Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to get some advice from people who have dealt with private parking charges before or who know a bit about the legal side of this. I'm based in England where it all happened.

I received a Notice to Keeper from Smart Parking Ltd after an alleged overstay in a retail car park. According to them, the vehicle overstayed the maximum free parking time. The alleged contravention happened on 31 January 2026. The Notice to Keeper was issued on 16 February and I actually received it on 20 February.

From what I’ve read, if a parking company wants to rely on keeper liability under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the Notice to Keeper is supposed to be delivered within 14 days of the alleged contravention. In this case it looks like it was issued 16 days after the event and received even later.

I appealed as the registered keeper and didn’t say who the driver was. In the appeal I asked them to explain the allegation properly and provide evidence. They’ve now rejected the appeal and say the charge was issued correctly because the car park allows a maximum stay of 180 minutes and the vehicle was apparently there for 194 minutes.

What confused me is that in their response they specifically say that Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (keeper liability) does not apply at this location. Because I didn’t identify the driver, they say they are entitled to reasonably infer that the keeper was the driver and they even cite Elliott v Loake as supporting case law.

From what I understand, if they’re not relying on POFA then they can’t automatically hold the keeper liable and would have to prove who the driver actually was. I deliberately didn’t name the driver for that reason.

They’ve now said my only options are to pay (they’ve extended the discount until the end of March) or appeal to the IAS, but they warn that if I go to the IAS and lose I’ll have to pay the full amount.

I’m trying to decide whether it’s worth fighting this further or if I should just pay the discounted amount and move on. I’ve read mixed things about the IAS and also about whether Smart Parking actually take people to court.

Has anyone here dealt with Smart Parking in a situation like this, or knows how strong their argument about “inferring the driver” actually is?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

EDIT 1:
Correspondences in order:
NTK Received:
https://postimg.cc/kRx3pVp2

My Appeal:
https://postimg.cc/B8yrZcWG

Their rejection:
https://postimg.cc/sGPqJkMC

Please read https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/ and post as it requests, including the NtK.

If the NtK was dated as you say, then the liability can not be transferred from the unknown driver to the registered keeper.

Most appeals on this basis are rejected, because the parking companies only want your money and don’t care about the law, but they are not “entitled” to make the assumptions about the driver that they seem to claim. It’s their usual toxic nonsense in which they make untrue statements because it makes it more likely you believe them and pay them.

Apologies for posting twice.

Appeal to the IAS, who will reject your appeal, ignore debt collectors, come back when you get a Letter of Claim. The process is to intimidate you into paying. In all likelihood, any defended claim will be discontinued and you will pay £0.

The bit on Elliott v Loake is total BS.

Elliott v Loake was a criminal case which turned on the facts of the case - the vehicle keeper was found with the only set of keys, only he was insured to drive the vehicle, he left forensic evidence at the crash site and he was shown to have lied to police in the investigation and again at Court!

I mean, can you imagine a criminal case being judged on 'reasonable assumption'