Author Topic: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay  (Read 2220 times)

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Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
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Hi All,

Long story short, forgot to pay the £7 for using the Drop Off zone at Stanstead Airport and did not have any auto pay or account set up to avoid this scenario, have now received a Parking Charge from APCOA.

Is there any way around this or not really, having read a few similar posts quickly, suggests not to identify the driver, surely can't be that simple?

Attached the Parking Charge

Thanks

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Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #2 on: »
Got it! let me do as advised.. a question or two

1. What if for some odd reason it doesnt go as planned and the debt letters do have to be paid at some point?
2. What if they check the cameras and identify who the driver is, ie say the driver is the registered keeper?

I may sound a by silly here but surely if this is a garaunteed way out of such tickets, this would open up a loophole for everyone going to any APCOA parking places or atleast the airports, to just go and never pay, especially for the drivers that have to do daily pickup and drop offs..

Regards
« Last Edit: August 05, 2025, 10:02:20 am by LondonTraveller84 »

Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #3 on: »
1. It won’t.
2. How? Even the police can’t do it.

Most people just pay up when they get things like this, because they’re frightened of negative consequences.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2025, 10:02:10 am by jfollows »

Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #4 on: »
They rely on the ignorance and gullibility of the average motorist to scam you out of money. A prime example is your suggestion that they may be able to identify the driver from a CCTV image.

Just to prove the point, go and take a photo, high resolution, of any passing vehicle where you can see the driver clearly. So, you now have a very clear photo of a driver. However, you have no idea who that driver is. Even if you were able to get the Registered Keeper details of the vehicle, you still have no idea who the driver is.

So, how do you propose identifying the driver? Do you know of some magical unicorn database where you can feed in an image and out will spew the identity of that person? Of course there isn't.

The only way they would know the identity of the driver is if the registered keeper blabs it to them, inadvertently or otherwise. Until then, they have no idea who the driver is.

As for "if it doesn't go as planned"... what do you think would happen? This is a well tried and tested response to PCNs where there can be no Keeper liability. Unless they have the identity of the driver, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.

So, it is not a loophole. It is the law. Personally, I have never paid for an airport pick up or drop off for many years.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience” - Mark Twain
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Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #5 on: »
An Update all, Glad to say having followed the advice given, Just received a confirmation that they have cancelled the PCN :D

Thanks again, although cannot say the same for my other Private PCN, which got rejected :(, in a seperate thread.

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Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #6 on: »
As for "if it doesn't go as planned"... what do you think would happen? This is a well tried and tested response to PCNs where there can be no Keeper liability. Unless they have the identity of the driver, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.

Agree that it will be difficult to identify the driver, but then as it is said in this process
they eventually send balif letters which have to be ignored, you hear of cases they just come and clamp the car irrespective of who the driver was or not?


Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #7 on: »
Quote
  you hear of cases they just come and clamp the car irrespective of who the driver was or not?
Not from private parking firms you don't. Unpaid parking fines (from councils) sometimes lead to clamping and seizure, but with private parking cases, even if you lose in court as long as you pay there wouldn't be any Bailiffs turning up.

Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #8 on: »
Hello everyone!
I did have the same problem, just forgot to pay the drop off at Stansted
I really wanted to pay and I called them after 3 days and the answer was a big No No(no explanation)
I appealed sending the letter and the charge was cancelled and wanted to say a big Thank you
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Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #9 on: »
Quote
  you hear of cases they just come and clamp the car irrespective of who the driver was or not?
Not from private parking firms you don't. Unpaid parking fines (from councils) sometimes lead to clamping and seizure

Ahh okay good to know there won't be any clamping :)



Re: Stansted Airport Drop Off Zone - Forgot to Pay
« Reply #10 on: »

I appealed sending the letter and the charge was cancelled and wanted to say a big Thank you

Update - This was overturned on the first appeal :), using the appeal template provided in the forum post mentioned by jfollows - Thank you everyone for your help and advice
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