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#Post#: 105727--------------------------------------------------
APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - railway
byelaws
By: brg190 Date: January 13, 2026, 11:16 am
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Hi
I hope images of the penalty notice are included above.
We have received a penalty notice from APCOA Parking in my
wife's name, as she is the registered keeper. The notice refers
to 'use of private car park without a valid payment/permit', and
relates to a stay in Bracknell station car park. It states that
she was in breach of the Railway Byelaws. It states that my
wife is legally liable as the owner even if she was not the
driver. The evidence provided is a picture of the car, and a
close-up of the registration number, leaving the car park.
My wife appealed with the following information:
•
•
•
23.59 on the following day;
•
buy a ticket;
•
for the following day;
•
machine as evidence for what we are saying.
My wife then received a letter from APCOA asking for proof that
a valid payment was made. We responded as follows:
•
that she wished to discharge her liability by naming me as the
driver. She asked that APCOA cancel the penalty and issue a new
one to me.
•
the ticket has since been discarded, there is no further
evidence to provide; the ticket did look a bit odd, as the
expiry time was 23.59 on the next day; was there a fault with
the machine and it issued a ticket for the next day and this is
why your system is showing that we did not have a valid parking
ticket for our stay?
•
private land, it is being raised under contract law (now not
sure if this is right?), and the burden of proof lies entirely
with you to prove a breach occurred. A photo of the car leaving
the car park is obviously not proof we did not buy a ticket.
The ticket machine should show that we purchased a ticket using
our registration number.
•
breached your terms and conditions by providing both of the
following: first, a clear time-stamped image of the vehicle
showing that there was no parking ticket in the window; and
second, logs from the ticket machine showing all tickets, with
registration numbers, issued in a half hour slot during which we
arrived.
•
incorrectly issued. My wife is not legally liable, as she was
not the driver. Your notice should have said that you did not
know who the driver was, and invite the keeper to pay or pass on
details of who was driving. There was nothing in the notice
about this.
Frustratingly, APCOA are still responding to my wife, with:
appeal unsuccessful. At the time the ANPR camera observed your
vehicle they noted it was parked without a valid payment (they
haven't provided evidence of this, just a shot of our car
leaving the car park from a distance and a close-up of the
registration number). As the owner of the vehicle, you are
liable for the charge as it is a Penalty Notice issued under
railway byelaws. The railway byelaws state that the owner of a
motor vehicle left in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to 14(3) may be
liable to pay a penalty. If the Penalty Notice remains unpaid,
APCOA Parking is entitled to pursue you as the keeper through
the Magistrates Court by way of a private criminal prosecution.
Apologies for the length of the above, but I want to give as
full a picture as possible. I understand I may have weakened
our position by naming myself as the driver, but, if I leave
this in my wife's name, she will be intimidated by these letters
and will just pay, whereas I am an awkward !!!!!! who will
argue!
I know the next step is an appeal to POPLA. Will they actually
be fair, as I believe they are funded by the parking companies?
I should be grateful for comments on the following:
Given that my wife has named me as the driver, are APCOA not
obliged to discharge her from liability and re-issue a ticket to
me? So far, they have just ignored this point and continue to
pursue her.
Have I got good grounds for an appeal? I know that I cannot
provide any evidence, as we paid in cash and have since
discarded the ticket, but how is a photo of our car in the dark
leaving the car park, and a close-up of the registration number,
evidence that we did not pay? Is the onus on APCOA to prove I
did not pay, rather than on me to prove that I did? I
understand that APCOA will need to provide an evidence pack to
POPLA, surely the picture they have sent of our car leaving the
car park is not sufficient?
I am a little confused as to whether this issue is civil /
contractual or criminal.
Any help or guidance much appreciated, as would be any links to
the outcomes of similar cases. And indeed links to any
technical material that I should be reading.
Many thanks
Peter
#Post#: 105730--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: jfollows Date: January 13, 2026, 11:39 am
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My understanding is that until the change in the law by
Statutory Instrument this is covered by criminal law and that
APCOA do not have a route to prosecution or whatever; in 2026
this has changed but the change is not retrospective.
#Post#: 105733--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: InterCity125 Date: January 13, 2026, 11:57 am
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Interesting that the Penalty Notice states that APCOA may pursue
you through the Magistrates Court - I think that is a blatant
lie.
#Post#: 105746--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: ixxy Date: January 13, 2026, 1:06 pm
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Identifying the driver may not be the major fubar in this case
that it normally is as this should be covered by bylaws not
contract law. However unless they have your name and address
they will probably pursue your wife.
#Post#: 105755--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: Jackisback123 Date: January 13, 2026, 1:41 pm
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[quote author=InterCity125 link=topic=9486.msg105733#msg105733
date=1768327037]
Interesting that the Penalty Notice states that APCOA may pursue
you through the Magistrates Court - I think that is a blatant
lie.
[/quote]
I've been pondering this, but I don't think it is a lie (edit:
at least so far as the byelaw breach itself is concerned).
Breach of a railway byelaw is an offence under byelaw 24.
Section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 preserves
the right of any person to bring a private prosecution.
That right applies unless it is explicitly disallowed, and I
can't find anything saying breaches of byelaws are restricted to
(for example) TOCs. So I think technically they could?
