Smart parking pcn

moondust

Good afternoon. I'm looking for some advice from anyone in the know please. 
In December I parked in a carpark in Devon and having found the correct change purchased a ticket. In early Jan received a PCN from smart parking which I appealed immediately. I still have the ticket which was purchased 6 minutes after the camera pic entering and covers me well past the time I left the carpark. 
I had a confirmation that my appeal was received but have heard nothing since. 
I have had 2 letters from debt collection agency asking for £160 or court action will be taken. I have tried contacting smart parking by phone but they are uncontactable. I have spoken with the debt recovery company and asked them to stop sending letters and have been told the matter will be dealt with in court! 

Surely I should've had some response to my appeal before any further action was taken? Isn't this unlawful otherwise? I really don't see why I should pay a fine when I had a valid ticket. 
Any advice gratefully received as I'm not sure what my next steps should be. Will this go to court? 

Many thanks 

Gr1pr

Nothing to do with lawful or not

Was the driver revealed in your appeal, yes or no answer please 

At the moment there are dozens of similar cases on here, more every week 

You go to the Complaints Policy link on the BPA AOS members website under Smart Parking, sending in a complaint about the lack of a response 

If that fails to obtain a reasonable response, you then complain to the BPA AOS compliance team on the BPA website, with copies of the complaint and complaint response etc

Do not contact the debt collectors 

Its not a fine, its a private parking charge notice from a private parking company 

Read this thread 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6524829/smart-parking-no-response

moondust

Ok. And no. 

moondust

I think I would argue that faking appeal response letters is potentially unlawful though.

Gr1pr

Maybe so, but that does not change your course of action, but the more it happens and is identified then maybe coupon mad and others can get something done about it, to the detriment of private parking companies and powerless debt collectors 

Coupon-mad

moondust said:

I think I would argue that faking appeal response letters is potentially unlawful though.

Complain like I told someone else to do, telling them that Coupon-mad from MSE forum (they know me...) will tell the DLUHC about this if the BPA fail to sort out this little game by Smart & Debt Recovery Plus

moondust

I received an email response from smart parking claiming that they responded to my appeal, with a copy of the appeal response letter, which I never got... They claim I did not input my full registration no when buying the ticket (which I know I did) and therefore because the full reg no wasn't displayed on the ticket it is invalid. 
I know I inputted my full registration number, but only the last 3 letters appear on the ticket. This is clearly a machine error and not mine. I'm guessing I'm not the first person that they have pulled this stunt with, and that most people capitulate and pay the fine to make it go away... How is this company allowed to continue in business? 

Gr1pr

Then complain to the BPA AOS compliance team stating your side of the story and add the evidence, including their response and how there are too many cases for it to be a one off 

As for the company, its currently an unregulated industry so there is little or no oversight, its not regulated like financial companies, not yet 

MPs have complained about Smart and others in the commons and Lords for over a decade and a new law was passed 5 years ago to regulate the industry, but we are still waiting for the new mandatory DLUHC CoP to arrive and only then will things change 

Have you complained about it to your local MP yet. ?  Most of us have and coupon mad has been battling for change for over a decade, as have many others around the country, you can watch her interview with Alexis Konran on the beach on YouTube, that was done a few years ago 

Coupon-mad

moondust said:

I received an email response from smart parking claiming that they responded to my appeal, with a copy of the appeal response letter, which I never got... They claim I did not input my full registration no when buying the ticket (which I know I did) and therefore because the full reg no wasn't displayed on the ticket it is invalid. 
I know I inputted my full registration number, but only the last 3 letters appear on the ticket. This is clearly a machine error and not mine. I'm guessing I'm not the first person that they have pulled this stunt with, and that most people capitulate and pay the fine to make it go away... 

Re-read the linked thread and all the case I linked in my reply there.  There is no need to guess.  We've already shown you other cases, we have about 15 of them now.  You are one.  Complain to the BPA and tell them I am watching this and will share the pattern that is emerging with the DLUHC.

How is this company allowed to continue in business?

Because no-one exists to stop them until the new Code of Practice is live.  Later this year.