Increase in fine

Staceitia

Sorry Didn’t see that question at all!:(
The event happened in South Yorkshire during visiting family in a supermarket car park.
It was issued by Smart Parking and the incident was in November, letter was sent out on 21st December
Initial amount of money was £50 but has increased during appeal process
The car park signage stated there was 2 hours free then any additional hours need to be paid for, I asked relatives to visit the car park again to take photos of the signage for evidence but it had been changed since my visit
Hope this clears anything up

pappa_golf

Staceitia wrote: »

They gave me a code from POPLA on the letter, how strange? Will have to ring POPLA to withdraw.Thanks all

no do nothing , whilst at popla , smart cannot do anything , anything includes threatening letters from debt recovery or adding charges

please tell us you did the popla online and have a email notification of appeal recieved?

pappa_golf

forget all replies , it was in sunny yorkshire ,,,,,,,,,,,

Staceitia

Yes I have the email from POPLA about the appeal being received, including date etc. But I received another letter from smart parking today (17th jan) saying they have increased the charge

pappa_golf

Staceitia wrote: »

Yes I have the email from POPLA about the appeal being received, including date etc. But I received another letter from smart parking today (17th jan) saying they have increased the charge

has the charge has increased above the
£50/£100 that was first quoted?

Staceitia

Yes it has increased. It was originally £50 and has increased to £110, this was on the letter today.
I checked the appeal status and it still being processed.
Are they able to increase it whilst the appeal is still ongoing?

Umkomaas

The event happened in South Yorkshire during visiting family

Thank you.

The issuing of a POPLA Code is valid, so do not withdraw your appeal. What you put in it is crucial to how it might pan out - can you copy and paste it here?

Even if you lose, there’s no obligation on you to pay this. And with you being based in Scotland, to pursue you through legal channels becomes much more complicated for Smart, than were they doing so in E/W.

Smart have only ever attempted to pursue tickets through the courts in E/W in a very small number of cases. Nothing for you to worry about.

pappa_golf

Staceitia wrote: »

It’s gone up to 110£.
And yes I am

in which case smart have added debt collection charges on whilst an active popla appeal is in force , this needs reporting to the BPA

nosferatu1001

Then thats a complaint to the BPA. They CANNOT increase the charge while an appeal is underway. Theyre barred from doing so.

STOP PANICKING. Its smart parking. Theyre really dumb.

Staceitia

Thanks Umkomaas.
I wrote about the signage being up about 2 hours free parking the regulations changing after my stay, which can be seen by the evidence provided by smart as it has been timestamped also the amount of time I was there can be seen by the time stamp.
Ok, that’s comforting. This is my first parking fine so I got freaked out.
@pappagolf I have emailed POPLA about them increasing the charge and I will contact BPA also. I thought it was strange that they increased it as they said in the original letter it wouldn’t be.

Sorry if I haven’t been clear anywhere, this is my first parking ticket so I’m a bit of a noob with all this. I appreciate the help you have given me