Debt Recovery Plus letter from Smart Parking ticket

bargainhunter24

Hi all,

Advice needed please on next steps.. key points are:
25th April: parked in Smart Parking Co-OP car park, partner put ticket on, he said the machine kept resetting when he tried entering the reg and wouldn't let him put the full registration number in. As a result, the ticket was issued for the reg 'FE' rather than my fill registration.
I have moved house twice in the past 7 months, firstly into a rental property whilst our new purchase was going through, then into the bought property.
I sent my log book off in May, after we completed the purchase of this house. When I sent my log book off, I also enclosed a letter asking the DVLA if they could let me know if me details had been requested for any parking tickets in the past couple of months, as I was expecting an issue to come from Smart.
My light book came back with no response in relation to my query.
I messaged the new owners at my last property to ask if any post had come for me and they advised that they hadn't seen anything.
30th June: I return from a weeks holiday to find a letter from Debt Recovery advising that my unpaid ticket had now been passed to them and the charge to be paid is now £170.
3rd July: I have called Debt Recovery to explain the above and they have advised that they have no process for me to appeal this ticket and there is no point me contacting Smart as they will just refer me back to Debt Recovery. I advised that I have never received the initial charge from Smart as I was in the process of mixing house and getting my log book changed over and their letter was the first I was aware of the charge.

I have also advised that I still have the ticket and photos taken on the day showing the ticket on my dashboard. Debt Recovery have said my options are either to pay in full, request a settlement, or to progress to the next stage, I.e. court. They have said that Smart would prepare a list of all the other cars parked there on the day with no issues and that would strengthen their view that there was no issue with the machine

What's everyones advice please? I dont feel that I should have to pay a settlement, when I have paid the correct amount for the time that I was in the car park and if Smart were to manually check their records at the time my car entered and exited the car park, they would see a ticket issued for the reg 'FE' covering that period.

Help please!!

Tia
Sam

fisherjim

First piece of advice is to stop phoning debt collectors they are useless scammers that have no interest in you, or your case, or an appeal, or telling you the truth, they do however get very excited over cheques and debit card details.


Please start by reading the newbies thread where all the advice on this scam from lowlife PPC's and debt collectors will be explained.

The_Deep

Read what Pete Wishert, MP., said in the House of Commons recently about Smart Parking.

"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."

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Coupon-mad

Same answer as here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75996179#Comment_75996179

You only need help if you get a court claim, and all is covered in the NEWBIES thread (court defence & procedure in post #2, and DRP tedium in post #4).

And see this one, same as yours - yawny stage - but you can kill it with a retailer complaint. NEVER too late to complain to the Co-op (or retail park, if multi-store):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6020805/smart-parking-lba-stage-what-happens-now

What you need to do is email a data rectification notice to DRP and Smart, telling them your new address for service and demanding that the old address is ERASED as you have that right under the GDPR.