Smart Park appeal rejection

B789

It basically means that Smart Park does not have a contract with the landowner, in its own name, to issue PCNs at the site. If it has no contract in its own name, then it cannot issue a court claim.

Only a contracted firm with a valid contract to manage the site and permission from the land owner to issue claims in its own name can make a claim through the courts. Smart Park are not so "smart".

@Grizebeck has much more experience and legal knowledge than us "helpers", especially when it comes to the nuances involved with private parking companies. If @Grizebeck advised me to write a one liner appeal to POPLA, "The Parking Operator does not have a contract in its own name to issue PCNs at this site", then that is what I would do.

Please do not stress out as this is a simple dispute over an alleged debt claimed by a sewer-dwelling company who are out to scam as much money out of gullible victims and no logic you apply in your appeal will usually work. Get your POPLA code and lodge the one liner as advised above by @Grizebeck in your POPLA appeal and sit back. The POPLA adjudicator must accept your appeal if the claimant has no contract in its own name to issue PCNs.

Even if you were unlucky enough to get the tea-boy instead of a proper grown up adjudicator and they refused your appeal, there is nothing else you should do. If within the next 6 years Smart Park were ever "smart-not" enough to try and make a court claim, it would get thrown out of court if they had no contract.

In the meantime you would receive a number of threats from toothless debt recovery firms, bottom-dwellers of the private parking world, who, whilst trying to scare you by using gross distortions of the truth and adding inflated costs to the debt, you would ignore those as advised in the Newbies thread. They are powerless to do anything and cannot take you to court. Only Smart Park could do that and I think most of would agree that they are not "smart" enough to do that (or maybe they are "smart" enough to realise that they would never win).

toysgalore

Great, thank you.
How would I know if they don't have this contract? Or is this just a standard thing with all Smartparks? 

Coupon-mad

It is standard.

toysgalore

Brilliant, thank you for advice and help. Hopefully I'll hear no more of it.

Umkomaas

toysgalore said:

Brilliant, thank you for advice and help. Hopefully I'll hear no more of it.

You will receive a confirmation from POPLA of their decision (or more likely confirmation from them that Smart have notified them that they have withdrawn the parking charge). 

KeithP

toysgalore said:

Brilliant, thank you for advice and help. Hopefully I'll hear no more of it.

Disappointing that we heard no more about it @toysgalore.

The only way we find out if a proposed solution works is if people report back the results.

But I guess you would've soon be back if it didn't work, eh?