Their reply is not a response to your Letter of Claim. It is a stock “PCN cancelled” template and does not address:
• the unlawful data acquisition
• the unlawful ANPR surveillance of a public road
• the absence of any lawful basis under UK GDPR
• your demand for deletion
• your demand for compensation
• your notice that further processing/aggravation will increase quantum
• your request for an apology
• your pre-action status
Under the Pre-Action Protocol for Media & Data Protection Claims, this is not a compliant response. It is as if they ignored the LoC entirely.
If you still want to proceed, the correct next step is a Second and Final Notice giving them one last opportunity to engage before you issue the claim. This protects you procedurally and shows the court that you acted reasonably and they ignored a clear LoC.
Send the following, again by post with proof of posting and email:
BY EMAIL AND POST
Smart Parking Ltd
Legal Department
Elphinstone House
65 West Regent Street
Glasgow G2 2AF
SECOND AND FINAL NOTICE – FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH LETTER OF CLAIM
Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR
Dear Sir or Madam,
I refer to my Letter of Claim dated [insert date], issued under the Pre-Action Protocol for Media and Data Protection Claims.
Your only reply has been a generic template confirming cancellation of a Parking Charge. This is not a response to the Letter of Claim. It does not address:
• your unlawful acquisition of my DVLA data without reasonable cause;
• your unlawful processing of my personal data in breach of UK GDPR Articles 5 and 6;
• the fact that your ANPR camera is harvesting data from an adopted public highway;
• my request for a written apology;
• my demand for £1,000 compensation under DPA 2018 s.168 for non-material damage arising from those UK GDPR infringements;
• my request for confirmation of erasure and non-disclosure; or
• the matters required of you under the Protocol.
The cancellation of the Parking Charge Notices does not resolve the data protection breaches. The underlying unlawful processing remains, as does your continued retention of my personal data.
Required within 7 days
You must provide a substantive response to all points in the original Letter of Claim, including:
1. A formal apology;
2. Confirmation of erasure and cessation of all processing;
3. Confirmation that my personal data has not been disclosed to any third party;
4. Payment of £1,000 compensation; or
5. Your grounds for disputing liability.
If you fail to provide a full response within 7 days of this letter, I will issue a claim in the County Court without further notice, relying on your non-compliance with the Protocol when dealing with costs.
For the avoidance of doubt: any further processing or disclosure of my data, including to any debt collection agent, will be treated as an aggravated continuing breach and will increase the quantum claimed.
Yours faithfully,
[Your name]
If you are sure that the location is not relevant land and is indeed adopted, I wouldn't bother with trying to appeal this. I would go straight to a Letter of Claim (LoC) against (not so) Smart Parking for compensation under the Data Protection Act 2018 §186. You could put it like this:
LETTER OF CLAIM
Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR – Unlawful obtaining and processing of personal data
Dear Sir or Madam,
I write to give you formal notice under the Pre-Action Protocol for Media and Data Protection Claims of my intention to bring proceedings against Smart Parking Ltd for breaches of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”).
1. Background
You have twice obtained my personal data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and issued Parking Charge Notices in respect of a vehicle parked on Kirpal Road, Portsmouth, which is an adopted public highway maintained by Portsmouth City Council. The land is not private, is not a car park, and is therefore not “relevant land” for the purposes of Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
Your ANPR camera merely captured my vehicle driving on a public road. There is no lawful basis for you to have requested or processed my keeper data, nor to have asserted the existence of any contract, parking contravention, or debt.
2. Breaches alleged
Smart Parking Ltd has:
• obtained my DVLA keeper data without reasonable cause, in breach of the DVLA KADOE contract;
• processed and retained that data without any lawful basis under Article 6(1) UK GDPR;
• misrepresented a public highway as “private land” to justify that processing; and
• caused distress, wasted time and anxiety in having to rebut baseless notices and gather council evidence.
These acts amount to infringements of the UK GDPR, including Articles 5(1)(a)–(c) (lawfulness, fairness, purpose limitation and data minimisation) and Article 6(1) (lawful basis). Under section 168 Data Protection Act 2018, I am therefore entitled to compensation for both material and non-material damage arising from those infringements.
Your conduct constitutes a clear breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 §.168(1) and UK GDPR Articles 5(1)(a)–(c) and 6(1).
3. Required remedies
I require:
1. A written admission and formal apology for the unlawful acquisition and processing of my data;
2. Immediate deletion of all personal data obtained in relation to both PCNs and confirmation that it has not been shared with any third party;
3. A compensatory payment of £500 for each unlawful data acquisition, totalling £1,000, reflecting distress, wasted time and aggravating circumstances.
4. Future conduct
If you fail to provide a satisfactory response within 14 days of this letter, I will file a claim in the County Court for damages under the Data Protection Act 2018 §.168 and costs pursuant to CPR 27.14(2)(g).
If Smart Parking Ltd continues to process or disclose my personal data in relation to these incidents, including but not limited to disclosure to any third-party debt collection agency, or if you fail to delete and confirm deletion of my data within 14 days of this letter, I will treat that conduct as a continuing and aggravated breach. In those circumstances I will increase the compensation sought to reflect aggravated distress, additional loss of time, and any further misuse of my data, and I reserve the right to seek an uplifted sum in court. For clarity, the initial compensation sought in this letter is £1,000; continued or repeated unlawful processing and/or onward disclosure will substantially increase the quantum claimed.
I require all correspondence to be sent to the address shown above and a substantive reply by [insert date 14 days from issue].
Yours faithfully,
[Your name]