Smart parking, Debt Recovery plus

DOUGIE1

Hi,
  First time here so I hope I'm in the right place.
I received a parking charge notice from smart parking stating I had overstayed 3 hour free parking limit on 20/05/2022 and I must pay £60.00. On 30/05/2022 I appealed with a letter stating I was not the driver of the vehicle, just the keeper. I pointed out as they don't comply with pofa 2012 I can't be held responsible for the charge and for them to cancel the charge or send me a reference number to appeal to popla.
On 1/6/2022 Instead of receiving a unique reference number with which to appeal to popla I received another letter from smart parking asking for information as to who the driver was and to send any info to a email address provided. On 14/6/2022 I emailed to them again I was not the driver and again to either cancel this charge or again provide a reference number so I could appeal to popla. On the same day 14/6/2022 I received a email confirmation from smart parking acknowledging my latest communication and my query was being looked into. On 14/7/2022 I received a letter dated 12/07/2022 from debt recovery plus asking for £170.00 because in their words I may not have responded to previous letters due to an oversight. 
I spoke to them on the phone today 18/7/2022 explaining I never received a rejection reference number from smart parking, however they said as the appeal time has passed basically tough I must pay. I sent a letter to smart parking today signed for explaining I never received a reference number and therefore was unable to appeal to popla and for them to now cancel this charge and contact debt recovery plus to tell them, or failing that to now fir a third time send me a reference number. I also wrote to debt recovery plus explaining this in writing and also made a complaint to the British parking association on line.
Any further assistance from forum members would be most helpful.

Fruitcake

In future, never, ever 'phone a parking company or any of their agents, and ignore powerless debt collectors.
It is also not a good idea to send anything by post that requires to be signed for since if they refuse to sign for the item, they will have proof they never received it.

You were right to complain to the BPA though, so await their response.

If you appealed by post, the PPC may say it never arrived and then claim you missed the appeal deadline.
Unless there is no other method, always use the PPC's appeal portal.

What happened when you complained  to the landowner? That is always Plan A.

DOUGIE1

Hi Fruitcake, 
  Thanks for your input. When I posted to smart parking I do have confirmation of them receiving such post, also they did respond by post, they also confirmed my email I sent that they received it. The thing they didn't do was give me a appeal rejection code thus making it impossible for me to appeal to popla. I have all copies of correspondence so if I don't receive any further response from smart parking I look forward to going to court and proving they didn't follow the bpa's own guidelines by giving me such a code where i'm sure a court will rule in my favour.

DOUGIE1

P.s. using smart parking's appeal portal means you write a long appeal post, send it and it doesn't get accepted due to some kind of error. If you leave it late you don't leave yourself much time to write to them registered. I always write signed for and keep copies of the signature. They did reply to my letter so can't say they didn't receive any correspondence within the correct timescale, and therefore I have proof they didn't send a reference number to appeal with.

Coupon-mad

OK, no more phone calls!

Let's wait and see what OPS' finest, Anne Bevis (newly recruited to the BPA) has to say about this one!

DOUGIE1

Thanks fruitcake and coupon mad, i'll keep you informed with the next instalment of this saga.

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

OK, no more phone calls!

Let's wait and see what OPS' finest, Anne Bevis (newly recruited to the BPA) has to say about this one!

Is that right ?  a traitor, in the old days, her head would be chopped off. 
What is she about to tell us about OPS

Being now on the payroll of the not for profit BPA

Are the BPA ENTERING INTO THE SECOND STAGE OF THEIR STUPIDITY

DOUGIE1

Hi all,  
   Sorry about the delay in responding. I did receive a reply from BPA however I didn't want to jeopardize this case by relaying the reply before smart parking had answered.
   
BPA's response was thus.

• Thank you for your enquiry.

  I can confirm that Smart Parking Ltd is a member of our Approved Operator Scheme which means that they are required to adhere to our Code of Practice.

