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#Post#: 64666--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Redhill Station AND APCOA Heathrow drop off
DIR By: olly1234
Date: March 28, 2025, 12:10 pm
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I have received an invoice from the Leasing Company for payment
#Post#: 64669--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Redhill Station AND APCOA Heathrow drop off
DIR By: b789
Date: March 28, 2025, 12:26 pm
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OK. SO the lease company have made the mistake of paying a fake
Penalty Notice and are now trying to recover the money from you
by invoicing you.
I will consider this over the weekend and formulate a suitable
response to that letter from the lease company.
#Post#: 64765--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Redhill Station AND APCOA Heathrow drop off
DIR By: b789
Date: March 29, 2025, 10:23 am
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This would be my considered response to the lease company:
--- Quote ---
> Subject: Rejection of Invoice – Unauthorised Payment of
Fraudulent APCOA “Penalty Notice” (Ref: GT02434155)
>
> Dear [Name],
>
> Your latest response is deeply flawed and continues to
demonstrate a worrying lack of legal understanding regarding the
nature of the so-called Penalty Notice issued by APCOA. Let me
make it absolutely clear:
>
> [indent]• You paid an unlawful demand from a private company
pretending to issue criminal penalties.
> • You have no right to recover that money from me.
> • You have been scammed.[/indent]
>
> 1. This Was Not a Fine or Penalty – It Was a Private
Contractual Offer Masquerading as a Statutory Penalty
>
> The notice issued by APCOA was not a lawful Penalty Notice
under the Railway Byelaws. APCOA is an unregulated private
parking contractor, not a prosecuting authority, and has no
power to issue criminal penalties. What you paid was not a fine.
It was a speculative civil demand (invoice), no different from a
regular Parking Charge Notice (PCN), misrepresented as a
statutory penalty in order to create the illusion of criminal
enforcement.
>
> The Department for Transport (DfT) has made it clear—most
notably in its 2018 response to POPLA—that minor parking
contraventions under the Railway Byelaws are not to be
prosecuted under Byelaw 24(1). That route is reserved for
serious offences. Following the introduction of the Road Traffic
Act 1991, most parking violations in the UK were decriminalised,
and the DfT has confirmed that enforcement for such matters is
to proceed via civil, contractual charges (PCNs), not through
the criminal courts.
>
> To that end, the DfT accepts that operators may issue PCNs for
contractual breaches under Byelaw 14(4)(i), but these are civil
in nature, based on implied contractual terms. Nowhere has the
DfT ever said that private companies like APCOA are authorised
to prosecute or to issue genuine criminal Penalty Notices. In
fact, the DfT has been careful to distinguish these civil
charges from statutory penalties under Byelaw 24(1), which must
be pursued by a Train Operating Company (TOC), Network Rail, or
a delegated public authority, via the magistrates’ court.
>
> If APCOA truly had the power to issue enforceable statutory
Penalty Notices, the following would be true:
>
> [indent]• The notice would clearly identify the prosecuting
authority and cite the specific byelaw breached;
> • It would advise that failure to pay may result in a summons
to court, not simply “further action”;
> • Payment would be made to the public purse, not into APCOA’s
own account;
> • And most importantly, APCOA would be able to produce a
contract showing explicit statutory delegation, which it
cannot.[/indent]
>
> If you are in any doubt, I invite you to request a copy of
APCOA’s contract with the landowner or TOC. You will find that
it grants APCOA the limited right to manage parking and issue
Parking Charge Notices for breach of contract, but it does not
confer any statutory authority to issue or enforce Penalty
Notices under the Railway Byelaws. There is no lawful basis for
them to suggest they have the power to prosecute or issue
criminal penalties. They are relying entirely on your ignorance
of the law.
>
> Let me also be clear:
>
> [indent]• APCOA has never prosecuted a single notice under the
Railway Byelaws in the magistrates’ court—they cannot, because
they lack authority.
> • They will not sue in the county court, either—because if
they did, their fraudulent misrepresentation of legal power
would be exposed under cross-examination. A statutory penalty
cannot be heard in the county court.[/indent]
>
> Instead, they rely on threatening letters, official-sounding
language, and recipients who can be relied on to pay out of
ignorance and fear. That is the entire model.
>
> Had you conducted the most basic legal due diligence—or simply
read the notice with a critical eye—you would have recognised
that this was a civil contractual offer, masquerading as a
criminal penalty, and designed to mislead. There was no
statutory instrument, no summons, and no compulsion to pay. What
you paid was a fraudulent demand, and your error has directly
funded a scheme that depends on fear, misrepresentation, and
legal ignorance to extract money from innocent parties.
>
> 2. You Denied Me My Right to Appeal and Acted Without
Authority
>
> The back of the notice clearly states that recipients have 28
days to appeal. You could very easily have issued a simple cover
letter authorising me, as the Hirer, to deal with the matter
directly—something that is both standard practice and explicitly
anticipated under the lease. Only after an appeal had been
submitted and rejected, would you even begin to consider whether
payment was appropriate.
>
> Instead, you acted with no due diligence, made no effort to
transfer liability, and unilaterally extinguished my right to
challenge a plainly unlawful and misrepresented demand.
>
> As already pointed out multiple times, you have been
suckered—just like all the other low-hanging fruit on the
gullible tree—into funding a scam by blindly paying a fraudulent
notice without question. That is your error, and you alone must
bear the consequences.
>
> 3. This Was a Criminal Offence – APCOA Should Be Reported for
Fraud
>
> What APCOA is doing amounts to a criminal offence under the
Fraud Act 2006, specifically:
>
> [indent]Section 2 – Fraud by false representation: where a
person dishonestly makes a false representation intending to
make a gain or cause a loss.
>
> • APCOA falsely claims to have legal authority to issue
enforceable penalties under the Railway Byelaws.
> • They threaten criminal prosecution while never intending or
being able to follow through.
> • They demand payment into a private account under the false
pretence that a criminal offence has occurred.[/indent]
>
> That is fraud, plain and simple, and the fact that your
company paid them without question shows you were deceived—which
is the very definition of being defrauded.
>
> 4. This Is Your Error – You Must Pursue APCOA/b]
>
> You cannot pass this invoice to me. You are not entitled to
recover the cost of your own misinformed and unauthorised
payment of a fake penalty. If you wish to recover your money,
the correct course of action is:
>
> [indent]• Report APCOA to the police for fraud by false
representation, and
> • Initiate legal proceedings against APCOA to recover the
payment, plus your costs.[/indent]
>
> What you must not do is attempt to offload your mistake onto
me.
>
> [b]5. Next Steps
>
> I require your written confirmation within 14 days that:
>
> [indent]1. The invoice has been cancelled in full;
> 2. The admin fee has been removed;
> 3. No recovery or collection action will be taken; and
> 4. You accept that the payment was made in error and without
my consent.[/indent]
>
> If you refuse, I will escalate this complaint to the British
Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and, if
applicable, the Financial Ombudsman Service, on the grounds of
breach of contract, unauthorised action, and denial of my legal
rights.
>
> I also reserve the right to initiate legal action against you
for recovery of any losses or costs I incur in defending against
your improper demand.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> [Your Name]
> [Lease Agreement Reference / Vehicle Registration]
--- End Quote ---
#Post#: 64921--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Redhill Station AND APCOA Heathrow drop off
DIR By: olly1234
Date: March 31, 2025, 3:49 am
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Dear b789,
Thank you again for your great help and assistance with this
matter! Will keep you posted.
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