Smart parking Newcastle debt recovery

keepthegreen

I received a PCN in August from smart parking for a small overstay in a one hour free car park. Based on the advice at the time I have ignored the notice, a demand for payment and subsequent "notice of intended court action" letter from a debt collector dated the end of November.

I have read up on the practice directions in case this is escalated to an LBA. Should I be continuing to ignore at this stage?

Thanks in advance

bod1467

What advice did you read in August 2013 that said you should ignore it? (Can't have been anything here. If it was then you didn't look at the dates of what you were reading).

If it is an actual Letter Before Action (and explicitly states this) then DO NOT IGNORE - see the LBCCC sticky thread at the top of this forum. See also the Complaints sticky thread - many people get these cancelled by complaining to the landowners.

If it's actually just a letter saying that they MAY send an LBA and MAY start court proceedings then you can continue to ignore.

Was this originally a windscreen PCN or one through the post? (If the latter then you have an avenue to explore where the registered keeper can name the driver on the day and reset the appeals process clock. It doesn't matter if YOU were the driver, if your partner was insured to drive on that day then he/she could "admit to being the driver" and then get this killed off via soft appeal then POPLA appeal).

keepthegreen

Thanks for your reply.

(Can't have been anything here. If it was then you didn't look at the dates of what you were reading).

This is quite probably the case, I was perhaps reading old advice.

It is not an LBA it is a notice of intended court action stating that I should pay to prevent the case being passed to the creditor's solicitor with a recommendation to start proceedings. The original PCN was by post with photo of the vehicle entering and leaving the car park.

bod1467

So your choices are ...

Continue to ignore (as this is not an LBA, it is just another threatogram)

Name a driver (as per my previous suggestion - you could still deal with this in their name. This resets the clock and absolves all keeper liability under POFA 2012).

Check out the thread referenced in my signature below.

Stroma

They are always intending to go to court are Smart, the fact is though that they haven't in the last year, and there is proof of that below .

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/small_claims_from_bpa_aos_member_2

Coupon-mad

It's only Debt Recovery Plus so why a new thread? Already covered in the NEWBIES thread and at least 3 times every day on new threads where people haven't read the stickies yet. Please just read the sticky threads at the top and find others like LoveNorfolk's thread and all the other zillions of Debt Recovery Plus threads. Easily found by searching this forum for the keyword 'Recovery'.

You have options and they are all covered already on this forum; it's what the sticky threads are for.