  Our role as an Accredited Trade Association is to investigate alleged breaches of our Code of Practice by members of our Approved Operator Scheme where evidence can be supplied and we are unable to become involved in individual ticket disputes or hear appeals.

  Please be advised that when a Parking Charge Notice is issued by a member of our Approved Operator Scheme, a motorist will have 28 days to appeal this via the operator's internal appeals procedure if they believe that it was issued either unfairly or incorrectly; the process should be outlined in the Parking Charge Notice. The operator has 35 days to respond. 
  
  If the appeal is rejected the operator should provide details on how to further appeal to the free and independent appeals service, POPLA. A further appeal is available via POPLA for 28 days following the operator rejecting the appeal.
  
  I note that the appeal outcome was not received. In the first instance, we would recommend reaching out to the parking operator to request a copy of this. If the parking operator is able to provide a copy of this document, because we have no way of ascertaining whether documents were or were not sent or received by either party, we would not be able to investigate further.
  
  If the parking operator is unable to supply you with a copy of the appeal outcome, we can look into this further and request a copy for you - if this is the case, please do advise by replying to this email.
  

  I hope this information is helpful.

  Kind regards
  
  Harriet Lock 
  British Parking Association
  Web: www.britishparking.co.uk

  My letter of complaint to smart parking is below.

To whomever it may concern,
  With regards to the above parking charge notice I have now contacted you on two seperate occasions asking for this parking charge notice to be cancelled or failing that for you to send me a unique reference number of rejection of appeal so I can forward this to popla (parking on private land appeals). The first time was by letter posted 30/05/2022 which you accepted on 1/6/2022 and the second time was by e-mail sent to the e-mail address you provided in your letter of date 1/6/2022 which was e-mailed to yourselves on 14/6/2022. I received a reply by e-mail from yourselves dated 14/6/2022.

On 15/7/2022 I received a letter from Debt recovery plus stating this charge has been escalated to themselves and the charge is now £170.00. I contacted this company today, spoke tk timothy and was told as the appeals process time has passed I should pay the £170.00 or the case will escalate further.

Tooday I contacted popla and spoke to Irene who said it would be best to phone Debt recovery plus first which I did yet got nowhere, and to contact yourselves to explain I received notice from DRP before I received any appeal rejection notice reference numberfrom yourselves.

I have today contacted the BPA and made a complaint with regards to how this case has been handled and that the correct procedure doesn't seem to have been adhered to. The situation is now causing undue stress so I now look forward to this parking charge notice being cancelled and you contacting DRP advising them this case has now been closed. 

A letter of complaint was also sent to DRP.

Result! 
  A final letter from Smart Parking today dated 22/7/2022.
  Thank you for your recent communication received.
We have noted the points you raised and would like to confirm that we are cancelling the parking charge notice.

Thanks everybody for your input, these people really can get you stressed. This is the third time I have beaten Smart Parking at their own game however this time was the messiest.

Castle

Hopefully you will shortly be updating the BPA and asking them to investigate Smart Parking's breach of 23.6 of the BPA Code:-

When you receive a appeal about the issue of a parking charge, you must stop work on processing the charge immediately. You must not increase the charge until you have replied to the appeal.

Coupon-mad

Nicely done!  I expect you are angry about all these pathetic PCNs and the fake added £70?

Please get your own back by coming back here and responding to the Government Final Consultation on the level of parking charges (and the fake added £70 false DRA fee) later this year.

To make sure you don't miss it, please read the most recent posts and bookmark and set email alerts for posts added to the Announcement thread by MSE_JC.

Le_Kirk

In the first instance, we would recommend reaching out to the parking operator to request a copy of this.

What is all this reaching out nonsense, what does it actually mean?  That is what I would do if I was in a swimming pool drowning not during a series of communications which should be conducted in a business-like manner.  Do they perhaps mean "contacting"?  Anyway rant over and it is not the OP who wrote it and well done on the cancellation.