Asda Smart Parking

davethebox

I'm writing first to thank all the forum contributors who gave such great advice.

I received a Parking Charge Notice from Smart Parking for extended time parking. A family member went into the shop and explained that shopping had taken place in Asda but was told that the land was owned by the Council and the parking operator was Town and City. They could not do anything.

I then looked on this forum and found the thread about replying to the Parking company. I sent this of to them.

I also contacted Asda by email asking who owned the car park and who ran the car park.

Reply: Asda owned the car park and Town and City operated the car park. They also stated that they were also UNABLE to dispute the charge on my behalf.

So........I went to the store today and noted the parking signs were for Smart Parking. I went to the help desk and the man on the desk said the parking is run by Town and City. I showed him the PCN from Smart and asked him who they were. He said they were also Town and City. I replied stating that nowhere on the sheet does it mention Town and City so the letter is fraudulent. He then gets another person in and she stated , when asked, that the land is owned by the council and the car park run by Town and City.

I showed her the email from Asda and she became unsure. She did state that if I could prove (by receipts) that the car and gone out and back in then the notice could be cancelled.

I continued to challenge the vadility of the PCN stating that it would be interesting to see how this went to court as nowhere on the PCN did Town and City occur and AS Town and City were the operators of the car park there was no link between Smart Parking and Town and City so the PCN is therefore jut a begging letter.

The second person then got the Duty Manager who took the PCN (without any real discussion........he was polite and very nice to me) and went away. 3 minutes later he came back with a printed sheet stating the PCN was cancelled. All very nice and I apreciated his effort.

My conclusions from this:
1 As with other forum users - only the duty manager holds sway
2 ASDA employees DO try to fob you off with excuses and arguements that are incorrect
3 ASDA have an IN-STORE method to cancel charges (EVEN on Sundays)


Finally - thank you to the who cancelled the PCN.

I now wait formal confirmaion from Smart Parking that it is cancelled (I'll keep a copy of the cacellation from ASDA).

I hope this is of help to others.

trisontana

We have seen that "owned by the council" excuse before. It took three emails by me to Asda's head office before they would admit they were wrong, and the supermarket owned the car parks in question (Retford and Grantham). If head office gets this wrong no wonder local staff are so confused.

Stroma

Well done on your persistence in this matter

You have discovered that going straight to the top is the only way of dealing with this, and that is the store manager ! The customer service staff cannot normally do anything! That particular lie by asda about the council owning the land is one handed down by the head office , why they persist with it is beyond me, one quick email to the council will dispel the lie.

If smart parking are mismanaging the land then you can almost guarantee that asda owns the car park. There has been a lot of previous with the name change to smart, at one stage they were suspended from RK access with the dvla.

da_rule

A little trick I have learnt is if someone says some land is owned by the Council, contact them. Tell a little fib that you've had an accident and are looking to sue them etc, if they don't own the land they will very quickly tell you, and will also very quickly tell you who does.

trisontana

da_rule wrote: »

A little trick I have learnt is if someone says some land is owned by the Council, contact them. Tell a little fib that you've had an accident and are looking to sue them etc, if they don't own the land they will very quickly tell you, and will also very quickly tell you who does.

In the case of Grantham and Retford I just rang the councils concerned and asked them if they owned the car parks. In both cases they said no.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

da_rule wrote: »

A little trick I have learnt is if someone says some land is owned by the Council, contact them. Tell a little fib that you've had an accident and are looking to sue them etc, if they don't own the land they will very quickly tell you, and will also very quickly tell you who does.

I'd suggest that if someone attempts to say something you suspect to be wrong, try asking them to put this in writing as you will be relying on it.

I would suggest that if ASDA were landowners and they insisted that they were not, then this is a fraudulent misrepresentation. Worth a complaint to Trading Standards. I think the best way to call with this issue is to encourage everyone to complain to as many people as possible and eventually OFT and Trading Standards and the companies that employ them get nearly tired of the nuisance and eventually force the parking companies to provide fair and reasonable terms.

Coupon-mad

Well done on your persistent complaint! I have added your success as number 15 of the Asda/Smart complaints in post #2 here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4766249

If it's Smart Parking at Asda then ASDA own or lease the car park - you can be sure because Smart are Asda's agents and they don't act for any Councils.