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Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Hi
I have searched the forum and other people seem to have similar issues with Apcoa.
I attended a 14:00 hospital appointment at St. Marks Hospital (Northwick Park Hospital) on Thursday 12th March 2009 and was unable to park in a designated disabled bay due to none being available, so I parked in a bay next to one and displayed the blue badge.
At 16:20 we went back to our car to discover we had a parking ticket issued at 16:12 by Apcoa "The World of Parking" for the reason on the ticket "has a blue badge but not in a disabled bay". I have parked in a standard bay before and have had no problems.
The penalty is for £10.00. I wrote a letter to inform them I refuse to pay the parking fine due to displaying my blue badge and there were no available disabled bays at the time, there were in fact many normal bays available.
I today received a letter saying that the penalty notice has been upheld and that I must pay the £10 within 14 days otherwise failure to do so will occur additional costs. I am wondering what I should do now, should I write another letter telling them I refuse to pay?
I noticed on the back of the penalty notice it mentioned breach of contract codes (what contract)
1) Parking without displaying valid proof of payment
2) parking without displaying a valid parking permit
3) parking in a fire access or emergency vehicle areas
4) parking on yellow or hatched line
5) parking outside a designated parking bay
6) parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid blue disabled badge.
on the front of the ticket it says breach of contract number (1) but displaying a blue badge I don't need a ticket?
I received bad news that day and getting this ticket made it worse, their reply seemed very template like to me too.
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Of course it's a template. There is no appeals process - it's a private company and they'll never turn down profit.
• do not pay
• do not contact them
• ignore any further letters, no matter how threatening
• they will give up and go away.
These seem like a bottom feeder company if they're only after a tenner. They'll send you plenty of threats, but I don't think they'll take you to court for £10 somehow!
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
I wasn't aware it is a mistake to write to the PPC does it mean I will have more hassle sorting it out?
Looking at the "ticket" I cannot find penalty or fine. It says first management group on the "ticket", but the letter reply came from Apcoa, weird.
It says on the front;
NOTICE of breach of contract to park at any car park owned or managed by first management group.
The car parks are regulated by the contract to park, displayed at each car park. By entering the property and its car park(s) you have agreed and contracted to be legally bond by that contract.
DETAILS OF CAR
In breach of the contract number "01" or as described "has a blue badge but not in disabled bay"
In consideration of which you have agreed to pay the sum of twenty five pound (£25.00)
on the back;
How to pay providing payment is received by first management group within fourteen days of the issue of this notice, a sum of £10.00 will be accepted in Full and final settlement.
Thereafter first management group will only accept full payment of £25.00 to be received within 30 days of the date of this notice.
Should payment not be received within this time a summons will be issued in the county court were judgement will be sought for debt to include any and all costs incurred in recovery.
Any written challenge must be received at the address shown within fourteen days of the date of this notice. First management group car park staff cannot void this penalty.
Digital photographs may have been taken to assist in the issuing of this cpn for the offence described.
Penalty Notice Dept.
First Management Group
Level 1, Multi-storey Car Park
Northwick Park Hospital
Watford Road Harrow
HA13UJ
TEL: 02088693803
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Even for a PPC, this has to be the most disingenuous reason for a noddy ticket ever.
Just for posterity:
Originally Posted by APCOA
has a blue badge but not in a disabled bay
To answer your question, sorting this out requires no hassle whatsoever. All you need to do is ignore them. When they write to you again (which they will, so don't be surprised by more letters), you should put it in a drawer and otherwise ignore it. The tone of the letters will no doubt range from threatening to pleading, but they should all be ignored.
In the most miniscule event that you should receive stamped court papers, then you should post them here.
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Originally Posted by dn2004
Hi
I have searched the forum and other people seem to have similar issues with Apcoa.
I attended a 14:00 hospital appointment at St. Marks Hospital (Northwick Park Hospital) on Thursday 12th March 2009 and was unable to park in a designated disabled bay due to none being available, so I parked in a bay next to one and displayed the blue badge.
At 16:20 we went back to our car to discover we had a parking ticket issued at 16:12 by Apcoa "The World of Parking" for the reason on the ticket "has a blue badge but not in a disabled bay". I have parked in a standard bay before and have had no problems.
