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SMART PARKING LTD / CHARGE/ CANCELLATION
I am based in Scotland.
I was with a friend when I parked my vehicle in a city car park run by Smart Parking Ltd of Perth.
I bought a ticket & placed it on the dash board.
Smart Parking do state to place your ticket on the dash board, because, these tickets are not sticky backed & cannot therefore be placed on the windscreen.
These tickets are not appropriate for the job, as Smart Parking well know, as they are easily blown when the car door is closed. I found this out months ago. Smart parking state they can place a charge notice if the ticket has fallen or is upside down in the vehicle!
On our return to my brown vehicle, we noticed a man loitering at the bonnet of my vehicle, on seeing us approach, he said some expletive and seemed angry. He then looked at the car next to mine, a Black VW finished what he was doing and placed a Parking Charge on the Black VW car.
We got into our 'brown' vehicle, I checked my ticket, I was well within the time limit, and drove away.
I remembered this as we had just gone to the train station a short walk away to pick up train tickets.
On our return from holiday, I found a letter from Smart Parking Ltd, Perth dated 25th June 2014 'Notice to owner-do not ignore' for a ' No Valid Ticket' for contravention date 21/05/14 at 11:47 am. The amount outstanding was £90.00.
The Smart Parking ticket I bought & displayed was for 21/05/14 bought at 11:25 am lasting until 12:25 am. I was within my paid time limit.
At first I did not remember the incident & I therefore thought they must have got the wrong vehicle details.
I contacted Smart Parking, Perth.
I explained that my vehicle hadn't been dealt a 'Charge Notice' and that this letter was the first I had known of any 'charge'.
The representative spoke to me as if I was making the story up.
He eventually said that I should make an appeal online.
I appealed on line, and noticed that although the registration was correct to my vehicle, the colour was not. My vehicle is brown metallic while they described it as black.
I sent my appeal, and then went about searching a second time for my parking ticket, through bin bags, hand bags and back to the vehicle for another look. Finally I found the ticket between a card CD cover in the glove box.
I had spent the whole morning appealing & searching, time away from work & by now I was quite emotional.
Having the ticket, I believed that this situation would be quite straight forward as a mistake had been made on the part of Smart Parking Ltd.
I expected an apology, some compensation for time away from work & postage costs, as I had sent my original ticket and accompanying letter via signed for postage.
In fact, there were two letters, one before I had found my ticket and one after I had found my ticket.
Once I had found my ticket and had time to take in the whole situation, I then began to remember clearly the days event. I asked the person I was with whether they remembered the day & they did.
After the appeal & original ticket had been sent, I was then issued with two standard letters of 'Parking charge notice- pending adjudication'. The last being dated 4 /07/14.
I heard nothing until 28/07/2014 when I received another letter stating that 'Parking charge notice-cancellation' and a couple of lines without giving an apology or reason for their error.
I was not happy with the reply so telephoned Smart Parking Ltd.
I asked to speak with the case worker but was put through to someone who hadn't read my letters.
I was, I believe, on every occasion treated as if I were 'guilty' first until proven 'innocent'.
I was treated as if I were a criminal.
I questioned the style of letter and the stress it has caused me and time. The 'case worker' laughed when I said I expected an apology and said that she was happy to apologise on the phone, she laughed again.
The case worker said that the only reason they cancelled my charge was because there was no photographic evidence.
When I asked what this meant, she explained that the man who gave the parking charge hadn't taken photographic evidence of it being placed onto my vehicle.
But I stated that I had my valid ticket & so no such charge should have been dealt in the first place.
I was properly parked in a legitimate parking space.
The case worker said that there was no evidence of anything on either part, even though I had sent them my valid ticket (I have photocopies).
Would this sort of argument stand up in court?
The case worker stated that the colour of the vehicle may be incorrect but that does not make the ticket invalid.
However I believe that any incorrect information should make the ticket invalid. Their representative is after all doing an incorrect poor job and therefore cannot be relied upon.
In fact in my case, the colour of the car was correct, but the vehicle registration was not.
The case worker however stated that the registration is never incorrect, but the colour can be incorrect.
My concern is that if I had not found my ticket would they have continued to harrass me and would I have had to pay for the ticket?
Would they have admitted to the lack of photographic evidence which they knew about at the beginning?
The lack of photographic evidence was because no such charge was placed onto my vehicle, we had seen it being placed onto the black vehicle next to mine.
I also wanted to know why Smart Parking was using very light paper tickets which were inappropriate for the job, they are difficult to place and as Smart Parking state, they must be placed on the dash board. But in this position, they are easily blown off when the door closes on leaving your vehicle.
The case worker said that they had complaints from the public about the sticky backed tickets. However all other parking areas in this region have sticky backed tickets.
Having read the British Parking Association blurb, I notice that it states that before commencing to fill out details of a Parking Charge to a given car that the car must be inspected thoroughly for the ticket.
My ticket was clearly on the dash board within the open pocket, where one places sunglasses. I place the ticket there, so that it does not get blown up by the door draft when closing.
These tickets are inappropriate and should be changed.
On receiving an appeal, the appeaser should be viewed and treated with respect and as innocent until proven guilty.
Smart Parking should compensate those people who they have 'chased' harassed' and incorrectly issued a parking charge to, yet nothing is done, why? *
SMART PARKING LTD / CHARGE/ CANCELLATION
I am based in Scotland.
