SMART PARKING PCN - Belfast, Northern Ireland

user2802

Thanks for any help on this - much appreciated!

I have a company car.
I received a PCN from Smart Parking in Northern Ireland last week.

I did actually pay for the maximum 2 hours of parking - but they have photos of my car arriving and leaving 2 hours 22 mins apart.
In reality, i had to wait a while before i was even able to park in the car park as it is so small and awkward for cars to exit their space.
Plus the time it takes to buy a ticket at the machine - plus getting dog crap off my shoe after stepping in some in the car park itself!!

Having read the NEWBIE document, am i right in saying the best initial course of action is the below:

As it is a company car, the letter came addressed to my business.

Just wondering if my first course of action should be along the lines of the ONE SIZE FITS ALL TEMPLATE:
I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner....

Or should I be going with the advice for company car:
Dear Sir/Madam
Re: PCN No.
I challenge this 'PCN' as lessee of the car and subsequently request all future correspondence be sent directly to myself at the address listed below:

My street
My Town
My Postcode
I am the vehicle's hirer and keeper for the purpose of the corresponding definitions under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) now it is proven that in this instance, the registered keeper is not the "keeper" (as defined under POFA), Civil Enforcement has no reason to contact Lex Autolease again regarding this PCN

I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

Further, I understand you do not own the car park and you have given me no information about your policy with the landowner or on site businesses, to cancel such a charge. So please supply that policy as required under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. You must either offer me a POPLA code or cancel the charge.

Thank you for your cooperation and I look forward to receiving your response within the relevant timescales specified under the British Parking Association Ltd Code of Practice.

Yours faithfully,
My name

@Grizebeck
@Coupon-mad

Thanks for taking the time to read this!!

user2802

Additionally, I came across the below which may be relevant?

Dear Sir/Madam

As the registered keeper of [insert car registration], I am writing to formally challenge the above Parking Charge Notice on the basis that I was not driving the vehicle at the time of the parking event.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is not applicable in Northern Ireland. In this jurisdiction it is the driver of the vehicle who is liable for any parking charges, not the registered keeper. As the burden of proof is on the claimant, I would ask you to provide evidence that I was the driver of this vehicle at the time this alleged contravention occurred.

If you are unable to provide the information/documentation requested, I would respectfully request that you rescind this Parking Charge Notice and desist from any recovery action against via debt recovery agency.

I look forward to receiving notification within 35 days that the Parking Charge Notice has been cancelled, and confirmation that you desist from any further debt recovery action.

Yours sincerely,

[Insert signature] [Print name and Surname]

Fruitcake

The important thing is to ensure that the company that owns/keeps the company car does not pay this and pass the charge to an employee.

There is no keeper liability in NI so the owner/keeper-company can safely ignore this as long as they know not to pay, or they can make the statement to Smart that they cannot be held liable as keeper therefore Smart should cancel now to save themselves money.

Alternatively, they can provide the hirer/lessee's details who can then send the statement from your second post, if the hirer/lessee was not the driver.
The wording can of course be altered to omit that part but still state that the hirer/lessee cannot be held liable.

Grizebeck

The reply you have suggested is fine, is it your company
Nice to see someone who has done some good research

patient_dream

Get rid of this quickly.    The consumer council in N. Ireland know all about Smart Parking

Watch the video below and contact them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CiL0u4CYg0

user2802

Grizebeck said:

The reply you have suggested is fine, is it your company
Nice to see someone who has done some good research

@Grizebeck!

Just to check - are you recommending:
1) the one size fits all template
2) the company car template
3) Or template around Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 not being applicable in Northern Ireland (although they do have photos of the car entering/exiting).

Hope to get back to Smart Parking today with my response. 

Thanks

Fruitcake

Have you instructed the owner/keeper (your company) not to pay the charge?

Your company can either ignore this or name you as the hirer/lessee. You can't actually do anything other than complain until you have a NTH in your name.

Then you can modify the appeal of your second post but replace "registered keeper" with hirer/lessee.

patient_dream

user2802 said:

Grizebeck said:

The reply you have suggested is fine, is it your company
Nice to see someone who has done some good research

@Grizebeck!

Just to check - are you recommending:
1) the one size fits all template
2) the company car template
3) Or template around Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 not being applicable in Northern Ireland (although they do have photos of the car entering/exiting).

Hope to get back to Smart Parking today with my response. 

Thanks

Don't expect much from Smart

You really should pass this to your Consumer Council, they know all about the workings of Smart

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/contacts/consumer-council-northern-ireland

GET THIS CANCELLED

Grizebeck

number 3 is good for NI

user2802

Nice one! Thanks guys!!
@Grizebeck
@patient_dream
@Fruitcake

patient_dream

user2802 said:

Nice one! Thanks guys!!
@Grizebeck
@patient_dream
@Fruitcake

Well done ...... did the Consumer Council have a word in Smat's shell like ear ?