Smart Parking

BiliousGreen

Hi Just hoping for some quick advice. A PCN has arrived from them Smart Parking to the vehicle keeper. I cannot see any POFA text and we havent said anything yet to ID the driver. I am going to send the std template. If the driver is not identified and there is no keeper liability will POPLA have to cancel the charge when we get to next stage?



The driver apparently entered a no parking private car park to allow occupants to attend a medical emergency, stayed only long enough to do so and left. I also beleive that no parking contract can be implied as it was a private car park that does not allow parking. Their std breach terms that they quote aso do not seem to apply as a result. Surely this should actually be a civil trespass offence and as such they have no authority to issue the PCN and have also therefeore obtained keeper details illegally?


in the first instance I am just going to send the std template response the refuses to name the driver. We cant as we dont know who it was(cant remember) and the evidence doesn't show.

Fruitcake

Yes, just send the template as is from the keeper, then kill this at PoPLA using ALL available points you will find in post 3 of the NEWBIES, including non PoFA complaint NTK.
Nobody can guarantee what PoPLA will do, and they are known to have made some daft decisions in the past, so you need to spell out in simple terms each point, especially how a NTK has failed to comply with the PoFA.

Have you complained to the medical facility yet?

Please also complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

BiliousGreen

It wasnt a medical facility just a staff /delivery car park. No public parking allowed, hence I cant see how their PCN is even actually relevant or legal, it should be trespass brought by landowner,( I think)

Fruitcake

OK, so complain to the landowner that the keeper is being penalised for the driver doing a good deed, and expect this to be cancelled.

Meanwhile don't miss the appeal deadlines and follow the process in the NEWBIES.

The PCN may not be relevant but you will need to go through the process to get this killed off at PoPLA. As for it being lawful (legal refers to criminal law), this is an unregulated scam industry you are dealing with and unless/until the law changes, the scammers will continue to get away with it.
Only a judge can decide if it is unlawful.

The signs being forbidding will be one of several appeal points at PoPLA.

In addition to going through the appeal process, please complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

BiliousGreen

Appeal has gone in. Do companies, espescially Smart, give a confirmation email that the appeal has been received? The website said it has gone succesfully but no follow up email has appeared to confirm that it has?

The_Deep

Read what one MP said about Smart in the House of Commons recently, and then complain to your own MP

Pete Wishart (SNP, Perth):

"I am sick and tired of receiving emails from people complaining about the behaviour of parking companies, telling me that they will never again visit Perth city centre because of the negative experience they had when they had the misfortune to end up in a car park operated by one of these companies. I have received more complaints about one car park in the city of Perth than about any other issue. That car park is operated by the lone ranger of the parking cowboys: the hated and appalling Smart Parking—I see that many other Members are unfortunate enough to have Smart Parking operating in their constituencies. It has reached the stage where one member of my staff now spends a good part of each day just helping my constituents and visitors to my constituency to navigate the appeals process.
…
The BPA does not have the ability to regulate these companies and has shown no sign whatsoever that it is trying to get on top of some of the sharper practices. The BPA gives a veneer of legitimacy to some of the more outlandish rogue operators by including them in their membership, allowing them to continue to operate. The Bill will oblige operators such as Smart Parking to amend their practices."

Umkomaas

BiliousGreen wrote: »

Appeal has gone in. Do companies, espescially Smart, give a confirmation email that the appeal has been received? The website said it has gone succesfully but no follow up email has appeared to confirm that it has?

Just take a screenshot - there's your proof. Expecting niceties like written confirmations from private parking companies suggests you are under the impression that you are dealing with upstanding, decent businesses.

You are not!

BiliousGreen

Its too late now, the appeal went in last week so I cannot get a retrospective screenshot. Just not sure how to prove it if they decide to deny getting the appeal!

BiliousGreen

So I have been back to the site and the sign at entry literally says 'Whitelisted vehilces only' one inisde says ' Motorists must be registered on a valid whitelist to park in this car park'but this would be easy to miss if parked close the entry 'Car park monitored by ANPR' though nothing about its us eand that is about it. I am guessing at POPLA stage there is no contract to park and therefore Smart have no right to issue a charge?? The sign is also pretty small, easy to miss and its positioning makes it unclear as to exactly what area it is reffering. You cannot pay to park at this site and you cannot overstay a limit that is not advertised, ( both the template reasons they give for issuing the ticket)

Fruitcake

Yes, a forbidding sign offering no contract to park, so that's another appeal point for you at PoPLA.
Did you get pics of the entrance and signs to use at PoPLA?

BiliousGreen

yes I did get the pics .....so...... given that in all likelihood no contract exists and Smart have no right to pursue it and never actually did have the right........... have the DVLA committed a data breach by giving them the keepers details when there was in fact no grounds to do so, presumably via an automated request system??????