PCN from Smart Parking

Tom83

HI All,

I did read the Newbies bit, but didn't see that my situation was mentioned. I got a PCN from Smart Parking. The letter is a picture of my car entering the car park at 13:00:37 and leaving at 13:15:54. The difference with my case is that the car was at no point parked. I wanted a space near to a certain shop as I was going to buy a large item. I eventually gave up and drove out without leaving my car. How would I go about appealing in this case.

Thanks in advance for any help

Fruitcake

Your case is covered precisely and exactly by the NEWBIES. The NEWBIES actually tells you not to look for a precise match to your case.
Once you have edited your post to remove information about who wanted to park where, send the appeal template in blue from the keeper.

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

If/when it is rejected, not being parked will be one of several points you should use in your PoPLA appeal.

Please also complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

beamerguy

Tom83 wrote: »

HI All,

I did read the Newbies bit, but didn't see that my situation was mentioned. I got a PCN from Smart Parking. The letter is a picture of my car entering the car park at 13:00:37 and leaving at 13:15:54. The difference with my case is that the car was at no point parked. I wanted a space near to a certain shop as I was going to buy a large item. I eventually gave up and drove out without leaving my car. How would I go about appealing in this case.

Thanks in advance for any help

Two simple words ... GRACE PERIODS.

Smart are a member of the BPA and this is what the BPA say

https://www.britishparking.co.uk/News/good-car-parking-practice-includes-grace-periods

Tom83

Thanks Fruitcake. I wasn't sure as the car was never parked, and I thought Newbies bit was only for cars that had actually parked. So all I need to do then is send the template exactly as it is on the Newbies post (obviously adding in things like dates and PCN numbers where necessary)?

Tom83

Also,

The alleged contravention occurred on the 28/12/18, the letter is dated 10/01/19 and I received it today 14/01/19. Has that past the deadline for me having to receive the notice?

Fruitcake

Tom83 wrote: »

Thanks Fruitcake. I wasn't sure as the car was never parked, and I thought Newbies bit was only for cars that had actually parked. So all I need to do then is send the template exactly as it is on the Newbies post (obviously adding in things like dates and PCN numbers where necessary)?

The scammers claimed you parked, even though they have provided no proof.

Yes, send the template from the keeper unaltered.

Fruitcake

Tom83 wrote: »

Also,

The alleged contravention occurred on the 28/12/18, the letter is dated 10/01/19 and I received it today 14/01/19. Has that past the deadline for me having to receive the notice?

The date of issue is day 13, so could not possibly have got to the keeper by day 14. The Interpretation Act presumes that something posted has arrived two working days later.
In other words, yes it has failed to meet the strict requirements of the PoFA.

You could add that as a one liner to the template if you want to, making sure the driver's identity is not inadvertently revealed.

Some PPCs cancel when they see the forum template appeal. Some will blunder on even though they know they have failed, in the hope they can bully the motorist into paying.

Tom83

Thanks for the help Fruitcake

The_Deep

Read what one MP said in the HofC recently about Smart Parking

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."

Add to their woes, complain to your MP

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business.

Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers.

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.

Guys_Dad

Yes. An NtK sent on a Thursday is deemed to be delivered on the following Monday as Saturday & Sunday are not working days.

So well out of time.

Single point appeal referring them to POFA Section 9 and telling them, AS REGISTERED KEEPER, that you refuse to name driver and they can't pin it on you as Registered Keeper because............

9(1)A notice which is to be relied on as a notice to keeper for the purposes of paragraph 6(1)(b) is given in accordance with this paragraph if the following requirements are met.
(2)The notice must—
(a)specify the vehicle, the relevant land on which it was parked and the period of parking to which the notice relates;
(b)inform the keeper that the driver is required to pay parking charges in respect of the specified period of parking and that the parking charges have not been paid in full;
(c)describe the parking charges due from the driver as at the end of that period, the circumstances in which the requirement to pay them arose (including the means by which the requirement was brought to the attention of drivers) and the other facts that made them payable;
(d)specify the total amount of those parking charges that are unpaid, as at a time which is—
(i)specified in the notice; and
(ii)no later than the end of the day before the day on which the notice is either sent by post or, as the case may be, handed to or left at a current address for service for the keeper (see sub-paragraph (4));
(e)state that the creditor does not know both the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver and invite the keeper—
(i)to pay the unpaid parking charges; or
(ii)if the keeper was not the driver of the vehicle, to notify the creditor of the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver and to pass the notice on to the driver;
(f)warn the keeper that if, after the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice is given—
(i)the amount of the unpaid parking charges specified under paragraph (d) has not been paid in full, and
(ii)the creditor does not know both the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver,the creditor will (if all the applicable conditions under this Schedule are met) have the right to recover from the keeper so much of that amount as remains unpaid;
(g)inform the keeper of any discount offered for prompt payment and the arrangements for the resolution of disputes or complaints that are available;
(h)identify the creditor and specify how and to whom payment or notification to the creditor may be made;
(i)specify the date on which the notice is sent (where it is sent by post) or given (in any other case).
(3)The notice must relate only to a single period of parking specified under sub-paragraph (2)(a) (but this does not prevent the giving of separate notices which each specify different parts of a single period of parking).
(4)The notice must be given by—
(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or
(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.
(5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.
(6)A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales.
(7)When the notice is given it must be accompanied by any evidence prescribed under paragraph 10.
(8)In sub-paragraph (2)(g) the reference to arrangements for the resolution of disputes or complaints includes—
(a)any procedures offered by the creditor for dealing informally with representations by the keeper about the notice or any matter contained in it; and
(b)any arrangements under which disputes or complaints (however described) may be referred by the keeper to independent adjudication or arbitration.

Sometimes I love POFA and sloppy PPCs !!!

Fruitcake

Tom83 wrote: »

Thanks for the help Fruitcake

You still haven't edited your initial post as I advised you to do.

PPCs monitor these fora and have been known to use information from here at the appeals stage and in court. Your whole appeal could come crashing down if they link your first post to The Keeper.
You should be aware that The Keeper can be identified from the information given in your first post. You may not believe it to be so, but if I had the resources of a PPC, I could identify the name and address of The Keeper from this information, and thus the identity of The Driver.