APCOA ANPR PCNs - No permit - Bicester North railway station car park

[Pank]

Hello,

 

I park on a daily basis at Bicester North station. I buy a monthly parking ticket every month.

 

In the month of July I completely forgot for some reason. At no point did I receive a ticket on my car to notify me that I did not have a valid Parking ticket. I received no parking fine notices on my car during this period.

The month of August I bought a monthly parking ticket again.

 

I have now just started to receive parking ticket notices in the post that I have been parking at the station without a valid ticket. It shows a photo of my car going in to the station and a photo of my car leaving the station.

There are 20 tickets for the whole month of August @£50 per ticket going up to £85 per day if I do not pay within 14 days. OUCH!

 

Having walked around the station there are no signs or notices up anywhere that I can see that this is what is happening now. Forgetting to buy a ticket was a genuine mistake and I have copies of att the other 38 months I have bought a monthly ticket.

 

I appealed to APCOA in Sheffield. They sent me a standard letter for every single parking notice individually rejecting my appeal and to pay up. the fact that they sent me 20 letters back speaks volumes to reply to my one registered post letter.

 

Is this legal, don't they have to stick something on my car to alert me? APCOA also advices me that if I appeal the fine will automatically go up to £85 per ticket regardless of time frame.

Any advice please?

 

Many Thanks

[ericsbrother]

under the Protection of Freedoms Act the parking co have to issue a notice ofr each event and where they use ANPR capture as in your case they are obliged to end out the notices within a specific timeframe and the wording of the notice must contain key phrases.

 

As you have appealed if they got this wrong them you have lost the protection of the law.

 

As for the charge (never a fine) going up if you appeal, that is unlawful but what can happen is that the time taken to consider the appeal means that it overruns the discount period.

 

Now thet are supposed to consider each charge individually so again by lumping them together you have removed that protection in law but that is why they have written to you 20 times.

 

Now the good news is that it is likely to be railway land and that means the byelaws count, not what APCOA say.

 

Can you get us some pictures of :

the entrance to the car park and

any signs that are there and

note exactly what size they are and

where they are located inreference to the entrance,

height above ground level etc.

 

What is normal for them is a sign in print that needs an electron microscope to read placed at the back of the car park in a space where you cannot easily get to without climbing boots.

 

When you get the piccies post them up here along with a copy of their Notice to Keeper (redacted to remove personal details and any reference number, bar code etc) and their rejection letter

[dx100uk]

one multipage PDF only please

read upload

 

[Pank]

Sorry for the delay, Here is the letter i have received in answer to my appeal

DOC002.PDF

[dx100uk]

FYI: they are NOT FINES.

 

 

[brassnecked]

Do as advised PDQ get those piccies of the car park, APCOA sniff a payday of over £1,000 here, and appealing did you no favours whatsoever. ericsbrother has given some good advice, so in the meantime read up on other CAG  Private Parking threads where bylaws apply.

[Pank]

Hello Again guys, Thank you all for your help.

 

Here are the pictures I have taken from the parking area. I posted my appeal reply letter earlier.

 

Let me know what you all think is the next step.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

BN_Parking_signs_and_solicitors_letter.PDF

Reply to appeal.PDF

[dx100uk]

Well done

the letter is infact from zzps claiming to be QDR

Safe to ignore

Signs also say parking charge notice

So def not a fine.

 

Dx

[Pank]

Thank you everyone. Should I just ignore all of these or are they valid charges that I should pay up?

 

Many Thanks

[Gick]

Do you actually read the posts that experienced CAGGERS are taking their time to submit? DX100uk said in the post before your last one  Safe to ignore.

This is a self help site where those seeking assistance are expected to read other threads in order to not just blindly follow, but understand the subject. In doing so you are empowered and thus have no need to panic.

 

[ericsbrother]

you need to read up on various aspects of contract law that surround parking. Once you have doen that you may then realise that as ZZPS arent the creditor they cant instruct a solicitor to act on their behalf to do anything, it is down to law on agency and locus standi- they have no right or interest in the matter.

 

So basically the letter is waht we call a threatogram, a letter designed to make you think that certain actions will be taken when that isnt actually what it really says.

 

Now for the signage, the sign saying T&C's apply- if this si the first sign you see then you havent been offered a contract but an invitation to treat and you cn take  or leave anything else offered.

 

Likewise the ringo sign is meaningless.

 

Now the other sign is a contract but  due to the invitation to treat you dont ahve to accept the terms. We neeed to be able to read this in detauil and your image isnt good enough. we need a decent close up so we can see every dot but ia can already see problem with the signage inasmuch as they say acceptance of the terms are a condition of ENTRY into the car park. Well, how are you supposed to read the sign without entering the place?

 

they also mention "authorised" bays but there is no indication who authorises any bays and what that comprises of in the way of who and for what> that gives you grounds to argue that the sigange is confusing and thus insufficient to form a contract and combined with the invitation to treat lack of contract APCOA will have trouble arguing they have clearly made you aware of the offer. the siting of the sign will also help your arguments.

 

Now add that to the fact it is covered by railway byelaws that create their own conditions that make this contract null and void it wont be wise of them to take the matter to the ultimate.

 

Now a better picture of the signage please and give us an idea of the layout as when we look on spysat we cant see the signs.

[Pank]

Thank you very much eric'sbrother that is very helpful. I will do that and you have been a great help.

 

Many Thanks

 

 

[ericsbrother]

As you have  a wodge of these charges it is worth fighting regardless. they have a lot to gain if they think that they are in with a chance of a payday.

Now we still havent seen your appeal, just their responses and we also need to know the dates of every letter you gota dn when they actually arrived. have asked for this but you seem to have misunderstood what we want and BTW we dont give a stuff about their replies, they are just generated automatically. We want to see if you have dropped yourself in it.

 

Consider this alternative scenario. your partner drops you off at the sation every day that month and collects you so no need for a permit. Their ANPR wont know that but tickets you based on entry/exit If your appeal says I parked there all of the time i was stupid not to buy a permit then you cant use that argument but if you worded your appeal in a manner that it refers to an individual event then they are stuffed when it comes to the other 19