Help - Smart Parking fine went straight to debt collection

daniel_w

Hello!

I wondered if someone had similar experience with a company called Smart Parking that I'm having. 

So I got a letter last week from a debt collection agency who are claiming I hadn't paid a fine, although up until this point I've not had any correspondence regarding the fine itself hence why I hadn't paid/challenged it.  The debt company actually were quite helpful in getting me more info and it turns out the fine is for being 20 minutes over a 2 hour limit at a retail park, which seemed incredibly harsh especially considering we were shopping, and owed to a company called Smart Parking.  

I've gone back to Smart parking to request info on the fine itself, proof it is legitimate etc although my worry at the moment is they are saying it will take them 35 days to reply to my appeal, which apparently they have no obligation to do, at which point the debt company may lose patience and knock on my door.  

I'm hoping it is a case of an issue rather than malicious that they didn't send me a letter regarding the fine in the first place but I find it incredibly odd that they can just refer it straight to the debt company without any real attempt to contact me.  

Has anyone experienced anything similar and have an idea on what my options are in this case?

B789

Go back through all your correspondence and count the number of times the word "fine" appears on any of it. If it is greater than zero, I will eat my hat.

The very first thing you need to do right now is have a thorough read of the Newbies/FAQ thread near the top of this forum. A skim-read won't do. You need to understand all about this process/scam you are now in. You will need to refer back to the Newbies/FAQ thread every time you have a question. It is your go-to reference.

You have already broken a cardinal rule by contacting the debt collection company. You do not contact the debt collectors, ever. They have no part to play in this process and no matter how threatening or scary they seem, they are powerless to do anything.

...at which point the debt company may lose patience and knock on my door.

If you read the Newbies/FAQ thread you will know that the "debt company" cannot do anything. "Anything" means exactly what it means. The only thing you need to do with a debt collector letter is to either file it or use it to line the bottom of a birdcage. No one can come knocking at your door unless a whole, long legal process has been followed.

So, now you know you've not been fined, no one can "come knocking at your door" and you never, ever communicate with the useless debt collectors.

Whatever you wrote to (not so) Smart Parking is now considered your appeal and will most likely be rejected. Just do a search of the forums for other (not so) Smart Parking cases.

If you had just used Smart Parking's appeal site, without ever disclosing the drivers identity, this is all you had to put:

this is an appeal by the registered keeper - No driver details will be given. Please do NOT try the usual Group Nexus Trick of asking for driver details in order to get around the fact your NTK does not comply with POFA. As there is no keeper liability then liability cannot flow from the driver to the keeper and thus is an auto win @ POPLA. Please therefore cancel the notice or issue a POPLA code where you will auto withdraw

Umkomaas

If you haven't received anything previously from Smart, have you moved address in the recent past and still have the same vehicle?  If so, did you update the DVLA with your changed address for your V5C (logbook), in addition to updating your driving licence?

Please check your V5C if so, as it's the address on that the DVLA will have supplied Smart. 

daniel_w

So the vehicle in question has only every been registered at my current address and it is the one on the V5C.  The fact I haven't received anything is either due to it not being sent initially for whatever reason or it being lost in the post as nothing has come through my door.  

Umkomaas

Thanks for confirming above. If you want to explore further what Smart say they've sent, and to what address, send them a SAR (a link to a template to use is in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post) which will elicit copies of anything they say they've sent. Be aware that Smart are not litigious and the likelihood of this going any further than silly debt collector letters (which can be safely ignored) is minimal.

Coupon-mad

Nobody knocks on doors. They aren't bailiffs.

No-one here pays Smart Parking.

No-one rings useless bullyboy DRAs.  Please stop phoning!

Just deploy PLAN A in the NEWBIES thread and it will be cancelled this week.