Smart Parking

age9000

hopefully not left to late for some advice.

parked in car park covered by smart parking

they sent me a charge for £90 reduced to £45 if paid in 14 days.

as I had a ticket I appealed to them attaching copy of my ticket
they sent a letter rejecting appeal and saying would reduce to £20 as i entered wrong reg
At no time did they say the FULL reg want not entered, as the machine I use at my normal car park only asks for the last three digits
thats all i entered.

My reg ends OYV and the ticket sort of looks like could have been a U rather than a V, so I presummed they were saying I put a U and not a V,
so I sent an appeal to POPLA.
they have replied to POPLA sending a scan of a payment on their system showing OYV which is the correct last three digits of my car reg,
However their wording to POPLA says I put OYU !

My understanding that a reduced rate should have been offered at the FIRST charge notice and not on appeal especially as its clear that
I did pay for parking and they easily found my reg on their system albeit last three digits only, but enough to attach it to my vehicle.
As they did not offer this on first contact , which they could easily have attached evidence showing I entered part reg then I would probably
just paid the reduced charge of £20 to end it.  Again in their reply to my appeal if they had said i did not enter FULL reg I would have paid the
reduced rate, but they just said entered wrong reg, but by witholding this important info I felt had no option but to appeal to POPLA.

I have said to POPLA that:
1) the reduced rate should have been sent as the first charge notice,
2) Smart Parking has witheld information that if was supplied to me either, with first notice or on appeal, would have brought the matter to an early close,
3) by witholding this information I felt had no option but to seek help from POPLA, and that Smart Parking probably witheld this infomation
knowing full well they would then ask for FULL charge amount of £100 (£90 + £10 admin fee!)

I am still waiting for POPLA to reply, but as i suffer from bad depression I wanted to see what you guys had to say if you can please, I do feel that if
the matter was before a judge they would ask why the information was was not disclosed at the start and hopefully throw any action out.
How can anyone make an informed decision if to appeal or not if they have not been given all the evidence?

hope Ive not left it too late for some advice, I had forgot about this wonderful forum.

Thanks

Age

Coupon-mad

You will lose at POPLA unless the signs (in the evidence pack) don't ask for the FULL VRM.

Download and save the evidence pack on your laptop right now, as you won't be able to access it once POPLA almost certainly reject your appeal.  You will need that evidence later if Smart decide to sue. No biggie! We'll assist.

Is this in England or Scotland?

Smart did it right by offering £20 settlement at appeal stage.

Such a shame you didn't come here first because you binned the 100% winning appeal point, by telling them who was driving.  You'd have won easily if you'd used our templates - nailed on guaranteed because Smart Parking don't use the POFA.

DO NOT PAY WHEN POPLA REJECT IT.

age9000

Thanks Coupon-mad

I have downloaded the pack they sent,
the signs do vary in what they say
some say "enter your vehicle registration number"
another says "full and correct vechicle registration number"
another says "please purchase a parking ticket for duration of your stay"

Its the fact they did not explain that i did not enter full reg and made out that I entered one digit wrong
that really gets to me and thats why i appealed to POPLA and would not have if they had given me this information
in the appeal rejection

will come back then get reply from POPLA, but not holding my breath.

Note to self, always come to forum for anything before sending a reply

will get myself ready for debt letters coming 
do they take many people to court? or just hot air.
If ive got to pay £100 I might as well fight it and if got to pay £200 at court so be it
might as well make them work for it !

Coupon-mad

Smart are not very litigious at the moment so it may never happen. Keep all letters for 6 years.

Let us know what POPLA say though.

No criticism of you at all but it's always sad for us when a poster starts a thread saying (effectively - to our eyes) 'I got a PCN from a firm who don't use the POFA and couldn't hold me liable as keeper' then they add 'And I've already appealed and told them I was the driver...'.