SmartParking Ltd

MarkSmith88

I received a letter from these people in December with a fine of £60 for using their car park without a permit and a threat to increase to £100 if not paid within 14 days, the incident took place in November:

After entering the car park I attempted to pay at the machine. I tried multiple times to enter my registration number and the machine asked for coins, which I did not have. I went through the process multiple times but the card reader did not scan my phone or any of my cards. 

I then called the telephone number on the sign to attempt to pay over phone, but only got an automated message telling me to download the app.

I downloaded the app and it told me I already had an account, so I had to reset my password.

I reset my password and logged in and entered my registration number, the app told me this number was not correct and to delete me account. So I deleted my account and tried to create a new one. At this point the app told me that my email address was already in use!

So I gave up and left the car park to find alternate parking instead, instead as I was already late for work. The whole ordeal took 19 minutes and never left the car park. Their timestamp photos of my car entering and leaving show that this was all the time I was there.

I have appealed and submitted as evidence screenshots of sms messages from the app telling me my number was in use and attempting to re-authenticate and call logs from my telephone provider showing I called the number during the timeframe.

The appeal was rejected on the grounds that there was signage!

I've sent the same appeal to POPLA who say they will take 2-4 weeks to review my appeal and issue a decision, what do you think my chances are of a favourable outcome?

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complaint to the landowner and your MP. Have you done this yet?

Where did the alleged event occur? It may have cropped up here before.

Generally, motorists stand a 40 - 50% chance of winning at PoPLA as long as they put forward a decent case.

You could easily have beaten Smart if you hadn't identified the driver, or used the bespoke appeal advocated by regular poster Grizebeck. 

None of this matters because a PoPLA decision is not binding on the motorist so can be ignored. In addition, Smart don't normally do court and it is unlikely they would start with a one off PCN where the motorist has proof of a faulty pay machine.

MarkSmith88

It was Howard Street Car Park in Belfast

Coupon-mad

NI?! Why did you try POPLA?

You are meant to ignore Smart Parking in NI.  Next time don't appeal at all, let alone say who was driving.  Stop engaging.  You will lose at POPLA most likely.  Ignore that.

MarkSmith88

So, assuming POPLA don't uphold me appeal, I'm best to just ignore and hope they don't take me to court? Since I've admitted to being the driver could they hurt my credit score?

Coupon-mad

No. You are in NI and untouchable.

MarkSmith88

That's reassuring. But just to play devil's advocate, could I just park there again in the future, without a permit, indefinitely, for free, and because I'm in Northern Ireland, face no consequences?

Umkomaas

MarkSmith88 said:

That's reassuring. But just to play devil's advocate, could I just park there again in the future, without a permit, indefinitely, for free, and because I'm in Northern Ireland, face no consequences?

We would never advise anything other than parking in accordance with signage within the car park. The car park owner (that won't be Smart) needs income to maintain the car park, otherwise you'll be parking in future on bomb-site locations full of potholes. We will always help fight PCNs from private parking firms, but we are not parking anarchists. 

MarkSmith88

Yeah as I said I was playing devil's advocate. In this case I did try to comply but left as soon as I realised I couldn't due to technical issues with the app. @Coupon-mad said that I was "untouchable", presumably because debt collectors have no jurisdiction in NI. But I just want to clarify that they definitely can't put a black mark on my credit score that could cost me in a few years time when I need to remortgage for example?

Coupon-mad

No they can't unless they took you to court and won AND if you then refused to pay. Not gonna happen!

But what you DON'T do is get multiple PCNs and mark yourself as that person in ten thousand who they might want to try a punt at a NI Court over.   If you rack up a five figure sum in unpaid PCNs then you might be marked out as the person to sue 'pour encourager les autres'.

Google this:

Carly Mackie parking claim Scotland.

She deliberately continued to park against private land rules again and again in a UK Country (just like yours in terms of the applicable lack of law), where there is no 'keeper liability' and no-one is sued usually in Scotland or NI. 

You just don't go round collecting multiple private PCNs!  You'll see why not from that case.

A single PCN or a few in NI can be totally ignored and the LAST thing you do is say who was driving - eek no!  POPLA was pointless for you and if you win it'll be on something like unclear signs.  You basically have next to no chance & should never ever have tried POPLA. Obviously no paying it though!  IGNORE.

And just to add: we are not here to condone bad or inconsiderate parking. That's not what we do.

But we do know our stuff and in NI you are untouchable - except if you park somewhere that has wheel-clamping (that's illegal in England but not in NI).

MarkSmith88

Just to update on this, the POPLA appeal was rejected.

Whilst I acknowledge the appellant’s comments and evidence, the site they have been issued a charge on does not accept payment of any kind. It is for permit holders only, as the appellant was not a permit holder, they were not permitted to park on the site. 

Not sure how this is true, as there was a machine that accepted coins and signage did direct me to pay with the RingGo app/telephone number.

There's no way to request any further clarification on this point and the POPLA decision is final.

Is the advice from here still to just ignore any further contact from them?