Parking help please

nba2005uk

Below I will post my draft complain to my MP, and to the landowner & Smart Parking.
Please advise on any changes you recommend I make before sending.

Thank you


To Landowner and Smart Parking

Write first class AND email them

Dear Smart Parking,

Firstly, all defected letters have been delayed as they have been sent to an old address. I have attached two recent utility bills as proof of I.D under the GDPR law. I expect that you will also inform any of your contractors of this change. 

As the registered keeper of (reg) I'm in receipt of your parking invoice xxxxxx dated xxxxxx. I wish to invoke your appeals process as all liability to your company is denied on the following:

1) The amount being claimed is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss to your company or the landowner

2) You are not the landowner and do not have the capacity to offer contracts or to bring a claim for trespass

These points and others will be raised with Popla should you not accept this appeal, and you will be expected to provide a full breakdown of your alleged loss, and your full unredacted contract with the landowner.

If you do reject the challenge and insist upon taking the matter further I must inform you that I may claim my expenses from you. The expenses I may claim are not exhaustive but may include the cost of stamps, envelopes, travel expenses, legal fees, etc. By continuing to pursue me you agree to pay these costs when I prevail.

Please issue your cancellation within 35 days of this letter, or forward a popla verification code.

Additionally, you have failed to comply with paragraph 9.4 of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 in that you failed to give the Notice to Keeper to me within the “relevant period”. The alleged infringement occurred on the XXX and no ‘Notice to Driver’ was issued at the time. The Notice to Keeper is dated XXX which is 17 days after the event and 3 days after the expiry of the statutory 14 day period prescribed by PoFA during which you may deliver this. Your company would have been well aware of this latter fact when it took the decision to send out the Notice to Keeper. You have misrepresented the legal position in the full knowledge that no such keeper liability existed.

Furthermore, if you pursue the matter against me as registered keeper when you have no lawful excuse and cannot rely on 'keeper liability' at all in this instance, you will be guilty of harassment which is another specific breach of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

I am also currently preparing complaints to submit to my MP, to the British Parking Association, and DVLA. I will also seek further legal advice if needs be.

Any further communication with me on this matter, apart from confirmation of no further action and my details being removed from your records, will be considered vexatious and harassment. This includes communication from any Debt Collection companies you care to instruct.

Faithfully

John

nba2005uk

Email to local MP in which I already have had a brief chat with. I have also copy and pasted my smart parking email to them. 

Dear MP,

Thank you for the quick response. 

In this email I will attach a few letters in which I have received up to this date. 

Something I have to mention first is that all these letters have been going to an old address (which is still currently where my parents reside). I was in the process of moving house with this going on. I had changed my drivers license as soon as I moved, and later changed my log book details, so I presume Smart Parking are using old details of mine. I have now updated them with current information.

Due to this delay in receiving letters, I will also look to appeal the ticket. I am started to feel threatened and harassed by Smart Parking. 

The general advice I gathered online, word of mouth, television, was to ignore these scam companies, so that is the route I took. I have later realised that an appeal could of quite easily been won

Signage was in place but we didn’t see it, I think it may be new on site. We were parked up here for 10 minutes as we had to make a phone call and do not have bluetooth to make a call whilst driving. 

My understanding is that these companies have to issue a letter within 14 days, and it took them 17 days to do so. They also haven’t proved who the liable driver was at the time of parking.

I will copy and paste a draft of my appeal in which I will be writing to Smart Parking.

I don’t have a current printer right now to fill in the attached form, but I can visit a local library if needs be. 

Regards

John Jones

Le_Kirk

Firstly, all defected letters

What did you intend this to mean?

1) The amount being claimed is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss

Forget the above as this is not a legal argument and went when Beavis lost.

Business type letters (which these are) should be finished "yours faithfully".

What is wrong with using the standard appeal template in the first post of the NEWBIE sticky?

nba2005uk

All defected letters was intended to mean all letters received up to this point.

Pre estimate of loss was something I have read via this forum. Is there another way of wording it or a similar argument to get the point across?

This template actually came from a successful appeal which I read here. I cannot find the template you’re referring to in the newbies thread sorry? Could you please direct me to it 

D_P_Dance

Pre estimate of loss was something I have read via this forum. Is there another way of wording it or a similar argument to get the point across?

No, delete it, it is a dead parrot.

Umkomaas

Pre estimate of loss was something I have read via this forum. Is there another way of wording it or a similar argument to get the point across?

It simply does not apply any longer in private parking cases since the judgment handed down by The Supreme Court in ParkingEye v Beavis. Continuing the theme in the appeal rather than assisting, just singles you out as someone who isn't on top of the subject and potentially leaves you open for further pressure from the PPC and their debt collectors. 

Please, just use the blue text template appeal from the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, first post.  You want a POPLA code from which you can easily beat this with an appropriate, forum-guided next stage appeal. 

EDIT TO ADD

Just reading back over the thread and realised that you are well beyond the initial appeal stage, so POPLA isn't going to be an option. Concentrate on Plan A, Plan C no longer available, Plan D is highly likely to be unnecessary - Smart very rarely pursue to court, probably only likely in high value multiple tickets. 

nba2005uk

I will delete it.

Are you referring to this template? If so then images of the sign and the vehicle were already provided in the letters they sent out. You cannot clearly make out who the driver was though. Is this a template to the landowner, to Smart Parking, or to both?

Re PCN number: 

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. Since your PCN is a vague template, I require an explanation of the allegation and your evidence. You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date as well as your images of the vehicle.

If the allegation concerns a PDT machine, the data supplied in response to this appeal must include the record of payments made - showing partial VRNs - and an explanation of the reason for the PCN, because your Notice does not explain it.

If the allegation involves an alleged overstay of minutes, your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner

Le_Kirk

nba2005uk said:

All defected letters was intended to mean all letters received up to this point.

Look up the meaning of the word "defected" and you will find that it means changing allegiance, particularly from one country to to another!  Maybe you meant "delivered" or "received".

KeithP

nba2005uk said:

Are you referring to this template? If so then images of the sign and the vehicle were already provided in the letters they sent out.

How many blue text templates did you find?

That template asks for all the pics. How do you know you already have all the pics?

nba2005uk

I can’t help but feel like I’m just being shot down here rather than guided in the right direction. Quite clearly I’m a complete newbie here, and I have read as much information on here as I possibly can right now, but apologies for not reading all of it. I just do not have the time at this moment.

I am starting my own thread to try and stay relevant to my case. I have searched for different appeals but I’m yet to find a similar case to mine, in a similar time frame. Many of them are retailers, hospitals, from 5+ years ago etc. 

My case is different...I drove out of Mcdonalds, parked in the retail park service yard opposite for 10 minutes, ate my food and made a phonecall, then left.

I did not see a sign but turns out there was one there. No other vehicles were present as far as I can remember.

I do not know what ‘all of the pictures’ means and I cannot see that wording in this template, and that is why I am asking here. If they come back with, “we have already sent you photo evidence of the registration and sign”, then I have wasted my time. 

Apologies for my frustration, this is all very new to me and I am still learning. 

If i don’t have a case then please somebody tell me, apparently CST want a response by 12/05/21? I don’t know what comes after that as it will be my 4/5th letter. 

I really cannot be bothered going through the time, money and effort of a fight in court especially if it won’t get me anywhere! I have a new renovation on my hands, a wedding soon and planning for a family. I would really rather not add a court case and possible fine to that list, but I am only here for advice and to learn.

Thank you