Wrong reg number AND overstayed

gltbda

Hi all,

Yesterday the driver parked a car at Fistral Beach, Newquay and paid for 3 hours parking in a rush as they were downloading the app and figuring out how to pay for it! Paid £5.40 for 3 hours (40p more than the machines quote) and went for a surf. Came back and realised it had gone 10 mins over. The driver rushed into the car and drove out still with a wetsuit on. The driver pulled onto the side of the road after exiting and decided to pay for another hour parking to compensate for this (£2.20) - so by this point paid the same amount as it would cost for a whole days parking there.

After returning home the wrong reg number was entered on the app - it was in fact the reg number for the drivers old car (yeah stupid I know). The driver is expecting to receive a parking fine in the post and I'm not optimistic about the outcome. Technically the parking was paid for to cover any allotted time in the car park so a reasonable person wouldn't fine, but I know these people aren't sentient beings.

Where does the driver stand with all this? Does the driver ignore the letter that I will eventually be sent? Does the driver use the template on the newbies thread and contest? Have seen that other people contacted Britanic Industries Ltd, is that possibly a way out?

Thanks in advance.

Fruitcake

Immediately edit your post to remove information about who did what.

Only ever refer to The Driver and The Keeper, who are two different people.

Do this before you do anything else!

It is not a fine.

The advice to ignore has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. A landowner cancellation is always the best option.

Then, read the Sticky thread for NEWBIES that tells you how to deal with this unregulated scam. Start by sending the initial appeal template from The Keeper you will find in the NEWBIES, then read up on what to do if/when it is rejected.

Which parking scumpany was this, Not so Smart or Parking Lie? It makes a big difference.

Please complain to your MP as well as the MP for the area where the car was parked if different. The details are given in the NEWBIES.

gltbda

Thanks, it was SMART parking. Should the template in the NEWBIES thread be sent before even having a letter through?

Fruitcake

gltbda wrote: »

Thanks, it was SMART parking. Should the template in the NEWBIES thread be sent before even having a letter through?

No, you can't do anything until The Keeper receives the NTK. You have time to read up and be prepared ready for when it does arrive.

Luckily Not so Smart are not so smart, and the template will normally see them off. Also, it is very rare for them to do court.

gltbda

Fruitcake wrote: »

No, you can't do anything until The Keeper receives the NTK. You have time to read up and be prepared ready for when it does arrive.

Luckily Not so Smart are not so smart, and the template will normally see them off. Also, it is very rare for them to do court.

Will the wrong reg number be any issue? Should I try to contact the land owner ASAP to rectify this?

Fruitcake

gltbda wrote: »

Will the wrong reg number be any issue? Should I try to contact the land owner ASAP to rectify this?

Mitigating circumstances/what happened on the day is irrelevant. You win on technical points only.

Again, you can't do anything until you receive the NTK.

Quentin

Your OP needs more editing


You need to differentiate between the driver and the keeper.


Use the third person as in "the driver did this"/"the keeper is expecting that" etc


The ppcs monitor here and can use posts in your rtythread against you

Coupon-mad

gltbda wrote: »

Thanks, it was SMART parking. Should the template in the NEWBIES thread be sent before even having a letter through?

No, but a carefully worded Rectification Notice should be emailed to Smart by the keeper, to beat the NTK.

After returning home the wrong reg number was entered on the app - it was in fact the reg number for the drivers old car (yeah stupid I know). The driver is expecting to receive a parking fine in the post and I'm not optimistic about the outcome.

Oh we are optimistic - the appeal will be won, by the registered keeper, so no worries.

Should I try to contact the land owner ASAP to rectify this?

Yes to contact, but not to the landowner. To Smart's Data Protection Officer.

Send a Rectification Notice, sent by the registered keeper, not saying who the driver was, and not saying who input the wrong VRN, next week, to dpo@smartparking.co.uk

State that it has come to your attention as rk of the car that the occupants of the car input a wrong VRN.

Attach a scan of the ticket and tell the DPO that that this is not an appeal as no PCN has been issued, it is a RECTIFICATION NOTICE under the GDPR, sent in a timely fashion to put right the minor inaccurate data, to prevent the driver from being unfairly penalised for a simple admin error that Smart cannot now say they cannot match to a payment.

State clearly that ''this ticket is the payment for this VRN'' and require the DPO to rectify the inaccurate data stream from the PDT machine (using those words and mentioning the GDPR).

Attach a copy of your V5C to prove registered keeperness! No words re the driver. Don't call it 'my ticket', nor that the driver input 'my' other car...(clearly it's 'the family member input another VRN from another other car').

Are you sure the app didn't actually introduce the inaccurate data by carrying forward a previous VRN? You said the old car VRN 'was input' but was it? Didn't the app wrongly assume? If it wasn't input by human hand don't say it was.

The reply will be amusing, and might well pave the way to reporting Smart to the ICO, which is what we aim to do as often as possible with these scumbags now.



Then when the NTK arrives, the keeper sends the usual template anyway.