Smart Parking

Sparky_80

Sorry everybody, couldn't find anything similar in previous posts.  I have received 6 parking tickets from Smart Parking for parking in Glasgow City Centre.  I've parked here many times over the last couple of months with no issues.  The issue is that i have parked in washington street car park and i said no previous issues.  A mistake from me when parking one day has resulted in a ticket.  When parking I used Ringo app as always to book but didn't realise that there is a Washington street car park and an 88 washington street car park which is less than 100 yards away.  I use this car park as i can come and go as its a 24 hour booking normally.  So on one day i have received 3 tickets for coming and going, then 3 consecutive days 3 further tickets.  The correspondence has went to my office as its a company van so receipts have been sent in to appeal.  First 3 tickets on the same day have been rejected and no doubt the rest will come in rejected also.  Is it worth appealing to POPLA or do i not have a leg to stand on?  Every day i have paid parking but for the other car park.  Have paid parking correctly at least 20 times in last 2 months.  My worry is if i don't pay the 360 now then should my appeal fail i will have to pay 600.  Only been at this company since October so could mean my job.  The appeal to POPLA has to come from me and my work are constantly getting correspondence about this. 

Fruitcake

Who is the registered keeper of the vehicle? You do know that the keeper can't be held liable (yet) in Scotland for a private parking charge? 
It is perfectly safe (and lawful) for a Scottish vehicle keeper to ignore a PCN from an unregulated private parking company. 
Only the driver can be held liable, so it is vitally important that the driver's identity is never revealed.
1 In Scotland
2 Where a vehicle is leased/hired/is owned by a company.

Please confirm that the driver's identity has not been given to the PPC.

PoPLA is not available for a vehicle keeper in Scotland, and a driver should never make a PoPLA appeal in Scotland.

Sparky_80

The van belongs to the company that i work for.  My name will probably be on the Ringo receipt sent to appeal.
As i said not long at the company so dont want them getting the threatening letters.
If the letters were coming to me then fine but cant have that to the company.

Sparky_80

Both car parks less than 100 yards apart operated by Smart Parking i meant to add.

Fruitcake

You need to instruct the vehicle keeper (your company) that Scottish law prevents then from being liable for a parking charge from an unregulated private parking company.
You should instruct them not to pay any charges, or deduct salary, but to instead to either ignore the PCNs or tell the PPCs that you are the hirer/lessee of the vehicle.
Unless an employee of your company was present at the time of the alleged event, they cannot know the identity of the driver, only that of the hirer/lessee.
They must not assume they know the driver's identity as that would be perjury. They must only pass the hirer/lessee details to the PPC.

Fruitcake

Unless and until you receive a notice to hirer, this is none of your business.
The registered keeper has the option of ignoring this, or telling the PPC the contact details of the hirer/lessee. 

This is what you should be telling the registered keeper. Point out that this is the law.

Coupon-mad

Normally you can ignore private PCNs in Scotland, you realise that, yes?  Your company surely knows that registered keeper firms can't be held liable under the POFA 2012 (yet)?

That aspect of law won't be mirrored by Scotland until 2022 (as a final change enacting part of the Transport Act that's currently on hold) and it will be for new events only, never retrospective because that's not how new laws work

If the employer company don't know that. tell them this is the legal position but to avoid further letters they simply need to transfer these to you.

Normally you'd ignore this if this was your own car (at least for parking events before the law changes in 2022, and after that you still wouldn't PAY - my goodness you need to learn this stuff!) but you can't ignore when you lease or use a company car, because you must hook the PPC firmly in your direction.

1.  Get the company to send ONE letter headed with all PCN numbers (tell them you'll pay the postage for that letter if that's an issue) in which they name you as the keeper of the vehicle and they must also give your postal address.

Simple stuff. 

They are then not going to get any more letters and they couldn't be held liable anyway.


2. Then when Smart write to you, reply to confirm that the vehicle was kept by you on the material date and that this appears to be a keying error (wrong location code on RingGo).  Tell them that you expect to be offered £20 per PCN to settle them, or preferably as a goodwill gesture, will they cancel the subsequent PCNs and just pursue one, and give you a POPLA code for that one.  Tell them, clearly this is a single keying error that's been brought forward by RingGo by default, day after day - but only one keying error..

3.  If they offer £20 that's up to you if you'd pay that.  I wouldn't, not for multiple PCNs!  But I don't think they will offer you that, so then you could try POPLA for each and every one but you'd have to admit to driving and I wouldn't do that either (notice that I DIDN'T tell you to get the company to name you as DRIVER, did I?).

Then ignore them. You won't be paying £600.   You are not paying Smart anything, but it's worth doing the above to get the company out of the equation, then you ignore PCN debt demand letters like everyone in Scotland always does, obviously.

D_P_Dance

Read what Pete Wishart MP said recently in the House of commons about Smart Parking.and complain to your own MP.

"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.

Castle

Sparky_80 said:

The van belongs to the company that i work for.  My name will probably be on the Ringo receipt sent to appeal.
As i said not long at the company so dont want them getting the threatening letters.
If the letters were coming to me then fine but cant have that to the company.

Are you an employee or a subcontractor?