Smart Parking turned into Debt Recovery Plus - Looking for advice

donkeykong123

Morning,

So I received a Smart Parking Notice on the 12th August 2024, for a contravention dated 26th July 2024. For note, parking was paid for 4 hours on the app between the times of 1.04pm - 4.04pm at Tower Road, Newquay (when the vehicle was actually parked) The car park was left at 4:03:37pm - although the vehicle was recorded entering the car park at 12:50:34 but was unable to be parked due to the busy Cornish summer.

The charge was appealed on the 20th August , and a emailed was received saying it was submitted and would hear back within 28 days (this never happened, constantly checked junk/spam folders, and searched emails from that company). No mention of the driver was made during the appeal as per advice I'd seen on this forum.

Fast forward to the 23rd October 2024, lo and hold a letter from Debt Recovery Plus (dated 16th October) asking for £170 which of course will be ignored and not paid.

Please can someone advise my next steps (complaints to Smart Parking? Or something else?). I appreciate there are loads of threads which I've read, but would be good to achieve some personalised advice for my situation detailed above. Happy to provide any further details that may help.

Thanks.

Gr1pr

Use the complaints link for Smart Parking on the BPA AOS members list, complaining about the lack of appeal response and no popla code 

Ignore DRP LTD 

Nellymoser

Try Plan A in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement thread to get PCN cancelled. 

Email formal complaint to Smart as they referred to DRP without delivering your appeal outcome and denying you the opportunity to appeal to POPLA. Tell them you will escalate the complaint to the BPA DVLA as well as your local MP if they fail to address this. 

donkeykong123

Thanks both, I'll do at you've said and update with any reply I receive

Coupon-mad

donkeykong123 said:

Thanks both, I'll do at you've said and update with any reply I receive

Search the forum for:

Smart Parking complain appeal Debt Recovery

this is a pattern with Smart. 

donkeykong123

They have replied with the following;

"We have taken note in the comments raised and offer the following response in reference to your complaint.

 Smart Parking Limited would like to clarify that by accepting liability of being in possession of the vehicle and stating “I” in their appeal to Smart Parking Limited, therefore appealing as the driver on the date of contravention.

We can see that an appeal was received on 18/08/2024, and a response to your appeal was issued via email on 04/09/2024. A copy of our response is attached.

Following on, as a response was issued to you, and no further correspondence was received, the charge naturally escalated to Debt Recovery Plus on 15/10/2024.

As you have stated that the response was not received, we have pulled the charge back from Debt Recovery Plus and reinstated the discount period, thus allowing you to make a payment at the discounted rate, or the option to submit a further appeal with POPLA.

Please be advised, the discount period will expire on 14/11/2024 and if you wish to make a payment against your charge, we advise that it is made by this date."

I don't have access to my initial appeal, but am quite sure 'I' wasn't used in a way to accept any liability of being the driver. Also, they definitely did not respond to me on the 4th September as they claim, but attached a PDF with what they claim to have sent me.

"Having considered your appeal in detail we have decided to uphold the Parking Charge as we believe that it was correctly issued in accordance with the terms and conditions advertised within the area concerned. As your appeal was received within the initial discount period we have extended the discount period until 18/09/2024. We note the comments made in your appeal, however we cannot rescind the PCN on this basis. We can confirm that the contravention is in relation to insufficient paid time. This is due to the fact that our payment system confirms that 180 minutes were purchased against Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) YG19NKK however the vehicle was on site for 193 minutes. The signage clearly informs drivers to purchase a valid ticket for the duration of their stay. Please also be advised that additional time can be purchased at any point during your vehicles stay, before exiting the car park. We wish to inform that the car park in question is operated by ANPR cameras which capture images of your vehicle entering and exiting the site, which subsequently calculates your total stay duration. This information is then paired with the information entered into the payment machine to ensure the correct payment has been made against the full and correct vehicle registration for the total duration the vehicle is on site, which is calculated from entrance to exit. As the vehicle was on site in excess of the time purchased and no additional payments were made to cover the entire duration of the stay, we can confirm that the advertised Terms and Conditions were breached and subsequently the PCN has been issued correctly. The Terms and Conditions of the car park are clearly advertised around the site and must be adhered to by all drivers"

Should be next step be appealing to POPLA, or is there something else? If I am appealing, please advise on what my appeal should include.

Thank you.

Gr1pr

POPLA appeal 

I assume that the driver was not revealed in the appeal  ?

If not, appeal as keeper, mainly on their failures non compliance with POFA, no keeper liability, no transfer of liability from the driver to the keeper, no landowner authority, poor and inadequate signage , any BPA CoP failures too

Study the replies by Grizebeck regarding no landowner contract 

Study other recent Smart Parking Popla appeal cases too 

Grizebeck

To beat smart all you need is the below. Nothing else. Simple
The operator does not have a contract to issue PCNs as this site.

Coupon-mad

Grizebeck said:

To beat smart all you need is the below. Nothing else. Simple
The operator does not have a contract to issue PCNs as this site.

As above, honestly it works at POPLA but only against Smart Parking. Tried & tested. Don't question it.

donkeykong123

Just posting to update with a success story:

"The operator has contacted us and told us that they have withdrawn your appeal.

If you have already paid your parking charge, this is the reason your appeal will have been withdrawn. Unfortunately, you cannot pay your parking charge and appeal, which means that POPLA’s involvement in your appeal has ended. You will not be able to request a refund of the amount paid in order to resubmit your appeal to us.

If you have not paid your parking charge, the operator has reviewed your appeal and chosen to cancel the parking charge. As the operator has withdrawn your appeal, POPLA’s involvement has now ended and you do not need to take any further action.

Kind regards"

Thank you everyone who helped above!

KeithP

donkeykong123 said:

Just posting to update with a success story:

"The operator has contacted us and told us that they have withdrawn your appeal.

If you have already paid your parking charge, this is the reason your appeal will have been withdrawn. Unfortunately, you cannot pay your parking charge and appeal, which means that POPLA’s involvement in your appeal has ended. You will not be able to request a refund of the amount paid in order to resubmit your appeal to us.

If you have not paid your parking charge, the operator has reviewed your appeal and chosen to cancel the parking charge. As the operator has withdrawn your appeal, POPLA’s involvement has now ended and you do not need to take any further action.

Kind regards"

Thank you everyone who helped above!

Well done.

Can you please post the full text of the appeal you submitted to PoPLA. It may help others.