Smart Parking Ltd PCN Paid but being chased by Debt Collector

advice_seeker_1

On 18th Sept 2023 I received a PCN from Smart Parking Limited for a insufficient time paid whilst attending an event at Dreamland in Margate Kent.

I appealed this on the 26th Sept 2023 and received a confirmation of appeal email on the 27th September which stated the following:

We can confirm that your appeal has been received and that all action has been suspended pending adjudication. We will endeavour to respond to your appeal within 35 days.

If your appeal has been received within 28 days of issue of the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) and your appeal is unsuccessful, the PCN will revert to the amount outstanding at the point of appeal and the payment terms will be extended.

Then on the 29th November 2023, I received another letter from them stating that I now owed £170.

Having heard nothing from them since the confirmation of appeal on the 27th September, I assumed that either my initial appeal hadn't been looked at, or it had failed to go through properly, so on the 1st December 2023 I submitted a second appeal containing the same Ringo receipts, but noting that I had been told in their acknowledgement email that action had been suspended pending adjudication so I didn't understand why I was getting a second letter at the higher rate.

Mid December (around the 18th) I received a telephone call from a Lady at Smart Parking Ltd, saying that I couldn't make a second appeal as the first one had already been unsuccessful. I explained to the lady that I didn't know that the first one had been unsuccessful, she said that they had posted to result out to me in late October. I told her that I had not received any letter from Smart Parking about this to which she responded "well it's not down to us if the post doesn't arrive".

I asked her why the appeal had been unsuccessful, she told me it's because I was 11 minutes over the paid for time and the T&C's were clear on site that if I stayed over time, I would be charged.

My mother had just died (on the 13th Dec 23) and I told her this, basically saying that I had more important things to deal with than fighting over 11 minutes. She told me that as I had not received any information about the appeal being unsuccessful (to this day I have never received this information), she would revert my payment to the original amount of £60 to be paid in the next 14 days. I agreed to pay this as soon as I could.

On the 28th December, I went onto the Smart Parking site, typed in my PCN number which clearly showed a charge of £60 to pay. So I proceeded to make that payment.

Once I made the payment the screen just went to an end payment screen and I never received an e-receipt for the payment.

Following this, I was then barraged with letters from Debt Recovery Plus, saying I owed £170. I tried everything to get in touch with this company and also to talk to someone from Smart Parking Ltd again. No one ever answered the phone and my form submissions went unanswered. I then received a letter from CST Law in April 2024 (acting for Debt Recovery Plus) and I wrote straight back to them detailing everything that happened and asking for a means to show that I had paid what I had been asked to pay.

That was the last I heard from anyone about this matter until the 21st March 2026, when I received another debt recovery letter from a new debt collection agency called DCBL.

This company provided an email address, so I emailed them including a screen shot of the Smart Parking Ltd page for my PCN number which states that 'there is no outstanding charge against this PCN number', along with a snapshot of my bank statement, which shows that the payment went through on the 29th Dec 2023.

They have just replied stating that I still owe £170 because I failed to make payment within the required period.

Can someone give me some advice on what steps I should take next please? As far as I am concerned I have paid my debt, within a reasonable time, I paid what was asked and the Smart Parking payment system agrees with me.

Part of me wants to tell them to give me my day in court as I'm sure a judge would be dead happy to hear that I paid in good time and the amount charged on their system, but appreciate that this may not be the best and most legally minded approach!

Thank you for reading this far.

Gr1pr

Ignore DCBL, see post 4 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum

Wait for the Letter of Claim giving you 30 days notice, then use the LoC response template in post 2

Then wait for the inevitable N1SDT Money Claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL to arrive in the post

That is when your fightback starts ( so save your ammunition ar this sabre rattling time. )

Coupon-mad

My mother had just died (on the 13th Dec 23) and I told her this, basically saying that I had more important things to deal with than fighting over 11 minutes.

I am so sorrry to hear that. We get it. Some things are more important in life.

Mid December (around the 18th) I received a telephone call from a Lady at Smart Parking Ltd.

She told me that as I had not received any information about the appeal being unsuccessful (to this day I have never received this information), she would revert my payment to the original amount of £60 to be paid in the next 14 days. I agreed to pay this as soon as I could.

On the 28th December, I went onto the Smart Parking site, typed in my PCN number which clearly showed a charge of £60 to pay. So I proceeded to make that payment.

That was the last I heard from anyone about this matter until the 21st March 2026, when I received another debt recovery letter from a new debt collection agency called DCBL.

This company provided an email address, so I emailed them including a screen shot of the Smart Parking Ltd page for my PCN number which states that 'there is no outstanding charge against this PCN number', along with a snapshot of my bank statement, which shows that the payment went through on the 29th Dec 2023.

They have just replied stating that I still owe £170 because I failed to make payment within the required period.

Please show that whole email trail with DCB Ltd, but with headers, names & email addresses covered.

I want to show this to the Government!

advice_seeker_1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938517#Comment_81938517

Regarding sending you the full email, It has the below in the bottom of the email so i'm not sure where I would stand if I did that.

The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

 Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd.

They have invited me to send them a full copy of my bank statement, showing my name and banking details and the transaction made to smart parking (even though the snipped screenshot that I sent already has all the information that they asked for) They have put my case on hold for two weeks, as of the 26th March, to give me time to provide this evidence.

I can do that, and give them the timeline of actions as well as stating that I paid using their online system, I paid the charge that came up on that system and have showed them the screenshot on the same system that states there is no outstanding charge against that PCN number.

Coupon-mad

People are safe posting email trails. Please show it here (not by pm to me) as I am building evidence for the Government.

advice_seeker_1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938359#Comment_81938359

Apologies, I can't seem to locate the posts that you speak of.

advice_seeker_1

Thank you and I appreciate that you are gathering evidence, But i'm not comfortable sharing this at this time. I feel that I shouldn't share with anyone that I do not know.

Gr1pr

Study the half a dozen announcements near the top of the forum, look at the relevant first 5 posts in the NEWBIES announcement, especially 5 , 4 & 2

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81943136#Comment_81943136

You posted right under my reply that tells everyone where to click. Look vvvv