The penalty is for £10.00. I wrote a letter to inform them I refuse to pay the parking fine due to displaying my blue badge and there were no available disabled bays at the time, there were in fact many normal bays available.
I today received a letter saying that the penalty notice has been upheld and that I must pay the £10 within 14 days otherwise failure to do so will occur additional costs. I am wondering what I should do now, should I write another letter telling them I refuse to pay?
I noticed on the back of the penalty notice it mentioned breach of contract codes (what contract)
1) Parking without displaying valid proof of payment
2) parking without displaying a valid parking permit
3) parking in a fire access or emergency vehicle areas
4) parking on yellow or hatched line
5) parking outside a designated parking bay
6) parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid blue disabled badge.
on the front of the ticket it says breach of contract number (1) but displaying a blue badge I don't need a ticket?
I received bad news that day and getting this ticket made it worse, their reply seemed very template like to me too.
Usual PPC nonsense. As the posters have advised-ignore. Interesting that APCOA runs the hospital car park-its usually CP Plus that have those contracts. Nevertheless- ignore
If you believe that this post has helped in any way please click on the star to the left
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Thanks for all your replys I shall be ignoring all future correspondents and will post if I receive any more info.
This is a very useful forum and my first time posting after lurking for so long, I may need some help with an Abbey account in the near future I will obviously post in the correct section!
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
As a blue badge holder I had the very same happen to me today. APCOA actually put their 'pointless paperwork' on my windscreen while I was trying to get some cash to pay for the parking, as the signs stated blue badge holders had to park in designated bays.
I firstly tried to get cash from the hospitals only cashpoint machine, only to find it broken. Then I went to APCOA's on site office. The unnecessarily rude employee there told me I could not pay there as I was parked in an outside car park, but told me to move my car to the inside car park, then he would be able to accept payment if I presented him with a ticket - why he couldn't just accept payment and issue a ticket is still baffling me. Anyway, I got back to move the car to find a yellow unlucky bag on my windscreen from APCOA.
The APCOA employee had just finished my ticket, so when I asked if I could sort it out at the office, he assured me it was possible. So, after my appointment in the hospital I went to their office, only to find the same employee behind the screen. Perhaps I misunderstood his broken english when I initially spoke to him, but he was now saying I only had two options. I could either pay the £10 or appeal, but after reading the various posts on here, I won't be doing either.
Feeling generous, I did offer to pay the original parking fee,but they won't accept it. So, as they won't accept my offer, it seems they won't be getting a penny from me - oh dear,what a shame.
On a serious note I will be taking it further with the hospital trust, who should be ashamed of themselves, allowing these evil vultures to control their car parks. I also hope the numerous times I've mentioned APCOA in my post will bring more people to this site via google searches.
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Originally Posted by dn2004
and will post if I receive any more info.
See you later then.
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Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Sorry for the lack of updates. About three months ago I received a letter telling me they will send it to court, I ignored it and haven't heard anything since. Hopefully I have won.
The hospital should supply more disabled parking in my opinion as there is very few spaces for such a large car park. If this company harrasses me again, I think I may also have to contact the hospital trust and complain.
Update:
And to make things worse these idiots gave us a parking ticket in October even though we paid and displaid! We sent a copy of the car park ticket and the penalty ticket and have yet to hear anything back... do they get morons to patrol the car parks or something?
Re: Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
Sorry for the lack of updates. About three months ago I received a letter telling me they will send it to court, I ignored it and haven't heard anything since. Hopefully I have won.
Hopefully you should have heard the end of them although some PPC/Solicitors (GrahamWhite) have started making the occasional phone call when the threats have failed.
As initially mentioned the problem is the the lack of disabled spaces which seems strange for a hospital carpark and definatley one the hospital should be picked up on
Court would be very out of character for a PPC as they do not like loosing and picking on a disabled person is bad publicity (as if they needed more)
General rule is ignore evything they send - the only thing that needs a reply is a properly served court document complete with claim number and court seal
Northwick Park Hospital Parking Ticket issued by Apcoa
due to displaying my blue badge and there were no available disabled bays at the time, there were in fact many normal bays available.
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Originally Posted by APCOA
