Smart Parking, again!

sharonross

I have seen several previous threads about Smart Parking, but all seem to have been closed.
I have just put this review on Trustpilot and similar on Google after I stopped off at Angouleme Way in Bury after dropping hubby in Bolton. Smart Parking are the company concerned. I detest being ripped off, not the money, matter of principal. Check them out on Trustpilot, they have ripped off so many people! Most just pay the £60 to avoid it costing more, sad!

I parked here for an hour and twenty minutes on July 28th, paid for 2 hours, cash in meter, ticket on dashboard. On Sept 1st received Parking Charge Notice, supposedly issued on 24th August, To pay £100 or £60 within 28 days. I was amazed how many people had exactly the same experience.

I will not be bullied. I have appealed to Smart Parking, not optimistic. A Penalty Charge Notice or PCN issued by the council or police has to be issued within 28 days, you have to pay, it is genuine. A PARKING charge notice is not a fine, it is an invoice. It is not a PCN and if nothing was put on your car at the time they have 14 days to issue it. It is out of time. If they try to enforce it I will appeal to POPLA and if that fails I will see them in court.

They wait as long as possible so you are more likely to have forgotten whether you paid, or lost your ticket. They call it a PCN to make you think they have 28 days, and manipulate the dates of postage so it looks as if they are within this. Doesn't take 8 days for a letter to arrive! They threaten that you will lose the reduction to £60 if you appeal. They cannot do this. If it is under appeal, with them or POPLA or court they cannot increase the amount to £100 until they win, if they do. They are bullies.

Fighting this tooth and nail. You will find me on Facebook if you had a similar experience and want to message me. I have already emailed Picton who own the site, and all retailers based there. News papers and MP will be next.

They just depend on people rolling over and paying the £60 in case it goes up to £100. They need to be stopped!

Ps I have read advice suggesting not admitting to being the driver etc to avoid being invoiced. However this just papers over the cracks. It may help avoiding paying but it won't stop them doing it to someone else. 
I believe it is better to expose them. Any help Martin Lewis? 
May be significant that Smart Parking withdraw if you appeal to POPLA more times than any other company, and they virtually never take anyone to court.
Like most bullies, back down if you stand up to them!
Companies House lists Mrs Johanna Hiney as a director, Unit 43 Elmdon Trading Estate, Birmingham B37 7HE. Main director Paul Guillespie, 5 South Inch Business Centre, Shore Road, Perth PH2 8 BW.  He lives in Australia. The company has had several trading names and their 2023 accounts are overdue.  Many previous directors have resigned. 

Grizebeck

oh my , why all the stress
easy to beat, a few correct words beat them
yes it can take 8 letters to arrive depending on the mailing service used (please get your facts right)

Umkomaas

A PARKING charge notice is not a fine, it is an invoice. It is not a PCN and if nothing was put on your car at the time they have 14 days to issue it. It is out of time. If they try to enforce it I will appeal to POPLA and if that fails I will see them in court.

They have 14 days to issue if they are seeking Keeper Liability. If they are not seeking that, they have 6 months to access DVLA database, plus a further month to issue a parking charge to the driver. Smart Parking (unless they've changed their MO) don't seek Keeper Liability. 

I have appealed to Smart Parking, not optimistic.

Can we see, verbatim, what you said in your appeal please? 

Any help Martin Lewis?

We've got @Coupon-mad!

Coupon-mad

I hope you didn't say who was driving?

sharonross

Yes I said who was driving. I am not a liar. I can beat this without resorting to lying. This needs to be exposed.

Coupon-mad

sharonross said:

Yes I said who was driving. I am not a liar. I can beat this without resorting to lying. This needs to be exposed.

No-one said to lie.  You should have waited for our advice.

Could have won with one email. No lies.

Artlover_101

Impossible people to deal with.

I went to one of their car parks and their ticket machine refused to accept any of my payment cards.  I drove out of the car park and two weeks later received a demand for £100 for parking less than a minute beyond the statutory ten minutes grace period..  Way out of order and unenforceable.  They rejected my appeal, playing games with false statements, 'flexible' deadline dates and intimidation, so I paid up and am putting together a case to go to court if I have to.  It isn't as though I chose not to pay to park - their lousy system would not let me - and wrecked my day, nearly as much as their faked PCN.

