Smart Parking refused landowner's request - court papers received three years later

Smick100

I was a regular volunteer musician at an event held in a church. This event was usually on a Sunday, but there was a Spring Fayre on a Saturday in March 2022 and I played, without receiving payment.

Unbeknownst to me, and other volunteers, the church had engaged with Smart Parking to issue tickets from Monday to Saturday so, on my first Saturday visit, I received a fine in the post. There were five other volunteers fined, six of us in total. As far as I am concerned, we were invited into the car park and not informed of the restrictions. There is a sign on entry which says "Patrons of St Luke's Church Only", which I consider myself to have been, and an instruction to see terms and condition signage. After receiving the fine, I went back and took photos of both signs.

At the time, I contacted the event organisers who took all details and told me that the church secretary had written to the parking company to get the fine cancelled.

I phoned the parking company to ask whether the notice had been cancelled and was told that unless I am making payment, they would not communicate with me and so I decided to put my trust in the actions of the church.

Fast forward 3 years and I started to receive threatening letters from debt collection agencies referring to the fine back then. I didn't really know how to proceed so ignored their letters until now, and have received a claim form from HM Courts & Tribunal Service for the original amount, plus interest, plus legal and court fees.

I emailed the Fayre organisers today and it transpires that the church secretary did contact Smart Parking to have the fines cancelled but had their request refused. She wrote back a second time, stating we had permission to park but was told  'management have not authorised the cancellation on this occasion as the PCN was issued correctly in good faith due to process not being followed'. The fayre organisers then contacted local councillors etc, but I was not informed of any of this. The church contacting Smart Parking suggests that I had their permission to be in their car park.

I have my record from the Fayre organisers that the church secretary had made request to have the fine cancelled. Furthermore, I have email correspondence between the organisers and the church secretary that her requests were refused, although I have not been in possession of these until today.

Can anyone advise of the best way to proceed with this?

Le_Kirk

If you post the claim form on here - first redacting any personal information, including the QR code but leave the date of issue showing, we can offer information concerning the deadline for defence and some help with the defence tself.

h2g2

If the sign is as you say, they will struggle to win against a semi-competent defence.

Can you post the particulars of claim, making sure to redact and remove your name, VRM (number plate), anything else that might identify you, as well as the MCOL claim number and (VERY IMPORTANTLY!) MCOL password. These are on the claim form.

Could you also post your pictures of the signs? Knowing the exact wording and layout will help advise on a very-competent defence that may include a counter-claim.

Smick100

This is the signage, I have to say I wasn't aware of it until after the fine was sent to me. 

Image 3 is the sign as you enter the church. Traffic drives in and parks facing the wall of the church. The remaining signs would not be visible from the car 

Smick100

Details of the court documents. The only pages not scanned are those which appear to not be personalised in any way.

Smick100

This is correspondence with the organisers / church

Smick100

Just in case anyone is reading this and sees the name of the church or the event organisers, I just want to point out that there is a lot of further correspondence which has been forwarded to me by the organisers, and I have had a chat with the church on the phone, all of whom are horrified that I am in this situation, and they have made it clear that they will do what they can to support me, and were grateful for my joining in to the event. This is no ill-reflection on either.

James_Poisson

Please note no one had a fine, you had a speculative charge from a bunch of unregulated scammers, I am surprised that a church has got in to bed with such despicable chancers.

If you have all the correspondence from the landowners i can't see a judge upholding this rubbish.

But unfortunately these idiots have put you in a position where you have now got to go through the motions.

Read through the stickies on page one here.

1505grandad

Who signed the claim form  -  on reverse at top  -  S.E. or D.C.?

Smick100

Middle name is included, initials are DJC. 

Le_Kirk

With an issue date of 22/10/25 and providing you complete(d) the AoS after 27/10/25 and before 10/11/25 your defence deadline date is 4.00 p.m. on 24/11/25