Apcoa ANPR PCN - drop off zone Heathrow T2 ***Cancelled by Apcoa***

[Zimbird]

Days after they put a new system up at Heathrow Airport Drop Off, I drove and dropped off my son.  I did notice a sign but there was no where to pay and no barriers, so it was easy to forget.

I literally stopped for 2 minutes before driving off.

I then received a charge letter, which I responded to with the letter attached.  However having returned to England last week, I have now received a Pre-Legal Action letter dated 8.2.2023 and a Debt Recovery Plus Letter.  Maybe other letters have gone to my Bristol address and I have not received them yet.

Please advise as they have ignored this letter that was posted from Zimbabwe.

xxxxxxxx Road

Hxxxxx

Harare

Zimbabwe

Tel + xxxxxxxx

 

APCOA Parking

Wellington House

4-10 Cowley Road

Uxbridge

Middlesex UB8 2XW

 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

 Charge Notice No ………………

 Date:  18 Nov 2022

 Heathrow Terminal Drop Off T2 (20 September 2022)

 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Your signage was not at all apparent and there was no barrier collecting money – therefore it was not at all obvious that you need to pay at Heathrow T2 for a drop off.  It is in fact most confusing.  I would suggest you put barriers so drivers are forced to pay.  This is what drivers expect to be in place, and you will find these barriers in every other airport where they charge for dropping passengers.

 Both owners and drivers of the vehicle ………. do not reside at:  ………. House, Clifton,

Bristol B…...  In fact this address has been tenanted.

 It has taken two months for me to receive correspondence from you as the new occupant forwarded your correspondence to a family member, but they have now left for Australia.

 The owners of ……… reside in Zimbabwe.  No…….., H……s, Harare, Zimbabwe and can be reached at this address.  We have no intention of returning to England in the foreseeable future and the car is off the road.

 Please note that any letters addressed to Bristol will no doubt be binned.  If you want to continue to pursue this case, then you will have to contact me at my address in Zimbabwe, but I warn you letters do take a rather lengthy time on occasion.

 I do not intend to pay your charge.   I suggest you drop this unnecessary case.

 Yours sincerely

 

[dx100uk]

moved to the private parking forum. you should know where to post speculative invoice problems..

and you appealed.

ive also posted your docx  as text now cause docx files have all your pers info in file info/history...

please complete this.

 

 

[Nicky Boy]

Doubt that Zim will even get a reply to the appeal, considering that they'll have to post a letter to Zimbabwe.

However, more importantly, what can be done to avoid a backdoor CCJ?

How about using email to communicate?

[Nicky Boy]

Sorry, just re read 1st post...

From the sequence of events described, it seems that the fleecers have already totally ignored Zim's statement of her change of address.

That should put a new slant on things...

[brassnecked]

Yes as resident in Zim they would be very silly to proceed to a Court Claim, Zim could write another snotty letter that if they did want to take it to court, she would have to fly over from Zim, and if they lost which is highly likely given the lack of signage means to pay, they would be footing the bill for the flight and return.  Something along those lines.

[Zimbird]

 

If you have received a parking ticket or a letter concerning a parking ticket:

 

Firstly, please check whether this is a PENALTY charge Notice or a PARKING charge.

It is a Parking Charge Notice

 

For PCN's received through the post [ANPR camera capture] 

(must be received within 14 days from the Incident)

 

Please answer the following questions.

 

1 Date of the infringement  20th September 2022

 

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] 29 September 2022
 

[scan up BOTH SIDES as ONE PDF- follow the upload guide] please LEAVE IN LOCATION AND ALL DATES/TIMES/£'s

 

3 Date received ?  ? October 2022
 

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [Y/N?] N
 

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes
 

6 Have you appealed? [Y/N?] post up your appeal] Not appealed just informed 
 

Have you had a response? [Y/N?] post it up No just continued notices
 

7 Who is the parking company? APCOA

 

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Did not park - drove through - Terminal 2 Heathrow Airport
 

For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under.

BPA
 

There are two official bodies, the BPA and the IAS. If you are unsure,

please check HERE

 

If you have received any other correspondence, please mention it here.  

Parking Charge Nocice

Reminder Letter 

Debt Recover Plus x 2

Terminal Notice Pre-Legal Action 

Copy the windscreen or ANPR section to your thread and answer the questions...

……....

In either case scan up bothsides of any letters/tickets in or appeals made out to ONE MULTIPAGE PDF ONLY

 

 

2022-09-29 Apcoa pcn 20-9-22 heathrow drop off.pdf

[dx100uk]

1 pdf properly named nexttime please...

[FTMDave]

The risk here is a backdoor CCJ if they issue a claim at the Bristol address.  IIRC Zimbird has already had this problem once before.

I think another letter warning them off doing so needs to be sent.

[Zimbird]

Thanks FTMDave - I can't go through that again.  How close do you think I am to that when I received a Pre-Legal warning - I would prefer to pay than to go through that stress.

Should I send a letter from Zimbabwe as well as email them a copy of the letter?

Any points I should include?

Will do so tomorrow.

Thank you for getting back to me.

[FTMDave]

Don't worry.  You're a long way from court papers yet.

I'm knackered now after a night flight, but will help tomorrow.

[lookinforinfo]

The airport is covered by Bye laws so the charge cannot be transferred from the  driver to the keeper. only the driver is responsible for the charge.

