The obvious advantage if you get a determination from the ICO is that you can draw the court's attention to it.
The obvious disadvantage is that getting a response from the ICO can be glacially slow.
You might be interested in the chain of email correspondence between Smart and Portsmouth Council, disclosed in an FOI I submitted recently:
Smart Parking Ltd. - Kirpal Road/"Salterns Place"You may wish to consider the dates on these emails - in particular the one on 7th October 2025, where a representative from Smart states in writing that they will remove the signage,
and claims that no enforcement has taken place in the area. There is also an email from a council officer confirming that restrictions on the public highway can only be enforced by the council.
This would suggest that they were well aware that part of the land they were monitoring was a public road on which they could not enforce, and that they were aware of this (and had undertaken not to enforce here) at the time they issued you with three parking charges.
