Another appeal ignored/final reminder issued.

nsc123

Hello all

I am hoping that you guys will be able to help me.
I have so far followed advice from various threads on this forum, as well as the newbies sticky at the top of the page. I will try and be as concise as possible without writing too much of an essay.
I was issued with a PCN in June from 'Smart Parking' on behalf of Asda for an overstay in their car park. I was away from home for 5 weeks and returned shortly before I received my first letter from 'Debt Recovery Plus' (DRP) who they had passed the case onto. I appealed to Smart Parking who said my appeal was too late and I had to now appeal with DRP. So I then appealed via DRP website and heard nothing from them for 6 weeks until I received their 'Final settlement offer' letter saying that they will pass the case onto their solicitor if i've not payed up by the 13th (yesterday). Throughout this time i continued to receive their harassing letters.

Last week I sent a letter recorded delivery to their head office as well as an email to them asking them why they have ignored my appeals procedure and continued sending me threatening letters. I also told them, seeing as they have neither acknowledged or rejected my appeal yet continued sending me threatening letters, that I now consider this harassment and will be charging them an admin fee per correspondence i'm forced to send them. I requested that they, at the very least, reject my appeal and issue me a POPLA code. It had been 5-6 weeks since I sent my appeal so I assumed it was being considered, yet was still receiving payment demands from them.

Yesterday I received an email reply saying that my appeal came too late and they don't have to issue me a POPLA code (along with some references to BPA law: BPA code of practice, Point 22.7 etc) and that the only thing I can do now is either pay their 'pre-action protocol final reduced settlement of £96' or see them in court. They also said that if i disagreed with them, any correspondance from me would be retained and kept by themselves, but will most likely not be responded to. They basically say that the terms of the car park were breached and so the PCN is legitimate and i'm too late to appeal or do anything about it.

So i guess my question is where do i stand now?
A few other things that may be important
- In my appeal(s) I admitted being the driver and challenged the ticket on 2 grounds, extenuating circumstances which I outlined to them in my appeal(s), as well as the inherent unfairness of the charge, as there is no facility in-store for me to have paid a reasonable charge at the time for my overstay (I asked in-store).
-The only correspondence i've had from them aside from their harassing letters was the email reply telling me my appeal was too late and i can't be issued a POPLA code, and that the PCN was fair etc. I have NOT had any official letter or correspondence from them telling me my appeal has been rejected at any time. I have had no POPLA codes issued to me on any of the letters i've received.

After reading this forum, would I be right in thinking that my next course of action is to email a complaint to the BPA for them refusing to A, even acknowledge my appeal (even if it was 'late'), and B, refusing to issue me a POPLA code. Or are DRP right when they say that 'Access to an independent appeals service is no longer available' for me?

Any help or advice on what I could do now would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time

Fruitcake

I'm a bit confused. On the one hand you say you have read the NEWBIES thread but on the other you ask questions that are answered in the self same NEWBIES thread. You should not have made any contact with DRP nor should you have admitted who was driving as quite clearly stated in the above thread.


There is a section about late appeals as well as telling you mitigation won't work, so don't bother, and it tells you not to send anything recorded delivery. Basically you have dug yourself into a big hole. All is not lost but you have made it harder for yourself by not reading the NEWBIES thread thoroughly before contacting Smart Parking.


"After reading this forum, would I be right in thinking that my next course of action is to email a complaint to the BPA for them refusing to A, even acknowledge my appeal (even if it was 'late'), and B, refusing to issue me a POPLA code. Or are DRP right when they say that 'Access to an independent appeals service is no longer available' for me?"


First and foremost you should complain long and loud to ASDA and demand that they cancel this parking charge. Don't be fobbed off, make a nuisance of yourself in store and tell them this is no way to treat a loyal customer. If you have receipts from the day in question, or can show a (redacted) bank/cc statement to prove you were a customer this will help your case.


Yes, contact the BPA telling them your appeal was late because you were away from home. Point out that PoPLA do not have time restraints on appeals, it's only the PPC that have made up time limits.


DRP are telling porky pies, but you should ignore anything and everything they send to you and should have done so from day one. Do not contact them again, ever. The only thing they can do is send you a source of alternative bog paper.


Hopefully one of the regulars will be along in a bit with a ladder to help you out of your hole.

Coupon-mad

I was issued with a PCN in June from 'Smart Parking'

After 13th June?

nsc123

Thanks for the replies
I apologise for any confusion. I was away for the first 5 weeks after receiving the PCN, and so I followed the first procedures described in the newbie sticky by not ignoring, but appealing the notice. When i got sent their final reminder and had still not heard from them regarding my appeal, i searched this forum and found a sticky about how to respond when an appeal is ignored. I followed this advice by contacting DRP demanding an answer to my appeal and a POPLA code. I also took some advice i had read on this forum by informing them that i believe their actions are harrassment and that i would be applying an admin charge.

I have not contacted the landowners (asda) or the store regarding this. I thought at the time that it was too late seeing as the case had been passed onto DRP, but i will write a letter to them asking for them to consider cancelling the notice. I will also write to the BPA to complain and see what they say.

Coupon-mad
The date of the apparent breach of contract was may 30th. Assuming it took them around 2 weeks to send me the invoice it would have been received around the 13th June. What is the significance of this date? I can find out the exact date i received the letter when i return home from work later on.

Thanks again for your help.

Coupon-mad

What is the significance of this date?

Not significant for you as the date is just when some new Consumer regs came in which might have given you another option (cancellation rights). No worries.

If you appealed then Smart must send you a POPLA code. So the BPA complaint is the way forward (without talking about who was driving! Nothing about the day!!).

nsc123

Coupon-mad wrote: »

If you appealed then Smart must send you a POPLA code. So the BPA complaint is the way forward (without talking about who was driving! Nothing about the day!!).

I appealed to Smart Parking and received a letter 3 weeks later informing me that my appeal was too late, and that I now had to discuss the issue with DRP. I then appealed to DRP, but they have since informed me my appeal was late and there's nothing I can do about it.
I will take your advice and complain to the BPA and see what they say, as well as contact the landowners to see if they can cancel. I will post updates in this thread of any further developments. Once again, thank you for taking the time to help me out

Coupon-mad

If the appeal you sent was a normal one (written about what happened) try submitting another one online to Smart (but this time, the appeal from the Newbies thread). They cancel when they see it, even weeks/months later. Look, like here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5033312

That person was on their 4th or 5th debt collector letter and then submitted the forum template appeal online to Smart (ignoring the debt collectors).