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Smart Parking Ltd, Paid for parking, received PCN
jlsmith
post Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 23:37
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I came back from holiday today to find a PCN from Smart Parking Ltd for an M&S site run by them. Alleged contravention was 3/2 and letter issued 8/2.

Time of entering car park is shown as 11:56 and exiting 13:06, so I can only assume from memory that an hour was paid for and the time spent getting a space, getting kids out of car, queuing to get ticket, then similarly when leaving took an extra ten minutes.

As the time to pay a reduced charge of £60 is running out, I’d appreciate understanding my options. Obviously I’d like not to pay at all.

Thanks in advance.
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post Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 23:37
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peterguk
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 00:54
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QUOTE (jlsmith @ Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 23:37) *
I can only assume from memory that an hour was paid for


You need to remember if you paid or not. Pay & Display machine? Did you receive a ticket?


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Redivi
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 03:01
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The British Parking Association Code of Practice requires a grace period for motorists to read signs and decide whether to stay or not
There must also be at least a ten minutes period at the end of parking to leave

In a pay car park, the clock starts running when money is inserted into the machine
If an hour was paid for, Smart hasn't allowed enough time

A more likely explanation in a Smart car park is a trivial mistake entering the vehicle's registration number when making the payment
Their equipment is notoriously unreliable and error prone

The last three letters are perfectly adequate to identify the vehicle
The requirement to enter the full registration has no purpose except to increase the chances of a mistake
In my view it's in breach of two pieces of consumer legislation regarding unfair contracts

Smart's Notices fail to include required information to allow them to recover payment from the registered keeper if they don't know who was driving
One of the requirements is to explain why the Notice was issued, not provide a menu for the keeper to guess

Your best option is a simple appeal as the vehicle's keeper :

1 Notice fails to meet conditions of Protection of Freedoms Act to recover payment from keeper
2 Driver made the required payment
3 Failure to provide mandatory grace period to leave

No need to put a lot of work into this
Smart automatically rejects almost all appeals
It must however provide an access code for a second appeal to POPLA, the so-called independent body
The rejection notice may flush out the reason for the Parking Notice

Save the effort for this appeal
Smart has to pay a £30+ fee if POPLA has to make a decision and doesn't often contest the appeal

If POPLA had thought to charge parking companies whenever a code is used, it would have stopped this notice

Even if an appeal at POPLA is lost, Smart only passes the accounts to a debt collector
A court claim is almost unheard of
Debt collector letters are annoying but can be safely ignored

This post has been edited by Redivi: Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:45
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kommando
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 08:35
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And don't reveal the drivers identify in the appeals.
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Macapaca
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:23
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Smart Parking do not have a strong record of taking these to court despite the threats. According to the BMPA stats you have <1 in 20000 chance of being taken to court. You have more chance of dying in an airplane crash!
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jlsmith
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:35
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Parking was paid for. Thanks for the replies, this is extremely helpful. I will post updates to this case for the record as and when. Thanks again.
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Redivi
post Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:57
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To be clear

Appeal as the registered keeper, NOT the driver

Your appeal must include :

Failure to meet conditions of POFA to recover payment from keeper
The driver did not breach any terms or conditions - he/she paid to park for one hour and entered the registration number
Signs do not make clear that paid for period expired an hour after entry, not the time printed on the ticket
Failure to comply with the Code of Practice regarding grace periods

It's not for you to guess that the parking notice might concern an incorrect registration number
Leave Smart to explain exactly why it was issued

The POPLA appeal can then refer to Smart's equipment that isn't fit for purpose
Why did it accept a payment for a registration number that wasn't in the car park ?

I had some correspondence with another parking company about 18 months ago and the British Parking Association has never issued any enforcement guidance regarding trivial registration number errors when the car can still be identified
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SchoolRunMum
post Mon, 19 Feb 2018 - 00:52
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Smart PCNs are 100% winnable if you appeal as keeper. You'd have to try very hard to lose a Smart Parking appeal at POPLA!
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jlsmith
post Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 10:47
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Out of interest, how long should I expect to wait before hearing back from Smart Parking? I put my appeal into the website last Sunday (18th).
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ostell
post Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 12:23
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They are supposed to respond within 35 days. If they do not then you are entitled to assume that the appeal was successful, according to their Code of Practise. Don't poke them in the eye with an email or letter.
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jlsmith
post Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 12:47
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Thanks!
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jlsmith
post Fri, 23 Mar 2018 - 20:12
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Just a quick update to say that I received a letter today confirming the PCN has been cancelled. Thanks for your help everyone.
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