I was with a friend when I parked my vehicle in a city car park run by Smart Parking Ltd of Perth.
I bought a ticket & placed it on the dash board.
Smart Parking do state to place your ticket on the dash board, because, these tickets are not sticky backed & cannot therefore be placed on the windscreen.
These tickets are not appropriate for the job, as Smart Parking well know, as they are easily blown when the car door is closed. I found this out months ago. Smart parking state they can place a charge notice if the ticket has fallen or is upside down in the vehicle!
On our return to my brown vehicle, we noticed a man loitering at the bonnet of my vehicle, on seeing us approach, he said some expletive and seemed angry. He then looked at the car next to mine, a Black VW finished what he was doing and placed a Parking Charge on the Black VW car.
We got into our 'brown' vehicle, I checked my ticket, I was well within the time limit, and drove away.
I remembered this as we had just gone to the train station a short walk away to pick up train tickets.
On our return from holiday, I found a letter from Smart Parking Ltd, Perth dated 25th June 2014 'Notice to owner-do not ignore' for a ' No Valid Ticket' for contravention date 21/05/14 at 11:47 am. The amount outstanding was £90.00.
The Smart Parking ticket I bought & displayed was for 21/05/14 bought at 11:25 am lasting until 12:25 am. I was within my paid time limit.
At first I did not remember the incident & I therefore thought they must have got the wrong vehicle details.
I contacted Smart Parking, Perth.
I explained that my vehicle hadn't been dealt a 'Charge Notice' and that this letter was the first I had known of any 'charge'.
The representative spoke to me as if I was making the story up.
He eventually said that I should make an appeal online.
I appealed on line, and noticed that although the registration was correct to my vehicle, the colour was not. My vehicle is brown metallic while they described it as black.
I sent my appeal, and then went about searching a second time for my parking ticket, through bin bags, hand bags and back to the vehicle for another look. Finally I found the ticket between a card CD cover in the glove box.
I had spent the whole morning appealing & searching, time away from work & by now I was quite emotional.
Having the ticket, I believed that this situation would be quite straight forward as a mistake had been made on the part of Smart Parking Ltd.
I expected an apology, some compensation for time away from work & postage costs, as I had sent my original ticket and accompanying letter via signed for postage.
In fact, there were two letters, one before I had found my ticket and one after I had found my ticket.
Once I had found my ticket and had time to take in the whole situation, I then began to remember clearly the days event. I asked the person I was with whether they remembered the day & they did.
After the appeal & original ticket had been sent, I was then issued with two standard letters of 'Parking charge notice- pending adjudication'. The last being dated 4 /07/14.
I heard nothing until 28/07/2014 when I received another letter stating that 'Parking charge notice-cancellation' and a couple of lines without giving an apology or reason for their error.
I was not happy with the reply so telephoned Smart Parking Ltd.
I asked to speak with the case worker but was put through to someone who hadn't read my letters.
I was, I believe, on every occasion treated as if I were 'guilty' first until proven 'innocent'.
I was treated as if I were a criminal.
I questioned the style of letter and the stress it has caused me and time. The 'case worker' laughed when I said I expected an apology and said that she was happy to apologise on the phone, she laughed again.
The case worker said that the only reason they cancelled my charge was because there was no photographic evidence.
When I asked what this meant, she explained that the man who gave the parking charge hadn't taken photographic evidence of it being placed onto my vehicle.
But I stated that I had my valid ticket & so no such charge should have been dealt in the first place.
I was properly parked in a legitimate parking space.
The case worker said that there was no evidence of anything on either part, even though I had sent them my valid ticket (I have photocopies).
Would this sort of argument stand up in court?
The case worker stated that the colour of the vehicle may be incorrect but that does not make the ticket invalid.
However I believe that any incorrect information should make the ticket invalid. Their representative is after all doing an incorrect poor job and therefore cannot be relied upon.
In fact in my case, the colour of the car was correct, but the vehicle registration was not.
The case worker however stated that the registration is never incorrect, but the colour can be incorrect.
My concern is that if I had not found my ticket would they have continued to harrass me and would I have had to pay for the ticket?
Would they have admitted to the lack of photographic evidence which they knew about at the beginning?
The lack of photographic evidence was because no such charge was placed onto my vehicle, we had seen it being placed onto the black vehicle next to mine.
I also wanted to know why Smart Parking was using very light paper tickets which were inappropriate for the job, they are difficult to place and as Smart Parking state, they must be placed on the dash board. But in this position, they are easily blown off when the door closes on leaving your vehicle.
The case worker said that they had complaints from the public about the sticky backed tickets. However all other parking areas in this region have sticky backed tickets.
Having read the British Parking Association blurb, I notice that it states that before commencing to fill out details of a Parking Charge to a given car that the car must be inspected thoroughly for the ticket.
My ticket was clearly on the dash board within the open pocket, where one places sunglasses. I place the ticket there, so that it does not get blown up by the door draft when closing.
These tickets are inappropriate and should be changed.
On receiving an appeal, the appeaser should be viewed and treated with respect and as innocent until proven guilty.
Smart Parking should compensate those people who they have 'chased' harassed' and incorrectly issued a parking charge to, yet nothing is done, why? *
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