Free Traffic Legal Advice

I am looking for some advise about a Smart Parking Charge Notice received on 13th January 2015.
 
The alleged offence for leaving the car in the car park for longer than 2 hours on 28/10/24. Letter issued date 6/11/2024. - I received it 13/01/2025. So I got this letter over 28 days (28 days = 4.12.24)  for the issued date which deemed the instructions a nonsense.  I received no other letter from Smart Parking.
 
It was evening so dark. There is another small carpark in close proximity and that one has no such 24 hour rule for how long a car is parked in the evening  (owned by the council). This car park used to have no restrictions in the evenings.
 
I attach photos. I was parked in the middle area so not near any obvious and lit up signs.
 
There is an unclearly worded notice next to the Coop sign at the entrance - but no lights on it at night and I assumed the 2 hours didn't apply after 6 as per the other carpark. There are other very very small signs around the carpark with no lighting. Easily obscured by cars. You have to walk up close to find and read them. There never used to be this restriction so it was unexpected.   Also, if you google search – I could not even find that there is Smart Parking car park in that location.
 
The 2nd letter I got is the Debt Recover letter on 18/02/2025, however it refers as being the 4th letter which it is definitely NOT!
 
The car registration is a vehicle not owned by me. I am no longer a temporary keeper of it.
 
I have not responded to either letters. Please can someone advise what I should do now?
 

Hi,

Many thanks for your reply, the date of contravention was on 28/10/24, letter date of issue was 6/11/24 and received  in post on 13/1/2025.

I didn't appeal and I did not get a POPLA code - will this now be a problem? 

many thanks

Thank you for your advice.

I have sent my formal complaint as advised  - I did this through their website in the appeals section, stating it is a letter of complaint.

Today, I have received a second debt recovery letter with charges, of course increased now to £280. 

Hi again,

I have uploaded the 3 letters.

kind regards

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

It hasn't increased to £280!!! Please read everything carefully. A debt collector letter is nothing but a scare tactic to make low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree pay up out of ignorance and fear. They are powerless to do anything and you must ignore them.

Only the operator or their legal representative can issue a Letter of Claim (LoC) and even then, you are not required to respond. It just means that after 30 days, they can then issue a claim.

(Not so) Smart are nothing to fear. No one pays them if they follow our advice.

What exactly did you put in your formal complaint? You are now waiting for a response to that.

There is not much more you can do at this atGE and you are in fact waiting for an LoC which you should show us when you receive it. Anything else that comes from a useless debt collector can be safely ignored.

OK. However, if English is not your first language, you should ask for assistance when drafting something like this.

I got this reply today from 'Smart Parking' :

Parking Charge Notice : TC85150466


Thank you for your recent communication.

As per the Private Parking Single Sector Code of Practice June 2024 (clause 8.4.1a), all appeals must be submitted within 28 days of the Notice to Keeper being issued. Clause 10.1. also notes that if a driver, keeper or hire company does not respond to a notice, subsequent correspondence or a parking charge has not been paid in full, the Parking Charge then becomes overdue after 28 days. Due to the length of time the PC has been open, this has now been referred to Debt Recovery Plus Ltd, who are handling this on our behalf. Please contact them directly if you wish to discuss this further.

Furthermore, would like to make you aware that we have no hold over the Royal Mail postal services, however we can confirm that the PC was issued to you on 03/01/2025  and promptly posted (please find copy enclosed).
 
Debt Recovery Plus: 0208 234 6775 or 0141 301 2355

We note the comments made within your appeal however, we cannot rescind the Parking Charge  on this basis. When using the car park in question you must adhere to the advertised Terms and Conditions, and it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure they acknowledge the signage upon entering the site. We can confirm that there is signage on entrance to, and around the car park grounds. All signage is BPA approved and compliant with The Private Parking Single Code of Practice.

All signs on site are compliant with the British Parking Association (BPA) and The Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice June 2024.  Signs and Surface markings must be designed, applied and maintained in such a way as to be visible, legible and unambiguous to drivers. Clause 3.1.1, of the single code states that "An entrance sign must be displayed and maintained at the entrance to controlled land to inform drivers as appropriate whether parking is permitted subject to terms and conditions, including payment, or is prohibited, unless: subject to terms and conditions, including payment, or is prohibited". It also states in clause 3.1.3 a) that signs must be placed within the controlled land, such that drivers have the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle. There are several signs situated around the car park that advise of the tariff, terms and conditions, we can confirm all signage on site is BPA approved, and compliant with The Private Parking Single Code of Practice. Please be aware all signs are set to a standardised height, regulations and written in clearly and intelligible language. There is no ambiguous language or jargon on any of the Smart Parking signs at this site.

The car park is sited on private land, and the owners allow access to the public, with use subject to the Terms and Conditions of parking, which are advertised on signs situated around the site. The PCs are enforceable under Contract Law; upon entering and remaining upon the car park you agree to the terms and conditions which are clearly stated on the signage. Your vehicle was parked in breach of these terms and conditions therefore we must advise the PC was correctly issued and remains outstanding.

We wish to inform that the car park in question is operated by an ANPR cameras system which captures images of your vehicle entering and exiting the site, which subsequently calculates your total stay duration- this is calculated from the time of entrance to the time of exit. This information is then compared with the terms and condition of the site, along with any validation we have with regards to your Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM), to establish whether or not terms and conditions have been breached without authorisation.

We can confirm that the convention occurred due to overstaying the maximum free parking time. As stated on the signage, there is a maximum stay period of 120 minutes. This restriction is in place for all motorists.  However, your vehicle remained on site for 228 minutes, which resulted in an 108  minute overstay. As your vehicle remained on site in excess of the maximum free parking time, we can confirm that the advertised Terms and Conditions were breached, and the PC has been correctly. The Terms and Conditions of the car park are clearly advertised around the site and must be adhered to by all drivers

Yours sincerely,

Smart Parking Ltd

------------------------------

They don't mention about having sent any other reminder letters and there was no 'copy enclosed' in the email response (no attachment or in the body).  So their only letter was posted 'promptly??' on 3rd Jan and it took 10 days??? 

Of course I won't be contacting the debt recovery people.  I look forward to your thoughts and advice.

many thanks

Yes exactly as said, there was nothing enclosed or attached to their email.
 
Yep - no mention of any other letters sent to me, ..and yes, my only letter I got had date of issue 6/11/2024.
 
So yes, no reference to reminder letters and they only talk about the (not) enclosed letter saying date of issue on it was 3/1/2025.

also, the email address they used is a donotreply@smartparking.com  - so of course they don't want any response!

thanks