Worth a popla appeal?

Dontpointatme

Hi

Sorry, I can’t find a thread that seems to match exactly what I’m looking for...

I parked in a car park monitored by Smart Parking, but entered entirely the wrong reg number, I had recently put a private plate on my car and wrongly selected the original reg on my parking app.

I sent the info in my appeal to smart which was of course turned down, and now have a reference to appeal to Popla.

Is it worth appealing to them as it was entirely my own mistake? If there is a good chance that they will reject my appeal then I would rather pay now as frankly the thought of debt letters etc scares me due to past credit issues, I just can’t bear having them come through my door again. I don’t know what to do for the best. Can anyone advise please?

I have read through the newbie advice, but as this is my error I can’t see which part suits my case.

Thanks in advance...

Coupon-mad

I hope you didn't blab about who the driver was, in the first appeal?

You seem to have started a new thread with no draft POPLA appeal to show us, instead of searching Smart POPLA and copying one of thousands?

Dontpointatme

I don’t think there was a mention of who was driving or not in my appeal, having never received a charge before I just filled in the form when I got home and opened the letter, unfortunately I’m not experienced in this so didn’t read up until after I had sent the appeal.

I will search for that now and see if I can find one that is relevant to this thanks, I got here from a google search of my issue but couldn’t find one regarding it being my/the posters error in inputting an old reg.

Umkomaas

Sorry, I can’t find a thread that seems to match exactly what I’m looking for...

I have read through the newbie advice, but as this is my error I can’t see which part suits my case.

Really? Your case must be unique then! This could be extremely interesting, unless it's perhaps a case of you missing this in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #1?

Q - ''I have read the NEWBIES thread but cannot find anything specific to my case...my case is different''.

A - NO IT ISN'T. YOU DO NOT NEED SPECIFICS. FORGET THE DETAIL, MOST CASES ARE ALL THE SAME.

If there is a good chance that they will reject my appeal then I would rather pay now as frankly the thought of debt letters etc scares me due to past credit issues, I just can’t bear having them come through my door again.

If you've experienced 'debt collectors' (No, they wouldn't be debt collectors) coming through your door, you must surely understand the very specific circumstances under which they could do this. You obviously ignored a previous court order to pay a debt determined by that court, surely?

Dontpointatme

Bloody hell, you really do come across as helpful don’t you.

I didn’t say I’d had debt collectors through my door, if you re-read you’ll see I said I had had letters from debt collection companies that I didn’t particularly want again, and from what I’ve read this is what happens is the popla appeal is rejected and I don’t pay?

I’m not saying my case is unique, but that I didn’t find another where the car was the same but the reg had been changed. I still haven’t. I will keep looking.

I do not have access to a laptop so am struggling to copy and paste stuff on my phone but will sort out a popla appeal and hope for the best.

fisherjim

Your circumstances don't mean a thing the PPC has no interest, and POPLA works on The technicalities.


Why on earth are you frightened of debt collectors that can't do anything but send out scrap paper?

Coupon-mad

You can win by copying any Smart POPLA appeal.

Search the forum (ADVANCED SEARCH) copy one and show us first.

Umkomaas

Oops - missed 'letters'! They will come through your door, but so do Domino's Pizza, Farm Foods and Iceland offers hoping to part you from your money. All about the same!

Dontpointatme

Ha ha yes, but dominos etc didn’t have me scared at 19 after getting left in a lot of crap by an ex, and having to pay thousands, albeit it a lot slower than they’d have liked. It did and does scare me, the thought of getting debt collector letters again, as weak as that sounds.

I guessed the technicalities wouldn’t apply as I wasn’t contesting their signage etc, just that I had paid, but under the wrong reg. I’ll see what I can whack in to beef it up.

I will try and get on the internet at work tomorrow to copy a decent template as I just can’t sort it on my phone and will post it for you to check ASAP, thanks for the help.

Umkomaas

Your phone will most certainly hinder rather than help. The forum engineering doesn't interface with phones as well as with tablets, laptops or PCs (probably in that order).

See what you can do.

MistyZ

Hi there,

take a good look at the Smart POPLA appeals. For a start, it is so important not to identify the driver. You appeal as the Registered Keeper, the driver did the driving and purchased the ticket etc. It is unlikely that the driver was guided by signage to the extent they should have been as signage is generally poor / confusing.

The advice on POPLA appeals is to 'throw the kitchen sink' at them i.e. to include all relevant points and sometimes the relevance doesn't hit home until you really think about these things. The best point gets pride of place at the beginning though.

I'm all for taking responsibility for our mistakes in life in general. But when it comes to private parking companies, simple mistakes are exploited to the max. Car parks in general are not user-friendly places. You need to realise what a total scam you're caught up in, otherwise the POPLA appeal won't go as well as it should do. After all, this parking was paid for, for heaven's sake! Good luck and get a bit angry!