Smart Parking PCN Issues

mariae2101

Good afternoon people, please help we are desperate 

I am writing this post on behalf of my daughter she recently worked for a company on a retail park in St Albans, the company had her added to the white list which is managed by Smart Parking, she went on to receive 17 PCNs which she appealed each one of them and sent a copy of her contract saying that she worked for a company on the retail park.  She gave her parking tickets to the gentleman in charge of the Practice and he sent an email to Smart Parking saying that her number plate should have been added and that she had received parking tickets and he wanted her number plate added and parking fines cancelled to which he received a response saying she had been updated.  She didn't think anymore on the matter.  This week she has received 17 debt collection letters from a debt company on behalf of Smart Parking, she called them and explained the situation and they said it was not their problem (they were very patronising) and that they just wanted payment of the parking tickets.  She then went on to email Smart Parking with a copy of the email that had been sent to them by her superior and their response saying that it had all been updated and they have said that they are not revoking the PCNs as she was not on their system at the time.  We are going around and around in circles does anyone have any pointers please she certainly doesn't have the money for 17 fines at £170 per ticket.

Your help will be much appreciated.

         

D_P_Dance

Read what Pete Wishart MP said recently in the House of commons 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.

17 fines at £170 per ticket.

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount of £70 for each ticket for debt collection.

This amounts to double recovery and Judges all over the country are dismissing these spurious additions. Indeed some judges have dismissed entire claims because of this. Read this and complain to Trading Standards and your MP,

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16qovzulab1szem/G4QZ465V Excel v Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

However, VCS appealed this so it may not apply in all cases, read this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntksx9g7177ahyg/VCS v Percy v1 Amendments (2).pdf?dl=0Also read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6279348/witness-statements-2-transcripts-re-parking-firms-false-costs-recorder-cohen-qc-judgment-2021/p1

Also consider complaining to The SRA about the solicitor, if one is involved They are fully aware of the unlawful nature of most of thse additions yet persist in adding them..

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

Redx

she should wait for a formal LBC and/or a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton , until then its he said she said

pertsonally, I would be speaking to my constituency MP about this and also complaining to the retail park management i very strong terms about getting these cancelled in writing

yes its boring and heartbreaking banging her head against a brick wall but its how these bad companies operate, even MPs get frustrated with them , especially not so SMART parking

DO NOT PHONE the debt collectors agaiin, they will do what their client SMART says, so as you say they cannot cancel them and want payment, which is their job, pointless talking to the monkey, so back to the organ grinder

she should consider a counter claim if a court claim arrives, give them a taste of their own medicine

but the landowner complaint, MP complaint etc is best for now ( and maybe go to the press )

Coupon-mad

How frustrating.  Wrong appeal approach.

She could have killed every PCN by appealing as KEEPER but it's too late now.  That would have removed each and every one, dead easy.

Ignore the scum DCA.  You aren't meant to phone parasites like that.

Read the NEWBIES thread and get the agents who run the retail park to cancel them all.

Come back if there is a court claim. Scotland or E/W?

mariae2101

It is in England, Hertfordshire thanks for your response 

Coupon-mad

You could also involve your MP in the complaint.  They WILL support you as there is a new law coming in this year.

Trainerman

Looking to a future court case, you need to get copies of the emails you mention, that asked for her to be white listed and that confirmed it had been done. I would get them now.  It could be ages before it gets to court, and people move on, lose things etc. Once you have those in your sticky mitt, you have imho a really positive defence