Smart Parking SP#

getitsorted0

Hello everyone

As hundreds of others, I’ve spent hours reading through and took the plunge to appeal the PCN I received with the wording provided by you experts! 

This is an appeal by the registered keeper - No driver details will be given. Please do NOT try the usual Smart Parking Trick of asking for driver details in order to get around the fact your NTK does not comply with POFA. As there is no keeper liability then liability cannot flow from the driver to the keeper and thus is an auto win at POPLA. Please therefore cancel the notice or issue a POPLA code where you will auto withdraw.

The PCN issued is the newer version starting with SP. 

(date of contravention- 02/04/2025) and (date of issue- 15/04/2025). 

As a newbie I would like to add that it takes quite a bit of bouncing around around from one thread to another to fully understand the steps to take, I guess with the wealth of information and the 100’s of threads (mine now included) it’s inevitable and can be quite jittery. 

So far ->

plan A - attempted without success

plan B - appeal in progress 

and  I’ll keep you posted as to how this progresses. 

Coupon-mad

So far, we've seen Smart still accept these appeals even though SP ref PCNs are POFA ones.

getitsorted0

I have 2 questions please:

1. when they reject my appeal, which I have read is in most / if not all cases. I will use ‘The one-liner at the POPLA stage about 'no landowner authority'. 

The car park is in Birmingham - Lyndon House, where the ANPR has captured the car entering and exiting for a time period of 11 mins. 

I have searched on line to find out who the car park is owned by and if the one liner will be applicable. I have not had any success finding out. 

How do I ascertain that the one liner will be applicable and if it will be accepted?

2. Given the dates of contravention and issue, I don’t it was within 14 days which they should have notified me. 

Contravention 02/04/2025, so it’s considered from the next working day. 
03/04/2025 to the 15/04/2025 plus 2 working days for delivery  =15 days if I’m calculating it correctly?

Your responses would be much appreciated. 

Umkomaas

1. It's worked every time we've advised the approach, I don't recall anyone reporting otherwise.

2. Looks like you've got that right. You could use that too in your POPLA appeal. 

fisherjim

If the entrance signage (or lack of) is still this bad they are on a sticky wicket:

ChirpyChicken

The one liner is always applicable. Nothing else is needed
That's all you need to know tbh.

getitsorted0

ChirpyChicken said:

The one liner is always applicable. Nothing else is needed
That's all you need to know tbh.

Curiosity gets the better of us and we want the technical know how I guess 😬🤷🏻‍♀️

but yes, ultimately that is the end goal to ensure it is applicable and accepted. 11mins £100 🤬

ChirpyChicken

your not paying that regardless of what happens

SpinninginInfinity

Interesting that Smart Parking always fold when land owner authority is bought up. I mean they are a bunch of nincompoops aren't they.

I wonder if anyone has ever dug a little deeper.

Would there be a case for misuse of data if Smart were acting without such authority?.....

Coupon-mad

I suspect they only have authority as agents of the landowner to issue PCNs and nothing more.

getitsorted0

Good evening all

I have received the below response to my appeal 

Thank you for your recent communication.

Having considered your appeal in detail we have decided to uphold the Parking Charge (PC) 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 20/05/2025.

As you were informed in our initial correspondence, we can confirm that the above parking charge was issued under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA 2012). The parking contravention occurred on 02.04.2025, the registered keeper details were received on 11.04.2025, after which the Parking Charge (PC) was promptly issued within the 14 days required under POFA 2012. You were also invited to provided us with the driver’s full name and current postal address, if you were not the driver at the time of the parking event.

If you wish to provided driver details please send them via email to:

COD@smartparking.com

In the event that you fail to provide these details, we will use the provisions under POFA, 2012, and continue to pursue you the registered keeper, for the outstanding balance.

Failure to provide these details, will result in Smart Parking using the provisions under POFA, 2012 to pursue you, the registered keeper, for the outstanding balance of the PC.

We note the comments made within your appeal however, we cannot rescind the Parking Charge on this basis. We would like to advise that the site in question has a process in place whereby authorised individuals can report vehicle registration marks (VRMs) that they wish to be made exempt from the advertised terms, conditions and parking restrictions. Having thoroughly reviewed our records we can confirm that we have not received any correspondence from the site/an authorised individual regarding your vehicle, on or before the date of contravention. Therefore your vehicle was not authorised to remain on site as stated on the advertised Terms and Conditions.

We can confirm that the contravention of unauthorised parking occurred as your vehicle remained on site for 10 minutes. We can confirm that this PC has been issued correctly and we have made the decision to uphold the parking charge. The Terms and Conditions of the car park are clearly advertised around the site and must be adhered to by all drivers.

You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure and therefore you now have two options, you can pay or appeal further with POPLA – you cannot do both.

The Appellant has the right to appeal to an Independent Appeals Service, POPLA (Parking on Private

Smart Parking Ltd. Registered Office: 5 South Inch Business Centre, Shore Road, Perth PH2 8BW

Registered in Scotland. Company Registration No: SC138255Land Appeals) using the POPLA Verification Number provided below. Please note, should you decide to appeal to POPLA and your appeal is subsequently rejected, the option to pay a discounted amount will no longer be available and the full amount of the PC will be due.

The verification number you will need to appeal is **********. If the appellant decides to appeal to POPLA, they will need to visit the website, www.popla.co.uk where further details of how to appeal (either online or by downloading the relevant forms) can be found. If the appellant is unable to access the website, please contact us for further information on how to obtain the forms. Please ensure that the POPLA Verification Number as noted above is quoted in all correspondence to POPLA. The appellant has 28 days from the date of this letter to submit an appeal to POPLA.

By law we are also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsman-services.org/) provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal.

However, we have not chosen to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.

Alternatively, your 3 payment options are:

———————————————————-

As I mentioned above, I will be escalating to POPLA stating the below, but wanted to cross this reference with the information they have stated about receiving the keepers details on the 11th (in bold above) added to throw me off? 

Contravention 02/04/2025, so taken from the next working day, 03/04/2025 to the 15/04/2025 plus 2 working days for delivery  =15 days

As always your help and advice is appreciated.