Smart Parking Hotel Charge Notice

stewartps

Hi everyone, hope this okay to post. I checked the pinned forums and am still a little stuck with my situation as It's a little different than other scenarious i've seen.

Okay so due to my job, i have to travel around the UK a fair amount. This particular week I was travelling a fair distance (5 and a half hour drive) in order to get to Birmingham. I was staying at the park regis hotel, I parked my car up, checked in, unpacked my back, had a very quick shower and then booked my parking just down the road where it was £3 a day cheaper.

Today I received a notice through the door saying that I owe the payment of £60.00 if paid within 14 days, then it goes up to £100. The notice says "Smart parking have the right to seek payment of the parking charge for unauthorised parking of the vehicle on the land on the relevant date as owner of the land, on the basis of contractual right to occupy or to have possession of the land, or acting as agent of the land owner'

'A parking charge notice is payable with respect to the vehicle registration mark

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for the alleged breach of advertised terms and conditions with the Park Regis hotel on 22/01/17.'

I was pretty shocked to have received this to say the least. Okay, so the time they've caught me arrive at was 18:01 and I left at 20:17 giving me roughly a 2 hour period of which I was parked up. I would personally argue that that seems fair as a 'drop off time'. Bearing in mind I dropped my bags off and everything, shouldn't they allow a reasonable amount of time before issuing notices?

Unforuntely i'm unable to go back to the location however I do have a picture of the parking sign and It doesn't specify a time period at all of which you need to pay by. It just says "CAR PARK IS CHARGABLE. PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO PAY FOR PARKING, PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK" as far as I'm concerned I could've parked up and immediately got a ticket haha. Also, upon entering and checking in I wasn't asked if I had a vehicle in the car park, If I had have been asked I would've said I have parked up but I'm moving it very shortly to the car park down the road.

I did phone up the park regis, I should've spoken to a manager but the heat of the moment got to me. I told him the situation and asked if I had been asked at reception if I had a vehicle. I told him no and he then said "There's signs around the car park saying you need to pay etc..". I could understand if Id have left the car there overnight without paying, however 2 hours.. really..

I really don't know what to do at this point. I've heard ignoring it is an option but I'm worried that there maybe consequences involved. I've never dealt with something like this before so am a little clueless on this topic. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

twhitehousescat

as you can see , if smart take you to court it will be a first http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/Smart_Parking.html

appeal to smart , tell them that reception said it was ok for 2 hrs , await a popla code , do the same appeal , smart will back down before POPLa

at popla Smart Parking 922 cases won 2753 cases refused but yet they never took 922 people to court

stewartps

Perfect, thank you for the reply. Is it okay when appealing to say that the receptionist said it was okay even though nothing was written down? Do I mention the other points that i mentioned in the appeal as well i.e nothing displayed saying that there's a specific time where parking needs to be paid by etc

Coupon-mad

Even better, here on MSE, Smart POPLA cases won = 100%.

Very hard to lose as long as you follow the NEWBIES thread advice - DO NOT SAY WHO WAS DRIVING IN THE APPEAL!!!!!!!

I owe the payment of £60.00 if paid within 14 days, then it goes up to £100.

No it doesn't because you won't be paying a penny.

Send the usual appeal in the NEWBIES thread from the keeper (NOT DRIVER).

stewartps

Thank you so much, that's absolutely brilliant to hear! Okay so I've just gone on the newbies forum, however I'm not too sure what section to look at. I'm can't seem to find the 'usual appeal' you mentioned. Would I be correct in thinking it's this template:

Date


Dear Sirs

Re: PCN No. ....................

I challenge this 'PCN' as keeper of the car.

I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

Further, I understand you do not own the car park and you have given me no information about your policy with the landowner or on site businesses, to cancel such a charge. So please supply that policy as required under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. You must either rely on the POFA 2012 and offer me a POPLA code, or cancel the charge.

Should you obtain the registered keeper's data from the DVLA without reasonable cause (e.g. if you do not fully comply with the BPA Code of Practice in terms of signage at this site, for example) please take this as formal notice that I reserve the right to sue your company and the landowner/principal in your contract, for a sum not less than £250 for any Data Protection Act breach.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not give you consent to process data from the DVLA relating to this vehicle, whether you have already obtained it or not.

I have kept proof of submission of this appeal and look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Thanks again for your reply

Coupon-mad

Yep that will do and Smart sometimes fold when they see it!

pogofish

stewartps wrote: »

Hi everyone, hope this okay to post. I checked the pinned forums and am still a little stuck with my situation as It's a little different than other scenarious i've seen.

Its not at all different and making the mistake of thinking that will mean near-inevitable failure - individual scenarios don't mean a thing to PPCs or POPLA. Stick to the advice given here that actually works!

Umkomaas

How did your complaint to the Park Regis hotel go? After all you were a paying guest, not some fly-parker.

stewartps

Is this likely to effect my credit score at all?

stewartps

They said they'd ring back sometime today if they had any news. I'm not holding much hope for them to ring back. Is this likely to effect my credit score at all?

rich13348

It will only affect your credit score if all the following occur:
PoPLA fails
You get taken to court
You lose
You fail to pay the CCJ
None of which are likely.