Overstay ticket on a retail park - Smart Parking.

rlavvy

Hi all,

I have read the newbies section and which suggests I appeal this ticket, which wants a £100, or £60, if paid within 14 days.

My concern is on what grounds to appeal.

My wife parked in Newport Retail Park outsude Home Bargains. Shopped there and then went to the cinema on the retail park with my daughter.

She decided not to move the car as the cinema is only 100m from Home Bargains.

This lead to the car being parked in the same spot for 3hours and 5 minutes.

Obviously, she was not aware there was a parking time limit of 2 hour 30mins ( or any parking restrictions) or she would not have left the car there.

She did not see any of the signs.  

We went back to the car park after receiving the ticket and there are signs around the perimiter area of ther car park outside Home Bargains, one on the wall of Home Bargains and one on a tall pole near the entrance to the car park but not on the pole at the the entrance to the car park (which has a no entry sign on the other side to stop cars leaving through the entrance).

The parking restriction signs also do not detail who the land owner is.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Mark

rlavvy

Just to follow up. She parked in the middle of the car park, not near the perimeter. Although there is a sign on the wall on one side of Home Bargains entrance ther are also a lot of product adverts on the other side . Who looks at any of these on a normal day.

Redx

The keeper appeals the PCN using the blue text template from the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum in announcements , no changes , no blabbing about who was driving , no talking about the circumstances

If the keeper doesn't follow plan A , then this appeal is plan B

POFA is the issue here , so as that newbies thread says , check if Smart Parking complied with POFA , or not ( I am going to assume , not ) , if not , the keeper has no liability

A Driver however , should ALWAYS check signs and follow them , be it on the roads or in any parking spot , no exceptions. Research driving without due care and attention !!

Coupon-mad

There is no concern with any Smart Parking PCN and no need even for a thread .  The keeper wins.  The facts are irrelevant and this is why we have a template appeal and drum it into people to appeal as keeper without saying who was driving.

Simple one!

D_P_Dance

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

rlavvy

Went through Smart Parking appeals process. I did not receive a notification E-mil to show I had appealed. Is this normal?

If so, were is the proof I appealed.

Should I do it again or will this complicate matters?

Thanks.

Mark

Coupon-mad

Just do it again and take screenshots and keep them. Email them to yourself.

rlavvy

Coupon-mad said:

Just do it again and take screenshots and keep them. Email them to yourself.

OK. I did it again and took screen shots on the 30th July. No notification of the second time either. Haven't heard anything back from them. How long does it normally take for them to reply?

Redx

rlavvy said:

Coupon-mad said:

Just do it again and take screenshots and keep them. Email them to yourself.

OK. I did it again and took screen shots on the 30th July. No notification of the second time either. Haven't heard anything back from them. How long does it normally take for them to reply?

The BPA CoP mentions 35 days , please download it and read it

Umkomaas

Go to their website as if to pay the parking charge. You might be pleasantly surprised!  Tell us what it says. 

rlavvy

Umkomaas said:

Go to their website as if to pay the parking charge. You might be pleasantly surprised!  Tell us what it says. 

OK. I did not hit the final Pay button but before that it read: "There is an outstanding charge of £60.00 for this Parking Charge Notice."

What are you expecting?