Threatening Parking Letter

[Smowball]

My daughter has received a nasty letter from a company why say she not only parked in a caroark and didn't pay for a ticket but she has also ignored ticket and so now has to pay hundreds of pounds .she swears she has never had a ticket on the car but she drove back to the cafoark which she has used for years and yes they've now put up discreet signs saying you now have to pay which she never saw. They say you have an hour free and then have to pay. She was only half her at most but this letter says she was 2 hrs and didn't get a ticket. What can she do??

[Smowball]

What was that?? Oh I give up

[EDDIE51]

Failure to display adequate signs is a valid reason to dispute the ticket as is not getting the letter and their timings being wrong. Your daughter needs to appeal the notice on those 3 grounds. They have to prove their case in all three grounds! They will NOT be able to do it.

[andy-hughes]

Really Smowball, until you get a solicitor's letter with a summons to court, they are simply trying (and succeeding it seems!) to frighten you into paying them three figures.

The responsibility to prove you have broken the law is theirs, it is not for your daughter to prove that she hasn't.

As I said, take no notice.

[Islay]

You can't just ignore it - there was an article yesterdays news where they have started taking them to court for these 'invoice's' and the woman ended up find £700+

[Smowball]

Ok I'll start again. She parked in regular car park but didn't realise they'd started to charge. She gets a letter saying she's ignored ticket, which she never had, and because she's ignored ticket it's now escalated and she owes blah blah blah..... she's rang a debtline who say the letter is legal

[EDDIE51]

What is the name of the company? Just put it on here and I will see what Google has on them!

[EDDIE51]

The letter is legal in that it has not broken any law, but that does not mean it is correct. You must appeal you have 3 grounds as I said to do that.

[Smowball]

Letter says creditor is Smart Parking Ltd??

[Baldric]

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/smart-parking/

[mccfluff]

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/smart-parking/

[Smowball]

Hmmmmm

[237SJ]

As I said, I would ask to see cctv footage of her entry and exit from the carpark. If she was only there for 1/2 as she says, then they would be in the wrong.

[Smowball]

That's what I've told her.its a carpark attached to a tiny SPAR supermarket

[237SJ]

Has the shop introduced a system whereby you input your reg no into their system before you leave the shop? My local Aldi has that and nobody bothered doing it but now they have started enforcing it.

[EDDIE51]

Here is Smart Parking's home page. If you scroll down to the bottom their is an option to appeal the notice.
Remember you are appealing on 4 separate grounds !! They need to PROVE they were correct in all FOUR !!!
1. The signposting was unfair in that it was hard to see and easy to miss.
2. You never got a ticket , demand proof that it was actually issued.
3. You never got the letter, they must prove it was sent.
4. You were only in the car park for 1/2 an hour and it is free for 1 hour.
Demand proof of the time your car was logged in and out.

[EDDIE51]

Sorry forgot the link
http://www.smartparking.com/pay-or-appeal-a-pcn

[Smowball]

Brilliant. Thankyou xxx

[jd_1984]

It seems like irresponsible advice to tell you to simply ignore them.

BUT, I can tell you from experience that we ignored two private parking firms that we assumed to be "chancers" and got at least 3 letters on each occasion "threatening" legal action - they then gave up.
The fines were imposed for what we believed to be partially fabricated reasons so I wasn't interested in debating with them and they gave up!!

[EDDIE51]

I got a threatening letter from a parking company. They said they would take the case to court unless I paid. In this case I found the parking attendant putting the notice on the car. The car was in a disabled bay and had the Blue Badge displayed. The sign said disabled parking was free.When I pointed this out to the attendant he got angry and said '' I will come and smash your car up mate''
About a year later I got the threatening letter from a debt collecting firm.
I phoned the company and actually begged them to take me to court as I had proof of the disabled badge and wanted to get the attendant in court to explain his threats. This seemed to panic the man on the phone, all he said was ''But you will need legal help'' I replied '' I have plenty of that we have 2 barristers in the family''
I'm still waiting for the court summons !!