Smart Parking and Hire Car

SeeTheDoughnut

Hi all, hoping I can get some advice from you wise people!

I had a hire car recently, while my car was off the road.

I visited a restaurant where you are exempt from the parking fee if you are a customer. I entered the reg into an iPad on arrival and thought nothing more of it.

I had an email from the car hire company today to inform me that they had received a letter from Smart Parking and that they have given them my details, so that they can resend the letter and parking penalty to me. The hire company have charged me £35 admin fee for this, but that’s another matter and I’m on it!

I will obviously appeal the fine, but the issue is with evidence; I don’t still have the receipt for the restaurant (obviously didn’t realise that I would need evidence for purchasing my plate of nachos!) Unusually for me, I had paid cash - I’d taken cash out to pay for my taxi to the car hire place, but was able to pay the taxi by card.  I’ve emailed the restaurant to ask whether they can send me a copy of the receipt and they have said that they can’t, but can possibly find me on CCTV to prove that I was there.

Is there anything else that I need to be aware of before I appeal? Obviously they know that I was the driver, as they have my details and I was the only person insured to drive the hire car.

Gr1pr

It won't be a Penalty, it will be a Notice to Hirer, a Parking Charge Notice, PCN

its not a fine either, its a Parking Charge Notice, an Invoice, a PCN

try to get the restaurant or landowner onboard ASAP , you require a cancellation as a valid paying customer 

Wait for the NTH PCN to arrive, then appeal as hirer, because the parking company will fail POFA compliance 

They have no actual idea who was driving, despite your assumptions. ( Insurance is irrelevant, I could have been the driver, using my own insurance. ) assumptions are not fact, not proof, admissions are, so no admissions 

Do not jump the gun, wait for the NtH to arrive in the post, one with your own name and address on it 

SeeTheDoughnut

Thank you Gr1pr, much appreciated. 

Half_way

It's really important not to call this a fine or penalty when dealing with the hire company.

Can you post the terms and conditions from the hire company word for word, they usually mention fines and penalties ,of which a charge from a private un regulated parasitic parking company (PPC) is neither.

As for your location, if you have Google maps then you should be be able to see your location history 

SeeTheDoughnut

This is the section in the terms about fines:

(viii) pay any administrative fines, fees, charges, costs, penalties, or other fines that are imposed, issued or incurred in connection with the Renter's usage of the Vehicle during the Rental Period (including usage of the Vehicle by Authorised Drivers or other third parties who are permitted by Renter to use the Vehicle), such as fines or fees for illegal parking or speeding, non-compliance with bus lane, congestion charges, tolls or violations of the rules of the highway or traffic offence or contravention in any country, in all cases, to the extent permitted by law and not caused by Owner;

LDast

And where in any of the paperwork received from the unregulated private parking company is there any mention of "fines", "penalties"? Where has the Hirer done anything "illegal"?

If I sent the hire company an "invoice" for upsetting my senses because the car you hired was not of a colour that I liked... in any way, shape or form, a fine or a penalty and have you done anything illegal or violated any laws? Of course you haven't and VWFS have simply gone and paid such an invoice and also charged you for the privilege.

SeeTheDoughnut

Thank you for the above.  I have received an email from Enterprise, in response to my email informing them that I will appealing the charge. This is the email:

Good afternoon 

Thank you for your email 

 

Please be advised that Enterprise are not the issuer of the fine ( details attached )neither do we have any influence or jurisdiction over the way in which the issuing agencies operate, the decisions they may make in regards to issued penalty notices or the timeframes they work to.

 

Should you wish to appeal, please be advised that this must be done directly with the issuing agency – once the re-issued fine has been received in your name.

 

Should your appeal be successful we would require a written cancellation notice from and as a gesture of goodwill we will be more than happy to refund / cancel the admin fee charged against your account

 

We wish you well with your appeal,

 I hope this clarifies the matter and thank you for your patience during this time.

Kind Regards,

Citations Coordinator

European Citations Division

Do you think that I should wait to receive the PCN before doing anything else? They did attach it to the email, but it is not in my name.  I am considering sending the following email in response, but not sure if I should just hang fire in case I never receive the PCN. The issue is, that they will charge the admin fee to my credit card, and from what they have said, they will only refund this if I receive a cancellation notice!

Dear XXXX

Once I receive a parking charge notice, addressed to me, I will appeal. 

Please note that the letter that you attached is a parking charge notice, not a fine for illegal parking, and as such is not chargeable to the hirer under your terms and conditions. Please see the relevant section below, which does not include parking charge notices:

‘…fines or fees for illegal parking or speeding, non-compliance with bus lane, congestion charges, tolls or violations of the rules of the highway or traffic offence or contravention’

Having taken advice from an independent body regarding this, I do not expect this to be charged to my account, as there are no grounds under which to do so.

Kind Regards, 

Coupon-mad

I'd be far more forceful with the end bit:

"Having taken advice from an independent body regarding this, I do not expect this to be charged to my account, as there are no grounds under which to do so."

Nope.

You WILL NOT pay it if they charge you. Also tell them that the Notice they received is 'non-POFA' worded (Smart Parking don't use the keeper liability law) so this is nothing to do with Enterprise and (unlike PoFA worded NTKs) is not and can never be their liability so you forbid them to pay it. Driver liability only.

LDast

You may also want to point out to the "Citations Coordinator" that they need to brush up on their knowledge about the difference between a "fine" or "penalty" for an "offence" and a speculative invoice from an unregulated private parking company. While you're at it, try sending them an invoice for your time spent sealing with their !!!!!!-up and see if the rush to pay it.

SeeTheDoughnut

Thank you Coupon-mad.  I will reword that part. The problem is, I won’t have a choice whether or not pay it, as they have my card on file and will just charge it to my card.  

LDast,  I will point out there is no ‘offence’, thank you.

I can see how they make their money with people just paying up! Really wishing I had just made some nachos at home that day!

Coupon-mad

Chargeback obviously!

FORBID them to charge your card and tell them what I said = non-POFA, it is not their liability.

That 'PCN' is driver liability ONLY and is not and never will be theirs to pay.  Unlike some private PCNs that one isn't a 'keeper liability' one. Spell it out.

They won't know it is non-POFA ... so tell them.

There is no problem here.  You will not be paying.