Smart Parking Ltd, Paid for parking, received PCN |
Smart Parking Ltd, Paid for parking, received PCN |
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 23:37
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Member No.: 47,422 |
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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Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 23:37
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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 00:54
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 13,735 Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Member No.: 14,720 |
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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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 03:01
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 4,126 Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Member No.: 96,238 |
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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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 08:35
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 4,167 Joined: 6 Oct 2012 Member No.: 57,558 |
And don't reveal the drivers identify in the appeals.
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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:23
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 647 Joined: 10 Oct 2017 Member No.: 94,458 |
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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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:35
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Member No.: 47,422 |
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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Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 09:57
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 4,126 Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Member No.: 96,238 |
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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Mon, 19 Feb 2018 - 00:52
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 18,751 Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Member No.: 32,130 |
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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Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 10:47
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Member No.: 47,422 |
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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Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 12:23
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#10
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17,088 Joined: 8 Mar 2013 Member No.: 60,457 |
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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Mon, 26 Feb 2018 - 12:47
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#11
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Member Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Member No.: 47,422 |
Thanks!
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Fri, 23 Mar 2018 - 20:12
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 11 Jun 2011 Member No.: 47,422 |
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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