This is such an easy case to win should they go to court-though Apcoa rarely goes that far.

It is questionable if they have established a contract with the driver.  For a start unless things have changed, there is no notice at the start of the drop off area that the area is controlled and there are terms and conditions attached. They do have signs to that effect within the drop off area but the lack of notice before the drop off means no contract was formed. 

Also dropping off someone is not parking. They don't know if you were the driver but are accusing you as keeper as if you were there on the day. the strange thing about this PCN is usually where Bye Laws are involved the creditor states that they will pursue the driver. they have not done that with you so they are pursuing you as the keeper which they cannot do. They don't even state that they are pursuing you on the basis that the driver and the keeper are the same person but this reads as if they are pursuing you as the keeper only.

 

[FTMDave]

As I say, no immediate pannic.  I'll draft something later today.

On 19/06/2023 at 23:09, Zimbird said:

However having returned to England last week, I have now received a Pre-Legal Action letter dated 8.2.2023 

Was it APCOA who sent this, or one of the industry's solicitors like DCBL/BW Legal/CST Law/Gladstones?  It will be important to know for the reply.

[Zimbird]

APCOA and then Debt Recovery Plus and now Terminal Notice Pre-Legal Action

Many thanks

[honeybee13]

I think Dave is asking who sent the 08/02/2023 letter, Zimbird.

HB

[FTMDave]

Yes, I am.

If it's APCOA, their conduct is bad enough.

But if it's solicitors that you can nuke them with threats to report them to their professional body for encouraging clients to start action against someone at a false address in order to win by default.

We need to know who sent the 8 February letter.  Better still, post it up.

[brassnecked]

Yes post it up please, they have done so much that's wrong they would be in for a pasting in court

[Zimbird]

APCOA and then Debt Recovery Plus and now Terminal Notice Pre-Legal Action

Here is the Pre-Legal Action Letter attached.

Thank you for your assistance.  Have missed you all!!!

Pre-Legal Notice 8.2.23.pdf

[FTMDave]

Good news!

This is just nonsense from an uninterested third party who can't start legal action.

However, what about the future?  What is your relationship with the tenants like?  If the fleecers don't give up, will you know about future letters?

[brassnecked]

That picture of the alleged Hunt is used on various DCA letters under different names, perhaps its worth sending a letter with proof of posting that the address for service of legal matters is now in Zimbabwe

[FTMDave]

How about sending APCOA something like this -

 

Dear APCOA,

Re: PCN xxxxx

I refer to my letter of 18 November 2022 which quite clearly informed you that I do not live at xxxxx (Bristol, England address) but rather at XXXXX (Harare, Zimbabwe address).

You have completely ignored my letter and have continued to correspond, and get a third party to correspond, to an address where you know full well i do not live, thus disturbing the new occupants who have no connection whatsoever with your invoice or the vehicle.

Courts take an extremely dim view of companies who deliberately write to false addresses when in legal dispute, knowing that the other party will not receive correspondence or court papers.

I doubt the British Parking Association would be very impressed with your antics either.

So if you are determined to pursue this charge, which I refuse to pay, then write to me where I live, not where I don't live.

To speed up communication, i am sending this both by Zimbabwe mail and also by e-mail.

Yours, xxxxx

 

Get that sent off both by Zimbabwe mail and by e-mail.

The problem could be that they will ignore it and at some point issue a claim which you would know nothing about, but cross that bridge ...

I wouldn't mention anything about tenants as that lets on that you own the property and would just encourage them to continue to write to Bristol.  All they need to know is that you live in Zimbabwe.

[Zimbird]

Thank you, I will get on this straight away.  I have also spoken to my tenant and she assures me she will be on the look out for any correspondence and forward it immediately.

So glad I double checked with you all.

Grateful - will keep you posted.

ZB

[FTMDave]

46 minutes ago, Zimbird said:

I have also spoken to my tenant and she assures me she will be on the look out for any correspondence and forward it immediately.

That is superb news - a great guarantee in case the fleecers refuse to cooperate.

Hopefully it won't come to having your tenant involved though.

[Zimbird]

I sent the email off to UKcustomercomplaints@apcoa.com and got a reference no. as a return email.   I sent it from a .zw email address.

I will send the letter off in time when I can find someone to fly back to Zimbabwe and will post it - just as a double up.

I have two addresses for Apcoa:  think I will send the original to one and a copy to the other.

UK Customer Complaints Team

POBox 1010

Middlesex UB8 9NT

and the one I put on my letter:

APCOA Parking 

Wellington House

4-10 Cowley Road

Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 2XW

Lets see what happens - I imagine they will email me - fingers crossed.

Keep you posted.

[Zimbird]

I have just had a response:  

"Thank you for your email to the Heathrow drop off complaints department.

On this occasion we have cancelled the Parking Charge Notice and settled it and instructed Debt Recovery Plus to cease pursuit of the charge.  No further action is required from yourself regarding this notice.

Yours sincerely

Brandon Dobson"

**  I would just like to thank you all for your input and let you know you were all successful with your advice.  I didn't even need to post the new letter from Zimbabwe, the email worked!!  However, to be fair, they probably had already received my initial one which I posted from Zimbabwe.

 

[FTMDave]

Well done on - yet another - victory! 

How many of these tickets have you batted off now?

If you ever get another one, I'd just write "I'm Zimbird, PPC slayer" and that should see them off