Edit: rereading the PN, it says that they would be entitled to
pursue "you through the Magistrates court... for payment of the
penalty notice". The only arguable way that this could be true
is by concluding that failing to comply with 14(4) is itself a
breach of a byelaw:
[quote]The owner of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other
conveyance used, left or placed in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to
14(3) may be
liable to pay a penalty as displayed in that area.[/quote]
#Post#: 105757--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: DWMB2 Date: January 13, 2026, 1:49 pm
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I'm mindful of this not becoming a more general discussion as to
what APCOA could in theory do, and remains on the topic of
helping the OP deal with the matter in hand.
Pragmatically, we can say with a good amount of confidence that
APCOA will not prosecute. We've never seen a single example of
them attempting to do so, and there is no incentive for them to
do so, as there would be no financial gain for them if they did
so.
Common advice in these cases is to drag things out as long as
possible... Can you show us a copy of the notice so that we have
the dates etc.?
Also, have you got a POPLA code now? If so, what is the date of
their rejection letter containing said code?
#Post#: 105766--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: brg190 Date: January 13, 2026, 2:40 pm
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Thanks for advice so far.
Dates as follows:
Contravention 30/11/25
Penalty notice issued 10/12/2025
Appealed 14/12/2025
Evidence / information request from APCOA 19/12/2025
More detailed appeal 1/1/26
Rejection of appeal 6/1/26, this contains the POPLA code
#Post#: 105767--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: Jackisback123 Date: January 13, 2026, 2:48 pm
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[quote]I should be grateful for comments on the following:
Given that my wife has named me as the driver, are APCOA not
obliged to discharge her from liability and re-issue a ticket to
me? So far, they have just ignored this point and continue to
pursue her.
[/quote]
As I understand it, the power to levy a PN is under Byelaw
14(1)(i) of the (pre-boxing-day changed) byelaws
HTML https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79c14b40f0b66d161ade8c/railway-byelaws.pdf,<br
/>which states:
[quote]The owner of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other
conveyance used, left or placed in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to
14(3) may be liable to pay a penalty as displayed in that
area[/quote]
The byelaws don't allow the driver to be liable so IMO it is
right that they are not transferring liability.
[quote]Have I got good grounds for an appeal? I know that I
cannot provide any evidence, as we paid in cash and have since
discarded the ticket, but how is a photo of our car in the dark
leaving the car park, and a close-up of the registration number,
evidence that we did not pay?[/quote]
If this were to go anywhere, then it would be as a Criminal
prosecution in the Magistrates' Court. This would mean the
burden would be on APCOA to prove beyond reasonable doubt that
the vehicle had been used on any part of the railway in
contravention of any traffic sign (in breach of byelaw 14(1)).
[quote]Is the onus on APCOA to prove I did not pay, rather than
on me to prove that I did? I understand that APCOA will need to
provide an evidence pack to POPLA, surely the picture they have
sent of our car leaving the car park is not sufficient?[/quote]
When the ticket was purchased, did you have to key in the VRM of
the vehicle? If so, they will be able to potentially evidence a
printout that the reg wasn't paid for at the time. If not, I am
not sure how they can track who has and has not paid using ANPR
and paper tickets...
#Post#: 105769--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: DWMB2 Date: January 13, 2026, 3:03 pm
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Moving away from legal specificities and onto your practical
options, there are two main options:
[list type=decimal]
[li]The keeper could appeal to POPLA as close to the deadline as
possible, including as many valid appeal points as they can come
up with (throw the kitchen sink at it - the driver paid for
parking, put them to strict proof there was adequate signage at
the site, put them to strict proof that they have been
contracted by the relevant train operating company to issue
penalty notices etc. etc.). The purpose here is to drag the
matter out as close as possible to the 6 month period after the
parking event, after which point it is too late for them to
prosecute even if they wanted to. Your POPLA appeal won't be
successful, but the result is not binding on you.[/li]
[li]Ignore it and move on with your life. APCOA or a debt
collector acting on their behalf will begin sending various
letters warning of potential consequences. So far, we have never
seen a single APCOA case (whether alleged byelaws penalties or
civil parking charge notices) go to court. I can't see that
changing.[/li]
[/list]
With option #1 you have the satisfaction of knowing APCOA have
to pay a fee to have the case heard at POPLA, and, whilst
waiting for a POPLA decision, APCOA must put the matter on hold.
Option #2 involves significantly less effort, and will very
likely ultimately have the same ending, no further action being
taken.
#Post#: 105770--------------------------------------------------
Re: APCOA Parking - no permit - Bracknell Station car park - rai
lway byelaws
By: Jackisback123 Date: January 13, 2026, 3:06 pm
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Something that might be helpful when appealing to POPLA:
It appears the operator at Bracknell is SW.
HTML https://www.southwesternrailway.com/travelling-with-us/at-the-station/bracknell
There is a FOIA request requesting details of the relationship
between SW and APCOA. The response here is here:
HTML https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/contract_with_apcoa_parking#incoming-3211619
Lot 2 of the ZIP file is the parking enforcement contract.
Schedule 2, paragraph 5 states:
5. The Supplier must issue all Penalty Notices are issued and
(where required) posted
within 7 days of the contravention, excluding Sundays and Bank
Holidays.
Contravention 30/11/25 Penalty notice issued 10/12/2025. I make
that issued 9 days, not within 7 days. I would make the point
that this PN has not been issued in accordance with the
contract.
BUT
Perhaps it is better to start by including in your appeal to
POPLA that you are putting APCOA to proof that they either own,
or are authorised by contract to operate on the land and to
issue PNs on the landowner's behalf.
If they don't, POPLA should find in your favour. If they do
provide it, you can then make the point (assuming it's the same
as above) that it wasn't issued within the terms of the contract
and therefore they don't have the authority to issue it.
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