Smart Parking Northern Ireland

MoneySavingSheps

Hi all

I received a 'final reminder' from Smart Parking a couple of weeks ago demanding £150 but don't seem to have received earlier correspondence from them. So I emailed them to ask what the previous letter(s) might have said. There is no phone number. They didn't reply.

I can't afford to pay £150 to be honest but I also can't bear the stress this is causing me so I went online to pay it and it says "Your Parking Charge is currently in a state at which we are unable to accept payment. Please contact the Parking Office." with no details on who or what the 'parking office' might be and how to contact them.

So, I emailed them again, but have since realised that this likely pushes me further down the queue.

I'm now sick with worry that being unable to pay means they have already passed it on to debt recovery and the cost has increased further.

Any advice please?

Le_Kirk

The usual reason why people don't receive PCN/NTKs is because their V5C (log book) does not have a current correct address; then later the PPC finds you by using a tracing service. Check your V5C. You can safely ignore debt collectors, who have NO powers to do anything. I suggest you read the NEWBIE sticky, where you will find that keeper liability doesn't exist in Northern Ireland just don't tell anyone who was driving.

Coupon-mad

Totally ignore private parking tickets in NI. Smart parking will do nothing. You'll never pay.

MoneySavingSheps

Thanks for your replies! My logbook is correct, I suspect it was a Royal Mail problem.

I have heard in the past that private parking tickets in NI can be ignored, but I've never had one before, so this isn't from personal experience. Now I have this one I searched again for info and can see quite a few people recently who have been pursued by them and taken to court, suggesting something had changed?

I can't bear the stress to be honest, not with a severely sick family member to care for, small children to look after, three jobs, life - I would pay to make them go away but I don't even have that option it seems. If a letter arrives from debt collectors or I have to go to court, it would break me.

Gr1pr

I doubt that you found any cases in NI that actually went to court ( in short, as the great philosopher Victor Meldrew often said, I don't believe it. ! )

You can safely bin debt collectors letters, no matter where you are in Great Britain. )

MoneySavingSheps

Here's a thread from Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/northernireland/comments/1quumjd/smart_parking_charge/ where many angry replies say to bin them, but some say they ended up in court.

Gr1pr

Hearsay only, possibly true if there were half a dozen or more pcns, same as Scotland, but certainly not Relevant for a single pcn, especially because the parking companies can only go after the driver in Scotland and in Northern Ireland at the moment , so if they don't actually know who that is or was, they are stymied

You can check the Consumer Council advice mentioned in the replies, but

Our advice is to ignore them, that won't change unless you have definite traceable court cases we can actually study, I don't believe that you will find any

I Agree with those angry replies, no keeper liability in Northern Ireland, Ignore them , no blabbing about who was driving

Keep your money in your pocket, purse, wallet or bank account

MoneySavingSheps

What if they have a photo of the driver?

Gr1pr

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910296#Comment_81910296

They cannot determine the identity of people from a picture or photograph, because they don't have access to an identity database, that would be a clear breach of GDPR

They can and do find out who the Registered Keeper is by accessing the DVLA database through an electronic link

What makes you believe that they can ID someone from a photograph. ?

MoneySavingSheps

Maybe that would give them confidence to take it to court, because if the photo matched the registered keeper, standing right there in the court room, that would be very hard to argue against, right? Also embarrassing, and expensive and stressful.
(I don't know by the way if they have a photo, nor do I know for sure who was driving, but I wouldn't want to find out in court)

Gr1pr

Smart Parking cases dont get to a hearing in England and Wales, so for one pcn in Northern Ireland or Scotland there is no chance

Stop overthinking this, ignore them