Smart parking charge - strothers lane, Inverness

Vixenmark1

I received a parking charge notice from Smart Parking for Strothers Lane, Inverness.

Was in the car park for 13 minutes, there were no spaces and so we stopped the car in an area where there were no spaces to see if one became available. No spaces did so after a discussion we decided to park else where.

2 weeks later a charge of £60 came through the door, threatening to increase to £100 after 14 days. We appealed it, we did not name a driver and heard nothing. Three months later we have recieved a letter from DRP debt recovery plus ltd giving a notice of intended court action over unpaid parking charge of £160.

Smart parking letters say they are BPA approved, is that correct?

Are they able to take us to court? Can the charge increase further and will this do damage to our credit rating. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Herzlos

They cannot take you to court. Just ignore them and you'll stop getting letters in about 5-6 months.

bod1467

BPA approved. :rotfl:

It just means they've paid their membership fee.

As above: Scotland = Ignore.

pogofish

Please read the Newbies Sticky for all you need to know about private parking in Scotland and DRP's complete toothlessness.

mcaulayr

just ignore i have had letter number 6 offering final settlement before court lol went with the rest in the bin. ignore ignore ignore

Umkomaas

The received wisdom is to retain any paperwork which suggests you owe money to anyone for at least 5 years in Scotland (the span of time when proceedings can still instituted before being debarred by statute).

You never know when situations and circumstances change. The one thing for sure is that the PPC won't be similarly binning their documentation - and will be at least one step ahead should this ever be pursued.

In England and Wales ParkingEye were eminently ignorable and their paperwork 'binnable' - until they started issuing court proceedings around 2 years ago. Now 30,000 court papers a year are being issued, CCJs awarded against motorist, many not aware until they realise they can't get a mortgage because they failed to pay the judgment against them and their creditworthiness is shot for 6 years and lives in tatters, right through to PE appearing at the highest court in the land (the Supreme Court) in an attempt to legitimise their parking charges, with a legal green light to screw whatever they like, whenever they like, from the Great British public.

Iceweasel

Ignore all correspondence from DRP - they are debt collectors who have no possibility of doing anything except to scare those who don't know what debt collectors can and can't do.

Because you were naieve enough to appeal to Smart Parking they are now aware that you do not fully understand the laws of Scotland - so will keep on sending letters in the hope that you will be so scared that you pay up - maybe for longer than the usual 5 or 6 months.

Assuming you did not give them the driver's details - they are snookered.

File away the letters from everyone but do NOT respond.

Only come back here for help if you receive genuine court papers - that's less likely than winning the lottery.

Vixenmark1

Thanks for all your help - I will ignore unless genuine court papers appear :-)

PParker_2

I am on my third letter from DRP after an identical event in Aug 15 - have spoken to CAB and it is suggested that currently there is no evidence that Smart Parking /DRP have gone to the small claims court to recover these unpaid charges. I will continue to ignore but would seek legal advise in the future if I am pursued further. For minor infringement of 'the rules' the £160 penalty is ridiculous.

bod1467

Forget about legal advice ... completely NOT required. There is NO KEEPER LIABILITY in Scotland ... if the PPC doesn't have any details of the driver then they have no claim.

If you DID seek legal advice, there's a good chance you'd get someone who DOESN'T know the true legal position and so would give you incorrect advice.

Fruitcake

What bod said is correct. The OP should never have appealed this in the first place but instead ignored it. Luckily the driver's details weren't revealed, we hope, but any contact with these scumpanies increases the risk of doing just that.


The law in England and Wales is different, but in Scotland and Northern Ireland, ignore PCNs unless driving a hire/lease vehicle.


Ignore debt collectors anywhere in the UK.