How am I supposed to know precisely how many minutes and seconds I wasted punching the keyboard on their machine which did not work?  Is it mandatory to use a stopwatch?

I have contacted Kent County Council who own the land and am hopeful they can sort this rubbish out.  Smart Parking is doing a great job driving visitors away from Kent, and with the Council's help.

Coupon-mad

Artlover_101 said:

Impossible people to deal with.

I went to one of their car parks and their ticket machine refused to accept any of my payment cards.  I drove out of the car park and two weeks later received a demand for £100 for parking less than a minute beyond the statutory ten minutes grace period..  Way out of order and unenforceable.  They rejected my appeal, playing games with false statements, 'flexible' deadline dates and intimidation, so I paid up and am putting together a case to go to court if I have to.  It isn't as though I chose not to pay to park - their lousy system would not let me - and wrecked my day, nearly as much as their faked PCN.

How am I supposed to know precisely how many minutes and seconds I wasted punching the keyboard on their machine which did not work?  Is it mandatory to use a stopwatch?

I have contacted Kent County Council who own the land and am hopeful they can sort this rubbish out.  Smart Parking is doing a great job driving visitors away from Kent, and with the Council's help.

If you require further replies please start your own thread in due course.

But oh dear: "so I paid up "

Why? Oh dear.

Good luck getting it back...I am so sad to read you did that. You don't ever have to pay Smart Parking. You could have easily beaten any Smart Parking PCN with one email appeal as keeper.

Artlover_101

Thanks Coupon-mad

Points taken.  Thing is: Smart Parking is a bitter twisted and arrogant creature of habit, and plays the same game pretty much every time. The chain starts with a dodgy claim (in my case impossibly dodgy) they delay 14 days in notifying, then you appeal and they stretch out a further 14 days rejecting summarily with b.s..  One major feature throughout is to abuse the deadline system to the wire leaving a driver paralysed in its spider's web having run out of time at every stage - and ready to be harassed by bully-boy debt collectors.

I have to prove that their claim is false and actionable in detail and there was no way to put all the evidence together in just a few days. Without paying up, I have no chance of avoiding their scheme because I get shot before I have a chance to get my feet off the ground.  There are three "Subject Access Requests" in place which take up to 30 days, and one "Freedom of Information" request which takes up to 20 days. The Leader's Office in Kent County Council is active, and they need time as well.  There is also potential media interest brewing.

I'll follow your advice and start a new thread once more of the case develops.

fisherjim

Artlover_101 said:

 Way out of order and unenforceable.  

........ so I paid up and am putting together a case to go to court if I have to. 

I have contacted Kent County Council who own the land and am hopeful they can sort this rubbish out.  Smart Parking is doing a great job driving visitors away from Kent, and with the Council's help.

You are sadly misguided none of what you say makes sense and the OP should ignore what you are on about.

1 "unenforceable" and yet you paid their scam charge

2 Forget going to court you paid it's done move on

3 Kent County Council cannot use a PPC on their land, if they operate that car park. If they are that's another story and you need to start another thread and explain fully.

Artlover_101

Thanks, fisherjim.

Two questions:   what is an OP?    and what is a PPC?

Kent County Council says that it believes strictly speaking it has neither control nor influence over Smart Parking Limited's practices unless they breach BPA parking standards or the law sufficiently to breach the terms of their lease.

The case is not a typical dispute over a wilfully unpaid ticket or an overstay, and this area of the law as discussed in this blog by experts is not my expertise. In the strict sense of the term contractually I did not "park" and was prevented from parking by Smart Parking themselves because their payment machine was out of order.  Smart Parking predictably refuses to enter into any discussion of the failure of their payment system, and for sure POPLA would equally decline showing interest.  I had to pay up or face the prospect of debt collectors pursuing me at a not too much later date.

Their claim that I entered their definition of their site at a certain time, and that I left it ten minutes and fifty seconds later, is correct and not available for dispute.  I am in the same position as someone charged with driving at 32.5 mph in a 30mph speed limit zone.  However there are multiple other irregularities which can only form part of a court action to go into sufficient depth.