Smart Parking - Belgrave Road Margate - Late NtK (PoFA 14-day failure)

YOUWEE

Hi everyone, I am looking for some guidance on an online appeal to Smart Parking for a PCN I received today as the Registered Keeper.

Key Dates & Details:

• Date of Event: 20/07/2026
• Location: Belgrave Road Car Park - Margate - CT1 1XG
• Alleged Contravention: Paid for insufficient time (ANPR)
• Date of Issue on Notice: 31/07/2026
• Date Physically Received: 10/08/2026
• Vehicle Status: Fully owned by me

The Situation:
The back of the notice explicitly states they are invoking Paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA). By my calculations, the 14-day statutory deadline for delivery was Monday, 3rd August. Given the issue date of Friday, 31st July, the deemed legal delivery date (2 working days later) falls on Tuesday, 4th August. The actual physical delivery didn't happen until Monday, 10th August. In both instances, the notice has been delivered outside of the mandatory 14-day window required to establish keeper liability. No driver has been identified or named, and I will be appealing strictly as the Registered Keeper. I have attached an image of the wording on the back of the notice for reference. Could you please advise if my understanding is right and is there any standard forum template for a late PoFA NtK which I can use for appealing?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Woodstok2000

The notice is presumed delivered 2 working days after it was issued, unless you can prove otherwise. That still means it was presumed delivered on day 15 here though, so still not POFA compliant.

Check the newbies thread and do a search for pofa compliance to see similar cases.

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098883#Comment_82098883

Yes, that's what the OP has said?

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098956#Comment_82098956

Exactly. They asked for confirmation their understanding was correct, which I have provided.

Le_Kirk

Using the deadline checker from the Gullible Tree, shows it was given late as the OP suspected.

Coupon-mad

Which just means the OP appeals as registered keeper and then tries the Smart Parking non-POFA appeal that @cooldude255220 wrote a few weeks back.

The IAS is a considered a kangaroo court and only 5% of its anonymous adjudications go the way of consumers but you will never have to pay because Smart Parking use DCB Legal with an MO that leads to discontinuances in defended cases.

In this case they should never have tried to mislead the recipient about keeper liability. POFA and non-POFA NTKs should have material information transparently telling the recipient if they will be held liable under the POFA, or not.

There is no other rule of law under which the keeper can be held liable. It's all simply about frightening and intimidating people.

May as well try IAS even though it's a joke.

YOUWEE

Hi @Coupon-mad and everyone,

Thank you so much for the confirmation and reassurance. It really helps lower the stress.

To clarify my next steps: I have the link ready for the IAS appeal stage, and I will definitely try the IAS appeal using the template written by @cooldude255220 if Smart Parking rejects my initial attempt.

Before I submit anything to Smart Parking today, is there a standard forum template I should use for the initial appeal, or would it be safe to use the draft below? I put this together to strictly target the 14-day delivery failure as the Registered Keeper:

Initial Appeal Draft for Smart Parking Portal:

Re: PCN [Insert PCN Number]
VRM: [Insert Your Reg]

I am the Registered Keeper of the vehicle and I dispute this charge. I deny any liability or contractual agreement.

Your Notice to Keeper explicitly states that you are invoking Paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA). Under PoFA Paragraph 9(5), a Notice to Keeper must be delivered to the registered keeper within a strict period of 14 days beginning with the day after the specified period of parking.

The alleged incident occurred on 20/07/2026. The 14-day statutory deadline for delivery was Monday, 03/08/2026. Your notice was issued on Friday, 31/07/2026, meaning it was legally deemed delivered on Tuesday, 04/08/2026 (two working days later). It was physically received on 10/08/2026.

Because the notice was delivered outside of the mandatory 14-day statutory window, you have failed to satisfy the legal requirements to transfer liability to the keeper. As the registered keeper, I have no legal obligation to identify the driver, and I choose not to do so. There is no other rule of law under which the keeper can be held liable. Please cancel this invoice immediately.

Does this draft look good to send to Smart Parking to get my initial defense on their system, or should I tweak anything? Thanks again!

Jame4ters

Others will give you more feedback but the date it was physically received is irrelevant and may result in clouding the issue ie they/ IAS will latch onto that point & ignore the key date

YOUWEE

Thanks for the advice, that makes perfect sense. I have removed the actual receipt date and submitted the appeal based strictly on the 31st July issue date and the 4th August deemed delivery. Will keep you posted.

YOUWEE

Hi @Coupon-mad and everyone,

Quick update: I received the formal rejection email from Smart Parking on 4th Sept. As expected, they completely ignored the late PoFA delivery point and just focused on the 14-minute overstay.

Realised I made a slight mix-up in my last message—I don't actually have the exact text for the @cooldude255220 non-POFA appeal template saved! I've been trying to dig through the forum search to find his specific post but I'm struggling to locate the right thread.

Could someone kindly drop a link to it or paste his template text here so I can copy it and submit my appeal to IAS? Also, I noticed Smart Parking didn't give me a specific IAS verification code in the email—they just told me to go to the IAS website. Do I just use my PCN number and registration to log the appeal there once I have the template?

Thank you all so much!

YOUWEE

Hi @Coupon-mad and everyone,

Just a quick follow-up on this as I want to get my IAS appeal drafted and submitted well ahead of the deadline.
If anyone has a spare moment to drop the link or paste the text for that specific @cooldude255220 non-POFA appeal template, I would really appreciate it! I just want to ensure my wording matches exactly what works best before I log onto the IAS portal.

Thanks again for all your help so far.