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Hi all,
I’ve now received a County Court claim from Smart Parking / DCB Legal regarding a parking charge from February 2023 at Gateway Shopping Centre.
The allegation is “Insufficient Paid Time”.
The vehicle was parked while I quickly returned an item to one of the retail units. The car park was largely empty at the time and the stay was only around 20 minutes in total.
I genuinely believed there would be a short grace period to enter, read signs, and briefly use the shops. I now understand the tariff was around 40p for an hour and, in hindsight, I should probably have paid it.
The original charge was around £80 but the claim is now over £300 including fees and costs.
I ignored the previous debt letters and no longer have most of them.
Since posting, I have now:
I understand that a 20 minute stay is likely beyond any normal grace/consideration period, so I appreciate that point may not assist me much.
At this stage I am trying to understand:
Any guidance appreciated x
I’ve now received a County Court claim from Smart Parking / DCB Legal regarding a parking charge from February 2023 at Gateway Shopping Centre.
The allegation is “Insufficient Paid Time”.
The vehicle was parked while I quickly returned an item to one of the retail units. The car park was largely empty at the time and the stay was only around 20 minutes in total.
I genuinely believed there would be a short grace period to enter, read signs, and briefly use the shops. I now understand the tariff was around 40p for an hour and, in hindsight, I should probably have paid it.
The original charge was around £80 but the claim is now over £300 including fees and costs.
I ignored the previous debt letters and no longer have most of them.
Since posting, I have now:
- completed the Acknowledgment of Service online via MCOL and selected “defend all of this claim”,
- and submitted a Subject Access Request to Smart Parking requesting copies of all notices, photographs, ANPR records and correspondence relating to the PCN/claim.
I understand that a 20 minute stay is likely beyond any normal grace/consideration period, so I appreciate that point may not assist me much.
At this stage I am trying to understand:
- Whether this is realistically defendable,
- Whether there are any issues regarding signage, compliance or inflated additional costs,
- Whether Smart Parking / DCB Legal commonly proceed all the way to hearings,
- Or whether this is the sort of claim where settlement is usually more sensible.
Any guidance appreciated x
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