SM4RT one liner POPLA failed

G-nome

Writing on behalf of a friend who got a PCN  for their car and has followed the advice here re not naming the driver at the first appeal to SMtime and challenging (not so) SM4RT with the 'one liner' at POPLA. 

SMART have come back last week with Operator Information and Evidence, so POPLA appeal seems to have been rejected unless the friend can fight it. 

SM4RT's  'Evidence' is :
-ANPR photo, of their car
-A document showing the signs at the said car park
- A long winded 10 page Case Summary (deliberately written in an obfuscation attempt) kind of explanation, which interestingly states:
    That my friend was given grace of 10 minutes (their overstay was 11mins - friend had had a       panic attack and felt unsafe to drive and they couldn't get out of the car park as it was so busy (not reported to POPLA as used one liner). The friend argues that they have to prove that they were parked they reckon that they were queing for at least 5 minutes to get out of the car park - that was also not mentioned in appeal)
   That the friend could have paid and avoided the fine (there are no machines at that site it's a time limit/no return type !)
-A very sketchy looking highly redacted .pdf  of an Extension of Parking Contract between SM4RT and ??? which was redacted.  It seems to be a scan which has got a box of redacted signatures super-imposed on it, the dates don't really tally either - to me it looks faked.

 What is really awful is that at the time of the alleged overstay my friend was super stressed because they were getting essentials for their terminally ill father, they themselves are autistic and had a massive panic attack at the time of overstay they did not entirely realise they overstayed were trying to calm down to get out of the car park safely (too many people in there)-  their father passed away soon after and they just buried him last week... when this POPLA rejection arrived.

Please does anyone have any advice (pretty urgent as the friend didn't open their email due to their fathers death and having to organise the funeral / attend the funeral etc, and must respond by Wednesday)

Heartfelt thank you on behalf of my friend (who has also been very unwell), for any help 

kryten3000

Ignore the outcome and wait for a letter of claim. Smart are using DCB Legal and they will discontinue and defended claim. 

POPLA is not binding on the motorist. 

Coupon-mad

SMART have come back last week with Operator Information and Evidence, so POPLA appeal seems to have been rejected unless the friend can fight it.

But an evidence pack isn't a POPLA rejection!

Several people have recently posted a picture of the heavily redacted 'Schedule' supplied by Smart Parking and have easily rebutted it in their final comments sent to POPLA in May. Did you miss those threads?

The appellant needs to show us the landowner authority 'evidence' same as everyone else did on other threads.

Why do you think it's lost?

Doesn't even matter if it is! Nobody pays.

Car1980

they were getting essentials for their terminally ill father, they themselves are autistic and had a massive panic attack at the time of overstay they did not entirely realise they overstayed were trying to calm down to get out of the car park safely (too many people in there)-  their father passed away soon after and they just buried him last week... when this POPLA rejection arrived.

They are mitigating circumstances, which are irrelevant. 

So make them relevant by looking at it from a contract law angle.

Google Frustration of Contract.

Coupon-mad

they themselves are autistic and had a massive panic attack at the time of overstay.

That's not irrelevant. Not mere 'mitigation'. It's a matter of disability law.

The driver was protected by the Equality Act 2010 and where needed, he was entitled to more time, by statute law.

Autism is 100% a protected characteristic and autistic motorists/shoppers will very often need more time than the fixed hours to park that apply to other drivers without such needs.

G-nome

Thank you @Coupon-mad , @kryten3000 and @Car1980

 

Sorry @Coupon-mad, I think I see the thread you are referring too....

Issued with smart parking pcn and expecting many more

My friend is in a massive panic about the PCN, this on top of dealing with the death of their father which I have been trying to support them with.  I think I also panicked when they said what they had recieved and hadn't realised it was some sort of evidence pack - it makes sense now, it was due to reading people saying 'one liner works every time' but not seeing other posts regarding the evidence packs.  We sat down together and trawled the forum but not well enough - apologies for that - we only went back about 12 pages and the search function didn't really throw anything out to us.

Unfortunately my friend and I had not put anything about their disability i the original POPLA as although they have a formal diagnosis they do not claim PIP/have a blue badge etc (they are considered very high functioning* in that they can blend in socially - just about - but have a lot of really hidden disabilities which makes their life quite difficult) so I think we can't mention it going forward (it would be useful ).

Apologies to anyone re the "high functioning label" we don't like it either but not sure how to get it across!)

Coupon-mad

Unfortunately my friend and I had not put anything about their disability i the original POPLA as although they have a formal diagnosis they do not claim PIP/have a blue badge etc (they are considered very high functioning* in that they can blend in socially - just about - but have a lot of really hidden disabilities which makes their life quite difficult) so I think we can't mention it going forward (it would be useful ).

Yep they can't add that to the POPLA comments but could certainly rely on it in a court defence...because they DO NOT need to panic and WILL NOT be paying if the POPLA appeal is lost.  Nobody here does!

We urgently need to see the landowner authority evidence from the pack, please as they only have six days to add some comments and that is the only aspect worth commenting about, apart from if the £100 is in very small print on the signs (that would be worth a comment).  Show us the signage evidence too, the close up.

1505grandad

Also check that the signage evidence is date and time stamped relevant to the parking event.

G-nome

Here is the Landowner Authority from the pack
Note that the 'signature' was pasted on top of the letter (this can be seen by zooming in!)

Coupon-mad

Well you can see what's wrong with that!

Signs as well please, as we asked?

G-nome

Will upload the others in a tick
Thank you so much for your help by the way.