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#Post#: 128153--------------------------------------------------
APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: PAL62V
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:01 am
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Firstly, glad to see there is a replacement to the valuable
Pepipoo!
The issue - Car was dropped at the Meet & Greet at LHR T5 Level
4, early August. As requested, went to pay the short term
parking, gave ticket to driver and left.
Received a Parking Charge Notice today stating "For the alleged
contravention of:
Parked without payment of the parking charge." Which is clearly
false. Pics show entry at 0839, and exit (by M&G driver) at
0924, well after the time he was given the paid ticket.
Appeal made to APCOA (we all know how likely this is to succeed)
attaching credit card receipt showing £8 payment to APCOA on
correct date. Contact also made with airport parking company who
have requested (and been sent) pic of the Parking Charge Notice
as well as credit card receipt.
As I understand it, once the ticket is issued from the machines,
you then have around 10 mins (perhaps longer) by which time the
car needs to have exited the parking? So I assume that the
driver did not exit in time OR there is some other
contravention. However if the ticket was not paid, the barriers
surely would not have raised to allow exit?
I guess I now have to wait for the appeal to be knocked back,
but I assume the parking company is the one on the hook for
this, even if I need to take them to small claims after the
event?
#Post#: 128155--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:08 am
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--- Quote from: PAL62V link ---
>
> Appeal made to APCOA (we all know how likely this is to
succeed)
>
--- End Quote ---
For future reference for airport tickets, had you come here
before appealing, we could have advised you of an appeal that
would have had a close to 100% chance of succeeding, but we
cannot change the past.
Please show us the PCN you have received, and exactly what you
submitted as an appeal.
I'm unfamiliar with the Meet & Greet at Heathrow, so I'm not
entirely sure what has happened here - it seems unusual that you
also have to pay for short-term parking when you are using the
Meet & Greet car park? Is this a third party company providing
the Meet & Greet service that is not associated with the
airport?
#Post#: 128157--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: PAL62V
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:30 am
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--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
>
> For future reference for airport tickets, had you come here
before appealing, we could have advised you of an appeal that
would have had a close to 100% chance of succeeding, but we
cannot change the past.
--- End Quote ---
Yup - kicking myself a little as I have used the wording in the
past for the dropoff charges when incorrectly fined. This is
such an open and shut though and is not the dropoff charge.
--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
> Please show us the PCN you have received, and exactly what you
submitted as an appeal.
--- End Quote ---
Attached.
HTML https://ibb.co/Qv5PfNQv
I can't access the exact wording now it's been submitted, but
it was close to:
"Car entered the barrier and ticket collected. Waited for a few
minutes for Meet & Greet driver. At their request, ticket was
then paid and handed to Meet & Greet driver. Credit card receipt
for ticket purchase attached."
NB _ at no stage was there any reference to 'me' 'us' 'I' 'our'
etc.
--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
>
> I'm unfamiliar with the Meet & Greet at Heathrow, so I'm not
entirely sure what has happened here - it seems unusual that you
also have to pay for short-term parking when you are using the
Meet & Greet car park? Is this a third party company providing
the Meet & Greet service that is not associated with the
airport?
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes, third party company. Standard procedure is that Level 4 is
for meet and greet. Collect the ticket at the entrance and then
pay for the ticket and hand to the driver so they can exit the
car park. It's become commonplace to do this as the all parking
companies don't then add the cost of the parking to their
overall charge.
#Post#: 128158--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: PAL62V
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:41 am
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UPDATE:
I have just seen the video evidence supplied by APCOA. On
exiting, the driver has raced through the open barrier behind
another car and so did not use the ticket. Clearly he was aware
that he had overstayed past the grace period.
Have fwded this to the company responsible and am awaiting their
response.
#Post#: 128159--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:47 am
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Did you say who was driving (when entering the car park) in your
appeal to APCOA, or was the appeal done solely as the keeper? If
the latter, we can probably get this cancelled at POPLA stage
regardless of any arguments around the Meet & Greet driver's
late departure from the car park.
However it pans out, APCOA have always been a pretty benign
company, and so far we've never seen them take a case to court.
It's quite an interesting one this - at face value, the contract
with APCOA would appear to be between them and the driver who
entered the car park, accepting the contract by entering and
parking up. That they delegated responsibility for leaving the
car park to someone else (namely the M&G company via their
driver) would seem to be irrelevant to this. On that basis, they
arguably wouldn't be wrong to reject the appeal. If money was
found to be owed to APCOA, you'd then be trying to recover this
from the M&G company, presumably (depending on the terms of the
contract with them) arguing that their negligence has caused you
loss. But, as above, there's a fair chance we won't need to get
into an argument as complex as that.
#Post#: 128160--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: PAL62V
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:54 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: DWMB2 link ---
>
> Did you say who was driving (when entering the car park) in
your appeal to APCOA, or was the appeal done solely as the
keeper? If the latter, we can probably get this cancelled at
POPLA stage regardless of any arguments around the Meet & Greet
driver's late departure from the car park.
>
> However it pans out, APCOA have always been a pretty benign
company, and so far we've never seen them take a case to court.
>
> It's quite an interesting one this - at face value, the
contract with APCOA would appear to be between them and the
driver who entered the car park, accepting the contract by
entering and parking up. That they delegated responsibility for
leaving the car park to someone else (namely the M&G company via
their driver) would seem to be irrelevant to this. On that
basis, they arguably wouldn't be wrong to reject the appeal. If
money was found to be owed to APCOA, you'd then be trying to
recover this from the M&G company, presumably (depending on the
terms of the contract with them) arguing that their negligence
has caused you loss. But, as above, there's a fair chance we
won't need to get into an argument as complex as that.
>
--- End Quote ---
No, I didn't say who the driver was. The appeal was sent solely
as a keeper.
Yes, I see your point re the 'contract'. I have already fwd the
video to the M&G and told them in no uncertain terms that I will
be chasing them thru the courts if I end up having to pay a
penalty charge. It is such an obvious breach and so clear now
what has happened. It will be interesting to see where this goes
as up to now, I assume APCOA would fairly assume the driver who
exited is the same one as who entered. I too am wondering what
the legal situation is here.
#Post#: 128162--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: August 18, 2026, 10:59 am
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--- Quote from: PAL62V link ---
>
> No, I didn't say who the driver was. The appeal was sent
solely as a keeper.
--- End Quote ---
Good - in that case, if APCOA reject, I'd be minded to appeal on
the grounds of PoFA and relevant land. This stands you in good
stead for getting the charge cancelled with the least amount of
fuss.
--- Quote from: PAL62V link ---
>
> I assume APCOA would fairly assume the driver who exited is
the same one as who entered.
>
--- End Quote ---
As I was getting at above, it likely doesn't matter to APCOA if
the driver who exited is different. Their position could
reasonably be that the driver who entered the car park entered
the contract with APCOA - in entering that contract, he agreed
to ensure that the correct tariff was paid before the car left
and that the car left within X minutes of payment being made.
The fact that he passed responsibility for leaving the car park
to someone else wouldn't matter.
In a similar way that if you order an item from a retailer
online, and they pass responsibility for delivery to a courier
who then loses your item, your recourse is against the retailer,
not the courier.
#Post#: 128163--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA LHR T5 Short Stay Penalty - Meet & Greet
DIR By: PAL62V
Date: August 18, 2026, 11:05 am
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Understood. I'll await the rejection as well as anything from
the M&G, and then revert to the forum.
Thanks for the advice.
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