Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Private parking tickets => Topic started by: anonymous on March 26, 2026, 11:02:01 am
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Adding - Option 3 is to make a "without prejudice" offer to settle the matter and try to convince them to accept a reduced amount. If I were trying this, I'd be making reference to the fact that I do not accept I owe the debt, but that I am prepared to settle the matter in a bid to avoid further time and expense. But making clear that if they do not accept, you'd be prepared to defend the matter in court, which by the time they have paid for their lawyer etc. would potentially cost them more than they would hope to recover, and certainly lead to less profit that them accepting your settlement amount.
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So - on the face of it, if they did not receive the notice, it has not been served, and accordingly, the keeper cannot be liable. However, whilst that is true in theory, in practice, it will be very difficult to prove (how do you prove you didn't receive something?).
Without sight of the original notice, we can't really advise on its contents and whether it is compliant with the relevant legislation - they could send a Subject Access Request to Smart Parking to get a copy of it.
What they do next depends to a certain extent on their attitude to risk...
Option 1 is to pay up - if they do this, there's a 100% chance that they will lose £145. In return for that £145, they will get the certainty that the matter is closed, and the certainty that they won't have to pay any more than that.
Option 2 is to do nothing, await Smart Parking probably taking them to court, and seeking to defend it. If they do this, they might win, or Smart Parking might pull out before a hearing (in either of these cases your friend would pay nothing), or they might lose, which would (generally) cost in the region of £200-230.
On the face of it, from what you have told us so far, they don't have a defence on the basis of the actual contravention, so it would depend on any defencde to be found in the signage, technical defects in the original notice that we haven't yet seen, or Smart Parking's solicitors messing up the process.
I appreciate the above is somewhat vague, but as you can hopefully appreciate, we've not got much to base our advice on currently.
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Thank you - I will advise them to wait
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I doubt it, but don’t rush to pay immediately in case someone else here has a good idea.
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I have no magic bullet to offer you.
I did look on Google Streetview and there appear to be prominent signs limiting free parking to one hour, and terms and conditions referring to £90 if exceeded, although I can’t read all the words. A defence has to be better than “we forgot”, and could hinge on poor signage, for example, but I’m not seeing that myself.
Without more information I don’t think I can help any further.
That's fair enough, thanks for looking. Is there a way however to reduce the charge to the original amount on the basis that this is the first letter they have received regarding it? The £145 charge is written as escalated.
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I have no magic bullet to offer you.
I did look on Google Streetview and there appear to be prominent signs limiting free parking to one hour, and terms and conditions referring to £90 if exceeded, although I can’t read all the words. A defence has to be better than “we forgot”, and could hinge on poor signage, for example, but I’m not seeing that myself.
Without more information I don’t think I can help any further.
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They said that they visited the car park and overstayed by an hour without realising. They did not receive the earlier letters - this is the first they received.
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A narrative of what happened, a defence for why they shouldn’t pay, and a copy of the original notice to keeper would be a start.
https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/
Their options are to pay or to defend a court claim in a number of months. The deadline to appeal to Smart will have passed.
Our experience is that Smart will pursue this if ignored.
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If they ignore, they are likely to get debt collection letters from DCBL, a Letter of Claim from DCB Legal and a county court claim. If the court claim is ignored they will get a default judgement against them.
If they have more information and a defence then they will get assistance here.
However,if so, they should post directly rather than use you as an intermediary.
They are not very technology friendly so they asked me for help. What information do you require? What are their next steps?
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If they ignore, they are likely to get debt collection letters from DCBL, a Letter of Claim from DCB Legal and a county court claim. If the court claim is ignored they will get a default judgement against them.
If they have more information and a defence then they will get assistance here.
However,if so, they should post directly rather than use you as an intermediary.
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If they do not identify the driver, then if Smart complies with the requirements of the legislation, the liability can be transferred to the registered keeper.
Without the original notice it is unlikely that we can tell whether or not Smart has complied.
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4
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Hi all. I have been approached by a friend as they received a ticket in the post from Smart parking (attached). From what I gather, they have not contacted them at all. They are unsure if this is the first time they are receiving this or if they have received these before (its a busy house and they are rarely home). It is my understanding that as long as they don't identify the driver, they are ok? Do they even need to reply?
(https://i.ibb.co/gZnwwsfg/Whats-App-Image-2026-03-25-at-23-50-20.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7t9VV7Zy)