. As I said in my previous reply, they have never taken anyone to court that we have seen.
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Re: APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City
« Reply #4 on: »
Thanks for the good advice.
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  3. APCOA Parking PCN - Debt Recovery Plus Letter Arrived After Deadline - Network Rail, Welwyn Garden City