SMart Parking Ltd. POPLA appeal lost, now debtors

JoJoGrays

I started reading the newbie thread and could cry that I didn't know all of this at first! I paid the correct amount to park my car and have proof of payment but when I received the first PCN letter I realised I had made a mistake that day and entered my own reg but was driving my sons car!! I stupidly thought that as soon as I tell them it was me driving (as PCN was addressed to my son) and I had made a mistake, all would be forgiven. Well you know the rest, the fine is now £170 and if I don't pay by 15 July DRP will advise Smart Parking to take me to court. Have I missed the opportunity to fight this as they already know it was me driving my sons car? I'm so sorry to ask you as I can see so much work has gone into this topic but I feel I have already made matters worse for myself by appealing. Any advice is very welcome. Thank you.

Redx

yes its too late for now and you are in IGNORE the debt collectors mode

Smart have 6 years to try a court case where you can explain to the judge, who may find in your favour


DRP are powerless, so IGNORE them

Quentin

If you have inadvertently used your real name as your forum name then ask MSE to change it to something anonymous


The ppcs monitor here and can use posts in your thread against you in Court

JoJoGrays

Thank you for your reply, do you happen to know if in that 6 years they can keep increasing the debt and if they do take me to court the likely associated costs? I'm wondering if I should just pay to get rid of the stress of it, even though I am so angry at how unreasonable they are. I did make a mistake but I paid for a car to be parked so they didn't lose anything.

Redx

since the BEAVIS case you cannot argue "no loss"

here are the costs breakdown by member Umkomaas

£100 - original parking charge
£25 - court filing fee
£50 - solicitor costs for preparing case papers (maximum, capped)
£25 - hearing fee, if it gets that far
£7 or £8 interest.

So not much more than £200 - IF YOU LOSE!

Anything else they try to add will be spurious and must be challenged with the Judge.

IF YOU WIN - none of the above will be payable by you. But you could claim:

£95 capped maximum for loss of earnings/annual leave for half a day (take pay slips for proof)
Travel costs - public transport or mileage x 45p per mile
Parking costs.

If the PPC has been wholly unreasonable in dealing with the court, then costs awarded against them could be considerably more, but the bar is set very high. We would advise nearer the time if we think this is worth you pursuing.

its called small claims for a reason


remember , they took your money and accepted payment for a vehicle their systems knew was not there, they didnt offer your money back , did they ? - NO , thought not

JoJoGrays

You’re right of course. Thanks for this information I will wait to see if they take me to court and hope I get a judge with some compassion.

I will also try to get my username changed just in case.

waamo

They will keep claiming the debt has gone up. That is designed to make you panic and pay up incase it continues to go up.

If they attempt to put the inflated claim in front of a court you can have the entire claim thrown out as an abuse of proceeds. This has been done several times before.

Umkomaas

Smart Parking, despite issuing near to a million tickets a year, have hardly ever issued a court claim. There was a mild flurry a couple of years ago (a dozen or so cases) and where we helped with a defence, Smart immediately discontinued. They have been totally quiet since then.

They're not going to try their luck on a case that is so obviously a genuine error, unlike (say) against a serial 'offender' who has racked up dozens of tickets, where a £300 costs punt by Smart to take to court might be worth pursuing - yet we don't even see these types. Sleep easy.

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.

beamerguy

the fine is now £170 and if I don't pay by 15 July DRP will advise Smart Parking to take me to court.

Of course you don't owe £!70, DRP up to their normal scam rubbish as usual
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5859454debt+collectors+drp

Just let them play with themselves

As said above, Smart probably will not go further but if they did, and they added the fake £70, you would get them scuppered by a judge for ABUSE OF PROCESS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081

JoJoGrays

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply here, I feel so much better already knowing you're there with great advice. A couple of web searches yesterday came back with advice about when I can and cannot let a Bailiff in and I went straight into panic mode! Citizens Advice came back with help on how to negotiate with the debtors rather than anything specific about how to stand up to the fine, so I am so very grateful to you all xxx