Free Traffic Legal Advice

Good morning everyone,

This case continues to drag along at a snail’s pace. At the start of the month, I received this email about a telephone mediation appointment:

“Claim number:

Parties: SMART PARKING LIMITED vs

Your telephone mediation appointment

Appointment date: 29/05/2026

Appointment time slot: 09:30 to 12:30

Your confidential telephone mediation appointment has been booked for the above date and time slot. The mediator may call at any point within your timeslot to start the appointment. Please be ready to accept a call at any point during your timeslot. Your appointment will last for around one hour from the point at which the mediator calls. The mediator will call from a withheld number. Make sure that withheld/private numbers are not blocked on your phone.

The mediator will call both parties separately – you will not talk directly to the other side. They will try to help you come to an agreement with the other party. If an agreement is reached at mediation the case will not need to progress to court.

Where your mediation appointment is mandatory, if you do not attend the appointment, the judge will take this into consideration at any court hearing and may issue a penalty. This could include the judge automatically ruling in the other party’s favour or ordering you to pay for some or all the other party’s costs.”

My understanding is that I should offer a compromise of £0 at this appointment. As always any advice is appreciated!

Good morning everyone,

The keeper of this vehicle has received today a council issued PCN for ‘being parked in a restricted street.’ The vehicle is parked off the road behind double yellow lines, as is frequently necessary due to a lack of parking in this residential area.

Is this case worth appealing, or is it necessary to bite the bullet and pay within the 14 day reduced fine limit?

See attached photos. Thanks for any help!


https://imgpile.com/p/KAoFIPQ

Hello.

Just a quick update on this. I have now received my own N180 form, which I must complete by the 12th February. I will fill out the form online in the way advised in other threads.

As a side note, a telephone mediation call was never carried out.

Defence submitted, thanks again. I’ll report back with the next steps.

Hi all,

A few months ago I was surprised to receive a “notice of intended legal action” from Direct Collection Bailiffs for overstaying in a private car park. The date of contravention was over three years ago - 03/06/2022. On the date in question I was not even present in the UK, since I was studying abroad, and I have evidence (passport stamps and bank account statements) proving that I was in a different country. I emailed the company telling them as much, and that I suspected their claim to be a scam. A month later I received a Letter of Claim, and a few days ago I received a court summons with Smart Parking Ltd as the claimant for £305.

I intend to defend this claim on the basis that I was living abroad on the date of the offence. Since I wasn’t even present in the country, I certainly had no opportunity to read the parking signs of the car park I didn’t park in, so no contract or agreement was ever made between myself and Smart Parking Ltd. The driver of the vehicle is unknown. Since I first became aware of this parking charge three years later, I had no opportunity to determine the identity of the driver. I simply have the misfortune to be the keeper of the vehicle.

Any advice or comments on this matter are much appreciated!