Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,

We are looking for help and advice regarding a parking fine from Smart Parking and follow up fine from Debt Recovery Plus.

We visited the TREARDDUR BAY HOTEL CP2, HOLYHEAD on 19/10/2024 and the driver, not me, parked in their carpark.

As the registered keeper of the vehicle I received a PCN on 20/11/2024 (letter attached).FrontBack
We were all unaware of the new parking system and as it was raining and dark didn’t notice any signage.
We have been regular visitors to the venue so I contacted the hotel direct via telephone and explained that we were unaware and didn’t see any signs and that on entering the venue we were not made aware of any new parking system. The lady on the phone explained that there had been lots of complaints about it and asked me to forward our details to the Hotel via Email and the general manager would look into it.
I forwarded the following:
“Hi,
We are regular dining customers to The Inn at the Bay and visited  for a meal on 19th October 2024.
Unfortunately we were unaware of the new parking system in place and it was dark so didn’t see any signage and have received a parking charge notice (?)
We would be very grateful if you could assist in getting this fine quashed please.
I have attached a copy of the Parking Charge Notification.
Kind Regards”
They responded with:
“Good Evening,
Thank you for your email.
I have forwarded your email on to the general manager who is dealing with the parking ticket charges.
Just for future reference, all customers of the hotel who are dining with us will need to purchase a parking ticket.
This will be reimbursed when paying for food/drink.
Please do not hesitate to contact if you have any enquiries, thank you.
Kind Regards,
Kacey Hewitt
Reception Team Leader”
I waited until 29/11/2024 and emailed them again:
“Hi,
Can you advise as to what is going on with the Parking charge please.
Thanks”
Their response on 30/11/2024 was:
“Good afternoon,
Our general manager is currently on annual leave so I am unable to find out right now whether the cancellation has happened, I will cc him in and he can advise when he returns whether it is now cancelled and I will be in touch.
Please do not hesitate to contact if you have any enquiries, thank you.
Kind Regards,
Jasmin Ryder.
Reception Team. “

I foolishly assumed the matter had been dealt with until on the 30/12/2024 I received letter from Debt Recovery Plus (letter attached).FrontBack
I contacted the Hotel again with the following:
“Hi ,
Can you please inform me as to what to do over this matter as I have now had a letter from “Debt Recovery Plus” ?
While I understand that this may be a busy period for yourselves, I find that the timescale of response to be unacceptable and stressing.
Could I ask that you resolve this matter promptly without causing any more stress please?
Thanks”
The Hotel’s responseon 30/11/2024:
“Good afternoon,
Unfortunately we can only respond when we receive a response ourselves from the parking company and due to the volume of cancellations they have received there was a backlog.
We have this morning received confirmation that all fines we have requested cancellation for have been cancelled and that the debt recovery letters issued have been cancelled to as these where issued automatically due to the company not cancelling the charges within a certain timeframe.
Please do not hesitate to contact if you have any enquiries, thank you.
Kind Regards,
Jasmin Ryder.
Reception Team.
The following morning 31/11/2024I received this from the Hotel:
Good morning Mr ,
Unfortunately due to there being no tariff paid, the cancellation request has been rejected. This falls in line with all the Smart Parking t&cs.
We as a hotel offer free parking for guests and those that have purchased tickets, this has always been the case for the car park, however it is now a camera operated system rather than manned.
I do apologies.
James Harper
Hotel General Manager
I responded with:
“Hi James,
As you can see from the correspondence we have been regular customers for years and on the night we visited it was one of the first nights with the new parking system.
We did not see the signs as you are aware at the time lighting is not great especially when raining and were not made aware of the new system in operation by any of your staff.
When I telephoned the Hotel direct and spoke to a member of staff  on 20th November I was however assured that this matter would be dealt with and quashed by the manager.
I have since been asking for updates as to where we are at or what is going on.
So are you now telling me that I not only have to pay the fine but I also have to pay the additional charges which are caused by you and your staff for slow and late responses?
Regards”
The Hotel Manager responded with:
Good morning,
The original response from our front desk team was that the manager was dealing with the parking charges, I have done my upmost in pushing for cancellations, in the same way I have tried for many others, however the time delay was from Smart parking and their backlog.
As with all car parks, those that don’t pay the tariff are liable for PCNs, this car park has always been payable and this would’ve been known from regular visits. You can appeal the decision directly with Smart Parking, this option is on the reverse of the PCN.
James Harper
Hotel General Manager”
My response back was:
“Hi James,
I think this is outrageous and would advise to ditch the parking company of their services as a lot of restaurants and public houses have done in my area due to loss of custom.
If the driver, which is not me by the way, has not had sufficient time to appeal the original parking offence then to have to now pay £170 and not the original fine, surely this cannot be legal.
To aid our appeal could you send through all correspondence and proof of contact including dates please as the timeline is ridiculous. We originally contacted yourselves in time to have this sorted one way or the other without the additional costs.
Regards”

I have not yet had any response back from the hotel since this Email.

I am looking for advice and help on if I need to pay any all or part of the fine?
I am the registered keeper of the vehicle but on the night in question was not the driver.
Hope you are able to help

Hi b789,

Many thanks for the information and your time.
Sorry I thought I had provided a link but obviously not.
I will try and upload the document here

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

So does that mean that the driver and myself have no way of bringing this to a conclusion other than hoping the Hotel press for a cancellation?
If the cancellation is not forthcoming how long can we expect to be badgered by DRP+ ?
Is there no point in contacting (Not so) Smart Parking directly informing them of the reluctance to identify the driver?

the only letters of interest will be a "letter before claim"
"notice of county court claim"
all other letters are simply a request for money

does the hotel have social media pages?
a trip advisor page?
these are a good place to inform others of the restaurants intention to bankrupt themselves

6 years.

The GM made clear in their reply that conditions had applied to parking before cameras and SP were introduced. As a regular patron, the driver would have been aware of the parking terms. Is the driver claiming that this was not the case?

In any event, the keeper cannot be held liable for the driver's breach unless the creditor has complied with PoFA.

But the ball is not in the keeper's court.

There is nothing more for the Keeper to do. Until such time as they show their intention to litigate over the alleged debt with a Letter of Claim or an actual N1SDT Claim Form from the CNBC, you ignore them.

Any debt collection letters can be safely ignored. We do not need to know about them and you should just use them as kindling.

Get on with your life and stop worrying about (not so) Smart Parking.