#6 Smart Parking PCN - Failure to pay for sufficient time
on 08 Jan, 2025 16:48 in Private parking tickets
Hi all,realised after reading a few posts here that I should probably post the case way before I take any actions, but we are where we are and hopefully can still receive some advices.In August, I parked in the Turner contemporary art gallery car park in Margate, it was Monday and the art gallery was closed and the parking was almost empty, but we went there for a walk on the beach. Upon checking the signage, the parking is still to be paid even on days Art gallery is closed, so I paid using RingGo for 2h, (although I struggle with this as I had to download the app and there were almost no signals). Played with dog and kids on the beach, and when time was up, we did came back to the carpark just a couple of minutes late. But having not seen any traffic warden (and I never experienced those kind of smart parking before), and an even emptier car park, we took our time to dry the dog and get sands off our shoes before leaving the parking. Toping up did cross my mind, but RingGo didn't seem to give me option to pay more once the session has ended. Anyway, a few weeks later I received the attached PCN saying I overstayed by 27 min. (arrival time 12:35 - departure time 15:02, my Ringgo payment history shows I paid for 12:45-14:45.) [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] Although I recognise it is a case of overstay, I felt hard done by and disproportionate penalty as I did pay the parking for 120 min out of 147 min, getting a PCN of £100 as if I have not paid at all. So hoping for some common sense, I used their appeal system, which was rejected a couple of weeks later, with the following messageThank you for your recent communication.Having considered your appeal in detail we have decided to uphold the Parking Charge as we believe that it was correctly issued in accordance with the terms and conditions advertised within the area concerned. As your appeal was received within the initial discount period we have extended the discount period until 15/10/2024.We note the comments made within your appeal, however we cannot rescind the PC on this basis. We wish to confirm that the contravention of insufficient paid time occurred as our system confirms that whilst 120 were purchased were purchased against Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) xxx, your vehicle remained on site for 147 minutes. The signage onsite clearly informs motorist that they are required to purchase a valid ticket for the full duration of their vehicles stay onsite. Furthermore, additional time can be purchased at any point during throughout your vehicles stay, before exiting the car park, allowing for any unexpected overstays due to circumstances such as those outlined in your appeal.We wish to inform that the car park in question is operated by ANPR cameras system which captures images of your vehicle entering and exiting the site, which subsequently calculates your total stay duration. This information is then paired with the information entered into the payment machine/alternate payment option, to establish whether or not the correct payment has been made against the full and correct vehicle registration for the total duration the vehicle is on site - this is calculated from the time of entrance to the time of exit.As the vehicle was on site in excess of the parking time purchased and no valid additional payments were made to cover the entire parking duration, we wish to advised that the advertised Terms and Conditions were breached. Subsequently the PC has been issued correctly. The Terms and Conditions of the car park are clearly advertised around the site and must be adhered to by all drivers.You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure and therefore you now have two options, you can pay or appeal - you cannot do both.If the Parking Charge was issued in England and Wales you also have the right of appeal to an independent appeals service (POPLA). If you wish to make an appeal to POPLA the forms are available on their website at www.popla.co.uk ...So I did lodge an appeal at Popla, hoping for less profit oriented more balanced people would have better common sense, but after waiting for 2 months, this also get rejected a couple of weeks ago, see case letter attached. [ Guests cannot view attachments ] So at this point, any advice appreciated, I just want to understand if it is still worth fighting the case, and if so, what further actions can I take?thanks in advancePS: There some pictures of signages submitted by SmartParking to POPLA but it seems I can't access them anymore on Popla since case is closed (they were not helpful in any sense as it just say you have to pay for the duration). Google map also not useful for signage as it pre-dated the parking completion I suppose.https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3914381,1.3818267,3a,75y,40.56h,71.82t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8c_G0TToEK5fd5595JD2pg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D18.184981950631283%26panoid%3D8c_G0TToEK5fd5595JD2pg%26yaw%3D40.563165920133144!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEwMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D [ Guests cannot view attachments ]