Not sure reason for PCN from Smart Parking

fviajero

Hi,

I have received a PCN from Smart Parking - Fistral Beach, but I am not sure the reason, as the driver paid for it. Before asking Smart Parking, I would appreciate your opinion.

a- to have taken few seconds more than 10 minutes from entering the land upto pay for parking

b- to have extended the stay 2 minutes late

c- to have extended the time at all (to pay for 2 hours first and then extend one hour is cheaper than to pay straightaway for 3 hours)

d- none of above: the PCN is a mistake, the system failed to consider the 2 payments.

I guess the crime is (a), so then I will have to decide whether to describe this and justify the 10 minutes delay (seems tempting, because the driver didn´t abuse at all, there was limited free parking space and busy traffic), or go to a standard appeal letter ignoring this specific situation I just described.

I take this opportunity to thanks again this forum, because 3 years ago helped me to get rid of another PCN in this same parking lot.

Regards,

fviajero

Fruitcake

You can be identified from the specific times and date you have mentioned. You should edit your post before you do anything else.

Please start by reading the Sticky thread for NEWBIES then send the BPA template in blue. Copy and paste and send. The reason why you got a ticket is greed. The scammers just want your money. Nothing else matters and trying to understand the why will get you nowhere. Just appeal, make a second stage appeal to PoPLA and win.

Luckily Not so Smart have never done court, although they have six years if they decided they want to in the future. At the moment they aren't clever enough to do that though.

fviajero

Thanks, Fruitcake.

I have decided to request Private Parking Appeals to handle it for me this time; I know it is not that difficult to do it oneself, but it is time consuming.

Cheers

Coupon-mad

It would be cancelled in one appeal...one of the easiest.

Ivor_Pecheque

Exiting can be a nightmare. Take a look at the blue car at 2:05, going round the roundabout the wrong way-anything to avoid a charge !

I've done another "entering fistral" video somewhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqA9V81iu0

Ivor_Pecheque

entering Fistral, relatively quiet time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swJ_elscsJM&t=57s

fviajero

Hi, it seems that Private Parking Appeals are a ghost company, thanks god I didn´t pay then in advance.

So I have to appeal myself, eventually with your help.

After reading the NEWBIES I have two questions: considering that the driver paid the parking for several hours (the ticket is for have taken 11 minutes to issue it, I think), does it make sense to send the BPA letter as it is, so also including this paragraph?

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.

Isn´t it worth to mention that Newquay parking in busy hours can take you easily more than 10 minutes to be ready to pay for, and that the driver only exceeded in one minute?

Thanks.

Redx

just use the blue text template "as is"

and add a line that states that

The BPA CoP clause #13 adds 2 time periods as grace periods onto any parking time , which is OVER 10 minutes to depart AND a period to park up , read the signs , pay for a ticket and place it on the car (this is commonly no more than 10 minutes) - therefore there was no "overstay" as the 2 grace periods allow for the alleged 11 minutes quite easily and could conceivably be as much as 21 minutes grace

so by adding the above you are acknowledging that you know about BOTH grace periods, but in your last reply you only took accound of the departure one , and completely ignored the arrival one

plus OVER 10 minutes actually means 11 minutes or more

fviajero

Thanks, Redx.

So following your advise I will send the template appeal for BPA members to Smart Parking, adding the paragraph you mentioned but with a change, because yours seems to me that justify a longer time to exit, when in this case the challenge is the time needed from entering until paying for a ticket (it is not in my favour the sentence "AND a period to park up , read the signs , pay for a ticket and place it on the car (this is commonly no more than 10 minutes)", and in fact as illustrated by Ivor Pecheque, in Fistral beach parking site these 10 minutes are clearly not enough).

The BPA CoP clause #13 adds 2 time periods as grace periods onto any parking time, which is OVER 10 minutes to depart AND a period to park up, read the signs, pay for a ticket and place it on the car - therefore it is not correct your alleged statement that "by remaining at the car park for longer than permitted [...] the Parking Charge is now payable [...]"

1- I would appreciate a confirmation that this is the right approach.

2- does it make sense to attach the video recording provided by Ivor that shows that easily the time from entering up to pay for the ticket can easily reach almost 10 minutes with low traffic, so more with dense traffic?

3- Does it help to attach to the appeal the parking receipts that are currently in my possession?

One comment: I have phoned the restaurant where the driver had lunch the day of the event, which is only accessible through this private parking site, and they said that they don´t have any relation to Smart Parking in order to request the PCN to be dropped for me, but that the whole commercial community at the site are aware and very much concerned about the amount of unhappy customers due to Smart Parking practices, but still they can´t do anything.

Thanks, regards.

The_Deep

Read this


http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/waiting-for-space-is-not-parking.html

Redx

my point is that the BPA CoP allows for TWO grace periods, so how the extra time onsite is divided can be 3 + 10 , 8 + 5 , 5 + 8 , doesnt really matter , the fact is that you are allowed both grace periods by that CoP and not so smart only monitor time on site , not actual parking time

so any appeal I would make would include that information so that not so smart are made aware of these 2 CoP facts in writing in this initial appeal

I doubt that the driver managed to enter, find a space , park up , read the signs , buy a ticket and place it on the car in 3 minutes ( 3+10) , so 5 + 8 or 6 + 7 minutes seems more in keeping with reality

the fact that ivor pecheque took much longer demonstrates that even the CoP may not allow enough and a judge may allow more, but for the purposes of popla you are stuck with the CoP wordings , not a judges interpretation , so as your alleged overstay is within those CoP wordings then why gild the lily ?

I only said that the time to leave is construed at 11 minutes (which was supposed to go into the BPA CoP), the 21 minutes is made up of up to 10 minutes beforehand and 11 minutes after , which is 21 minutes IN TOTAL

whereas yours could be say 3 + 10

for the initial appeal it doesnt make any sense at all to attach a video recording nor does it make any sense to do anything other than point out the bl****g obvious which they have missed ot ignored, showing you are a savvy opponent

it does make sense to attach a copy of the paid for ticket however (keeping the original safe)

but the CoP wordings may scare them into cancelling the pcn, which is one objective of this initial appeal, alternatively it will secure a popla code, where evidence can be put before the ombudsman service

the objective of an initial appeal is "put up or shut up" (cancel or issue a popla code)