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#Post#: 123461--------------------------------------------------
Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: Tanya
Date: July 1, 2026, 5:06 am
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My daughter is a university student and at the start of the
academic year applied (and was accepted) to have a staff parking
permit on campus on disability grounds.
She had to set up an account with her car registration details
and autopay. The terms of the permit are that she still pays for
parking but at a reduced rate. She pays £10.50 per week (instead
of around £60) and is charged varying amounts (£1.00, £2.50,
£3.50 and £0.00) totalling £10.50 over a seven day period
starting on a Monday.
This has worked absolutely fine all year until the Mayday bank
holiday weekend. She was issued a parking charge for ‘not
paying’ during one of her parking visits.
I’ve searched through the autopay log on her account and there
is nothing showing for the date in question. No amount of any
kind - not even a zero amount. There are no charges for her
visits on 30th April and 1st May as she’d reached her £10.50
maximum for the week. The next charges are from Tuesday 6th May.
However for the week commencing 4th May, she has paid the £10.50
maximum throughout that week, but the first payment was charged
on Tuesday 5th May.
We have submitted an appeal with her as the registered keeper,
providing evidence of her staff parking account with autopay set
up and transactions on her statement for the academic year to
date.
For reference - I’m helping her with her parking charge appeal
as she’s been completing her masters research project and is
completely overwhelmed. I am also supporting her financially so
it’s in my interests to get this sorted out!
The company have responded saying:
Thank you for your correspondence regarding parking charge XXXX.
Whilst we appreciate the evidence provided, this does not show a
payment made for the date in question.
To allow us to fully investigate your case, please provide us
with evidence of a payment made for the date of the
contravention.
Please provide your evidence within 14 days of the date of this
letter of request. We have placed your case on hold 14 days to
allow you to comply with this request.
If we do not receive the required evidence/information within 14
days, we will have no choice but to process your appeal based on
the information that we currently hold.
The email also says if you are not satisfied with the outcome of
your appeal, you cannot appeal again. You can make a complaint,
details on how to do this are detailed on their website.
I am completely flummoxed by this. They have managed to capture
my daughter entering and leaving the car park, but have not
applied a parking charge on the autopay system even though they
have managed it hundreds of times before and multiple times
after. There are over 300 entries on her parking log over the
academic year.
This isn’t even a case of her forgetting a payment or putting
the wrong registration number in. She has a permit to park and
has her account set up on auto pay (ironically for the sole
purpose of avoiding fines). Ultimately she did not pay on the
date of the contravention, but had no reason to think she
hadn’t. Surely it is their error?
What else can we do?
#Post#: 123462--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: RichardW
Date: July 1, 2026, 5:22 am
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You might as well reply to their message (which is probably just
an automated response to a 'we paid' type appeal) re-stating
your case, and that it is their failure that has resulted in a
'non payment'.
Which parking co - post up the PCN? You will get a chance to
appeal to POPLA or IAS, depending on which body they are
associated with, if (when!) they reject your initial appeal.
I'd say a good chance at POPLA, less so at IAS (as they don't
really live up to the 'independent' part of their name!). You
should also approach the Uni to get it cancelled.
If that fails then you will have to wait for court claim and
defend it from there.
#Post#: 123472--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: Tanya
Date: July 1, 2026, 8:38 am
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APCOA issued the notice. We’ve contacted the university as well
who asked for a copy of the charge which we’ve sent. Haven’t
heard anything back from them in a week now despite chasing
them. I guess I’ll state the case again and hope for the best.
#Post#: 123474--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: RichardW
Date: July 1, 2026, 9:19 am
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APCOA don't generally take their cases to court, so even if they
reject it, it should wither and die (eventually!). They are
BPA, so a secondary appeal will be to POPLA which stands in this
case a reasonable chance.
#Post#: 123476--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: InterCity125
Date: July 1, 2026, 9:24 am
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The Uni can cancel it directly as they are the landowner - keep
them under pressure - ring each day.
#Post#: 123568--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking charge received - despite autopay setup last October
DIR By: Tanya
Date: July 2, 2026, 6:12 am
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We’ve just heard from the university that they have arranged for
the notice to be cancelled. It might take a few days for it to
be validated but we can now ignore the PCN letter that was
issued which is a relief. Hopefully it won’t happen again, but
if it does we’ll contact them first.
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