Smart Parking - Remained on site longer

darkcloudi

I just did an appeal with Smart Parking who have rejected it, this was in regards to me parking at West Bromwich Astle Retail Park.

I advised them that I paid 120 minutes for parking on the premises (I always pay 2 hrs and have been doing this for over over a year and a half). This instance I went over by 11 minutes, the reason being is I could not get out of the gym as they had an IT glitch / fault with the door which prevented me from exiting, so had to find a gym member to let me out the emergency exit which took almost 10 mins as they were short staffed. I sent the email I got from the gym manager detailing the above to Smart Parking but there response is below suggesting I should have paid the extra time regardless of the issue being out of my control. (Personally, I did not want to stay longer then 2 hrs but I could not get out)

To note with this retail park, its up to the individual to know what time they entered and exited and pay that amount on entry.

Response from Smart Parking:
We note the comments in your appeal and attached evidence, please note, upon entering into a car park drivers agree to adhere to the terms and conditions and therefore a valid ticket was needed for your total duration on site. Additional time could have been purchased upon exiting the car park, to cover an overstay.

Having checked our system, a payment was made against vehicle registration AB14XYZ for 120 minutes. As you remained on site for 131 minutes, it resulted in an 11 minutes overstay. It is the responsibility of the driver of the vehicle to ensure they purchase a valid ticket when using this car park. As you have failed to do this, and have therefore breached the advertised Terms and Conditions, we have no option but to uphold the Parking Charge Notice.

I am thinking of doing a POPLA appeal as I can't see why I should pay for this fine or most importantly pay for parking time if I could not get out the building, the only option was to break the gym window/door or ask a member of staff to let me out the gym. I chose the latter.

Any help with a letter to POLA, I'm never any good with these. Also in the letter they say attached evidence (quote above) and there is nothing in this recent letter they have sent me.

Thanks for your help.

Quentin

Everyone is politely asked to read the newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum before starting a new thread

Read up there for advice on your popla appeal and put the draft appeal up for comments

Redx

its not a "fine" , its an invoice

clause #13 GRACE PERIODS of the BPA CoP allows for two grace periods either side of the parking time , so 11 minutes is covered

read post #3 of the NEWBIES sticky thread and draft a popla appeal from the examples

also look at recent popla appeals for other smart parking car parks, anything from this year, and they will guide you becasue its a common theme , especially look at the ones for FISTRAL BEACH in Newquay, WHERE ITS AGAIN A COMMON THEME

dont loom at anthing older than 6 months

Coupon-mad

This instance I went over by 11 minutes, the reason being is I could not get out of the gym as they had an IT glitch / fault with the door which prevented me from exiting, so had to find a gym member to let me out the emergency exit which took almost 10 mins as they were short staffed.

I sent the email I got from the gym manager detailing the above to Smart Parking but there response is below suggesting I should have paid the extra time regardless of the issue being out of my control. (Personally, I did not want to stay longer then 2 hrs but I could not get out)

Go back to the Gym Manager, complain and INSIST they cancel this baseless PCN and those received by any other patrons who were fined, after the Gym caused the issue. Show them Smart's pathetic reply to the Gym's email and ask if they are proud of their contractor for refusing this appeal. Ask if they think this is good business practice and ask what the Manager is going to do about it now.

Stay there till he/she cancels it. Do that this weekend/coming week.

If they say they didn't take on Smart but the landowner did, then of course, ask who that landowner/site agent contact is, and escalate the complaint to the site Owners or agents.

As for POPLA, you need the usual appeal wording from the NEWBIES thread that you saw when you read it first, post #3 with the POPLA template wording. You need to start with the BPA Grace periods as your first point. You also need to show POPLA the proof from the Gym (the email) confirming you were 'shut in'!

But it's complain first, POPLA can wait. The code lasts 28 days and a bit more.

darkcloudi

Thanks all.

As its a retail park there are a number of other stores there and the gym manager advised he cannot help much other then give evidence of the glitch.

Looking at the templates I think the grace period will help here as it was out of control and I can forward the email evidence to POPLA if required.

Coupon-mad

and the gym manager advised he cannot help much other then give evidence of the glitch.

Yep - told you who to complain to when the Gym says that...

Guys_Dad

Were you timed by ANPR or by a ticket machine that recorded when you paid for parking? Was there an exit barrier?

Redx

darkcloudi wrote: »

Looking at the templates I think the grace period will help here as it was out of control and I can forward the email evidence to POPLA if required.

you willl be UPLOADING your popla appeal (once approved) and all evidence to the POPLA website , as a pdf , choosing OTHER in their options box , its definitely "required"

there will be no emailing at appeal stage , only at rebuttal stage later on

Coupon-mad

Except complain first to the site agents. POPLA is secondary to a fully escalated complaint.

darkcloudi

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Were you timed by ANPR or by a ticket machine that recorded when you paid for parking? Was there an exit barrier?

It was an ANPR (no barriers), so was timed. You had to take note of when you entered and exited the site

Coupon-mad

You had to take note of when you entered and exited the site.

You didn't know that though...the signs don't say that (and would an average driver know?!). It is unreasonable.