County Court with Smart Parking

emski15

Hi all,
I was issued with a PCN from Smart Parking in December 2016. I parked on Matalan car park for 16 minutes and thought parking was free after 6pm as it was before SP took over, and the local car parks still are. I appealed, foolishly admitted to being the driver, and very naively thought they would have compassion for a genuine error. I always buy a ticket, never been in any sort of trouble before. I have now received a letter from the Northampton county court and I'm so scared, the amount is now £245. I've read the thread about defending myself but I really don't understand it all and don't know what to say or do, the wording and terminology of all the different laws is so difficult to understand. I would unbelievably grateful for any help or advice in defending.

Umkomaas

The first job you must do is acknowledge service (AoS) of the papers to give yourself a further 14 days to develop your defence. Please read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 which will guide you through this, including what to put in (and not put in) your AoS.

Earlier this week a person in your same position put forward a robust defence which sent Smart scampering to discontinue. Have a read of this:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5640248

emski15

Thanks for replying so quickly.
Where can I find the NEWBIES STICKY POST #2?

beamerguy

emski15 wrote: »

Thanks for replying so quickly.
Where can I find the NEWBIES STICKY POST #2?

main front page right at the top

Coupon-mad

emski15 wrote: »

Thanks for replying so quickly.
Where can I find the NEWBIES STICKY POST #2?

Back where you hit 'new thread' on the first page, instead of reading the sticky info threads at the top. Please read #2 of the NEWBIES FAQs.

Also search the forum for 'Smart claim discontinued' and find a thread where a claim from Smart was defended and seen off a week ago.

I've read the thread about defending myself but I really don't understand it all and don't know what to say or do, the wording and terminology of all the different laws is so difficult to understand. I would unbelievably grateful for any help or advice in defending.

Ask someone who is unaffected by it and not stressed, to read it with you and the Smart thread where the claim was discontinued, which is easy to find by searching. You could copy from and adapt that defence easily. It is ONLY Smart Parking (not so smart!).

I wrote the sticky thread and the part about claims and I am not legally qualified. They are words, not legalese. Yes there is a lot to take in and you may need to read it more than once but it is NOT complicated and even the 'acknowledgement of claim' on MCOL (your first task) has a link to a 'walk-through guide' so you can't go wrong.

emski15

Is it worth contacting Smart Parking and offering to pay the original £85? Would they be likely to accept this? The anxiety now just isn't worth it.

beamerguy

emski15 wrote: »

Is it worth contacting Smart Parking and offering to pay the original £85? Would they be likely to accept this? The anxiety now just isn't worth it.

Smart will not be interested as they are scammers

No point in getting stressed up about this because you already know Smart are easy to beat with the help of the forum..

As they say, gently gently catch a monkey accept in this case you can catch a cowboy

emski15

beamerguy wrote: »

Smart will not be interested as they are scammers

No point in getting stressed up about this because you already know Smart are easy to beat with the help of the forum..

As they say, gently gently catch a monkey accept in this case you can catch a cowboy

Not sure I've got a cat in hell chance of beating them, feeling like a very small fish in a giant ocean!
I have no evidence to send to the court as my defence and I admitted to being the driver when I appealed. I've read through all the links you guys have shared on other threads, but they all have valid reasons. Mine is purely that I assumed it was free after 6pm, and I thought £50/£85 was ridiculous for a 16 minute stay.

emski15

Umkomaas wrote: »

The first job you must do is acknowledge service (AoS) of the papers to give yourself a further 14 days to develop your defence. Please read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 which will guide you through this, including what to put in (and not put in) your AoS.

Earlier this week a person in your same position put forward a robust defence which sent Smart scampering to discontinue. Have a read of this:

I have just acknowledged service online, thank you.

Umkomaas

Just challenge this, copy the defence from the link I gave you earlier (minus any stuff about keeper liability if you've already identified yourself as the driver), get that off and see how they respond.

While Smart won't be interested in the £85 initial charge, you can still settle what they are currently asking for right up to the steps of the court room.

But I can tell you something for nothing - even if you lost in court, you would not be told to pay their ridiculous inflated figure of £225. It would be more like £150 - £175 - so well worth fighting for.

fil_cad

Poor Smart Parking, they must be really struggling for cash. :rotfl::rotfl: