Smart Parking charge

Ray_Von_Geezer

Hi, 

I have read the newbies thread but I'm still not entirely sure how to proceed with this, I think I know but I'm unsure and don't want to !!!!!! anything up.

In brief, the driver went to the Holiday Inn Manchester airport on 23/12/23 believing they had a booking including parking.  Turned out they actually had a booking at the Holiday Inn Express Manchester airport, a different hotel.  It took about 15 minutes at reception to sort out the confusion.  Driver arrived at 16:58 and left at 17:14 per the Smart Parking invoice, picked up on ANP at entry & exit. 

• The car is a company vehicle on lease.
• On 04/04/24 the leasing company received the first copy of a charge notice dated 17/01/24, and exactly the same notice received again on the 08/04/24.  They have confirmed these were the only notifications received.
• On 05/04/24 the lease company emailed the charge notice to our fleet manager who forwarded it to me.
• 05/04/24 I replied back to the lease company advising them that I would be challenging the ticket as the day-to-day keeper of the vehicle and instructed them not to pay any charges on my behalf.
• 11/04/24 the lease company acknowledged that they had transferred liability of the "offence"!! to me.  
• 16/04/24 a copy of the Smart Parking charge arrived addressed to my company.  It's still dated 17/01/24, the only change from the copy sent to the leasing company is the address has been changed.  There are no other documents enclosed.  I received it from our fleet manager on the 22/04/24 

So I think I need to send the email pointing out that they've failed to provide the necessary additional documents, but what I'm not clear on is the timing.  Do I do that 20ish days after receipt of the charge on the 16/04/24, and do I need to write to Smart Parking to declare myself day-to-day keeper or can I proceed even though the charge is addressed to my company?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

RVG

Ray_Von_Geezer

Sorry, when I say "send the email" I mean submit it via their ticket dispute option on their website.

RVG

Coupon-mad

Do it now, in the name of your company.  You only have 21 days (not 28) to reply to a Notice to Hirer and there's no point delaying (that's only a tactic used for windscreen PCNs).

And complain to the Hotel Manager and/or escalate a complaint direct to the UK CEO of Holiday Inn.

Ask them to cancel it by telling their agents to get lost.  They can, you know, and it's never too late.

Ray_Von_Geezer

Coupon-mad said:

Do it now, in the name of your company.  You only have 21 days (not 28) to reply to a Notice to Hirer and there's no point delaying (that's only a tactic used for windscreen PCNs).

And complain to the Hotel Manager and/or escalate a complaint direct to the UK CEO of Holiday Inn.

Ask them to cancel it by telling their agents to get lost.  They can, you know, and it's never too late.

Thank you for the response.  Can I just check that this is the response I should be sending, on the basis that they've failed to provide the necessary hirer documentation?

Dear Sir,

Parking Charge Notice [0123456789]: Vehicle Registration [AA11ABC]

I refer to the above-detailed Parking Charge Notice (“PCN”) issued to me by Smart Parking (SP) as a Notice to Hirer. I confirm that as the hirer of this vehicle, I am its keeper for the purpose of the corresponding definition under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“POFA”) and I write to formally challenge the validity of this PCN.

You will no doubt be familiar with the strict requirements of Schedule 4 of POFA to be followed in order for a parking operator to be able to invoke keeper liability for a Parking Charge. There are a number of reasons why SP's Notice to Hirer did not comply with POFA; in order that you may understand why, I suggest that you carefully study the details of Paragraphs 13 and 14 of Schedule 4 in particular.

Given that SP has forfeited its right to keeper liability, please confirm that you shall now cancel this charge. Alternatively, should you choose to reject my challenge, please provide me with details of the Independent Appeals Service (POPLA), their contact details and a unique POPLA appeal reference so that I may escalate the matter to POPLA.

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,

[Insert squiggle as signature]

Cheers again,

RVG

Ray_Von_Geezer

PS - don't seem to be able to edit (yet?)

There's a separate complaint with the hotel asking them to cancel, but it's slow going and I didn't want to exceed any time limits because of it.

RVG

Gr1pr

You can't edit until your newbie status alters to forumite , probably after a few dozen posts, or a certain time has elapsed, or both 

It looks like the correct template to me, so appeal as keeper hirer, no inferring who was driving, no adding in anything about the incident either, so no additions 

Coupon-mad

Ray_Von_Geezer said:

Coupon-mad said:

Do it now, in the name of your company.  You only have 21 days (not 28) to reply to a Notice to Hirer and there's no point delaying (that's only a tactic used for windscreen PCNs).

And complain to the Hotel Manager and/or escalate a complaint direct to the UK CEO of Holiday Inn.

Ask them to cancel it by telling their agents to get lost.  They can, you know, and it's never too late.

Thank you for the response.  Can I just check that this is the response I should be sending, on the basis that they've failed to provide the necessary hirer documentation?

Dear Sir,

Parking Charge Notice [0123456789]: Vehicle Registration [AA11ABC]

I refer to the above-detailed Parking Charge Notice (“PCN”) issued to me by Smart Parking (SP) as a Notice to Hirer. I confirm that as the hirer of this vehicle, I am its keeper for the purpose of the corresponding definition under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“POFA”) and I write to formally challenge the validity of this PCN.

You will no doubt be familiar with the strict requirements of Schedule 4 of POFA to be followed in order for a parking operator to be able to invoke keeper liability for a Parking Charge. There are a number of reasons why SP's Notice to Hirer did not comply with POFA; in order that you may understand why, I suggest that you carefully study the details of Paragraphs 13 and 14 of Schedule 4 in particular.

Given that SP has forfeited its right to keeper liability, please confirm that you shall now cancel this charge. Alternatively, should you choose to reject my challenge, please provide me with details of the Independent Appeals Service (POPLA), their contact details and a unique POPLA appeal reference so that I may escalate the matter to POPLA.

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,

[Insert squiggle as signature]

Cheers again,

RVG

No. 

You should be using the 'ABC company' version (also supplied by Edna_basher in the NEWIES thread, because you said this NTH is addressed to a company.

An individual does not respond to a NTH addressed to a company hirer.

Ray_Von_Geezer

No. 

You should be using the 'ABC company' version (also supplied by Edna_basher in the NEWIES thread, because you said this NTH is addressed to a company.

An individual does not respond to a NTH addressed to a company hirer.

Ah b*gger, too late - I just submitted that as the appeal.

Any advice on how to fix it, if it's fixable, please?

RVG

Fruitcake

I have found the CEO email website very useful.

CEO email addresses - E-mails address database lists to find contact details of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Managing Directors - free list - UK - US - Asia - customer services - customer care - boss - top man - top woman - complaints resolver

You want the UK CEO email address of IHG (International Hotels Group), who last year was a Mr. Elie Maalouf, but that may of course have changed since.
IHG probably won't own the hotel, but you should lay it on heavily that the good name of IHG is being dragged down by the actions of the unregulated private parking industry referred to as rogues, scammers, and bloodsuckers by UK MPs who operate at hotels bearing the IHG brand.

In my case, the executive office of IHG put pressure on the area manager of the hotel chain to get my PCN cancelled.

You should also complain to your MP.

Don't worry about your appeal. You will win this at PoPLA if Smart don't cancel this time around.

Coupon-mad

Ray_Von_Geezer said:

No. 

You should be using the 'ABC company' version (also supplied by Edna_basher in the NEWIES thread, because you said this NTH is addressed to a company.

An individual does not respond to a NTH addressed to a company hirer.

Ah b*gger, too late - I just submitted that as the appeal.

Any advice on how to fix it, if it's fixable, please?

RVG

But you were not the legal person who could appeal.  I think Smart could just ignore you because you are a third party. 

The company received the NTH.  The company appeals.  I did say in my post earlier 'appeal as the company'.

The company should post an appeal (if they can no longer go online to appeal now that you've done so).  Try it.  The COMPANY needs to appeal as the hirer.