3 Parking charges from Smart Parking

nomeo

Good afternoon.
I have read the newbie section, inside out and back to front, so i am going to give a brief synopsis of my situation, as I want confirmation I am now doing the right thing.

We went to Fantasy Island in July, and parked in the smart parking car park three times over a week. a month later we received three parking charges from smart parking, saying we had not purchased the correct time on all three days.
I emailed to say we would not be paying the charge, as we did pay at the end of our stay, for the whole length of our stay according to the signs that were there.
Anyway, that was rejected and we were given three POPLA codes, which I did nothing with, so now we have had some DRP letters saying we owe more now.
Reading this forum I now know I should have done things differently, but I didn't and here we are!
We didn't keep parking tickets, we paid at the end of our stay for the length of time we stayed each day, but I cant remember what we paid or the prices there were on the board in the car park! I remembered there were coloured squares all over it. that's all!
Smart Parking say that on one visit, we stayed 29 minuted over our time, another visit, 66 minutes over, and the other visit we didn't even pay for! We paid for each one, so no idea what happened!
Do I now just have to wait and see if it goes to court? (as I think I understand the newbie post suggests as the POPLA code was issued on 17th September) or should I be doing anything now?
Thanks for any advice!

Redx

if the popla codes were issued months ago, they have expired, so too late to appeal

in which case wait for an LBC or MCOL (ONE or MORE) , within 6 years

meanwhile do a SAR on SMART and get all their evidence for everything using GDPR from their DPO, docs , paperwork , pics , signs , contracts, the lot

if any popla code is still valid, use it , asap

KeithP

Nothing for you to do now other than deal with debt collector's letters as described in post #4 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

If ever you receive a Letter of Claim or official court correspondence post again on this thread if you need further help.

nomeo

Right thank you!

I will get on the SAR now then.

The_Deep

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers. Read this one which I wrote earlier

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.