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Smart Parking referred ticket to Debt Recovery plus and saying appeal deadline passed

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#31
You should send a simple reply denying the debt, as advised at ,
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the defendant responding within a reasonable time – 14 days in a straight forward case and no more than 3 months in a very complex one. The reply should include confirmation as to whether the claim is accepted and, if it is not accepted, the reasons why, together with an explanation as to which facts and parts of the claim are disputed

Your reason is that you, the registered keeper, are not liable for this claim because SMART failed to serve the Notice to Keeper in time to comply with the requirements of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to transfer liability from the driver to the registered keeper. The driver has not been identified and will not be identified.

Just search the forum for DCB Legal and their modus operandi. They will issue a county court claim because lots of people ignore them, but if you defend this properly they are extremely likely to discontinue before having to pay the court fee. It’s a well trodden path. And you have a solid defence anyway.
Last Edit: July 13, 2026, 01:51:13 pm by jfollows
#32
Okay thanks for the reply. So should I just reply simply stating what you said. Yes i saw a few other threads showing the various things they will send and what I need to do. I just couldnt see much on this initial letter (me missing it most likely)

Something like

Dear ....

I deny this debt due to the fact that i as the registered keeper, are not liable for this claim because SMART failed to serve the Notice to Keeper in time to comply with the requirements of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to transfer liability from the driver to the registered keeper. The driver has not been identified and will not be identified

Thanks

.....

And theb wait for their reply?
#33
Okay they have now replied to my defence. They seem to be just trying to completely ignore the 14 day thing and suggesting that they can push to say it was me driving on balance of probabilities. Which in itself is odd as multiple people can and are insured on the vehicle. Do I just ignore it or reply reiterating   the timings bei g later than 14 days and that multiple people are insured on the car?

 Here is the reply

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We write in response to your correspondence received in our office.
We now respond to the same as follows.

When parking on private land, the contractual terms of the site are set out on the signs. You are entering a contract and agreeing to the terms by parking and staying on the site. Parking in breach of the terms as stipulated on the signage means that you are then breaking the terms of the contract.

The vehicle registartion /////// was  Parked In Excess Of The Permitted Free Time, accordingly the parking charge was issued correctly.

The vehicle bearing registration //////// was parked in excess of the permitted free parking period. Accordingly, the Parking Charge was issued correctly,

In order to identify the Registered Keeper of the vehicle, our client submitted a request for details to the DVLA. Your details were provided and thereafter notices were sent to you by our Client at your serviceable address. Those notices asked you to either make payment or, if you were not driving, nominate a driver by providing their name and full address. You did neither and as such you are now pursued on the basis that you were driving. On the balance of probabilities, if you were not the driver, you would have nominated.

You now have 30 days from the date of this emailto make payment of £170.00. Failure to make payment may result in a Claim being issued against you without any further reference.
Payment can be made via bank transfer to our designated client account: -

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#34
It wasn’t a defence you sent, it was a reply to their Letter of Claim, wasn’t it?

They are talking rubbish in the hope that you believe them and pay up.

Just ignore. You have engaged with them and you have documented this in writing. That’s all you needed to do.

As already said
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Just search the forum for DCB Legal and their modus operandi. They will issue a county court claim because lots of people ignore them, but if you defend this properly they are extremely likely to discontinue before having to pay the court fee. It’s a well trodden path. And you have a solid defence anyway.