Smart Parking Court Claim –Advice Needed”

[Lolalux]

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:
- 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 fr 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:
1. Whether this is realistically defendable,
2. Whether there are any issues regarding signage, compliance or inflated additional costs,
3. Whether Smart Parking / DCB Legal commonly proceed all the way to hearings,
4. Or whether this is the sort of claim where settlement is usually more sensible.

Any guidance appreciated.

[des8]

Answers to questions:
1. probably ... even if it reaches court and you lose I would expect to get the total penalty to around half of what is being claimed
2 re signage cannot comment as have not seen signs. Were they easily visible: at entrance : in correct size font: worded sufficiently to create a contract.
re inflated costs ... see 1 above
3. they often discontinue, even at the last minute, or do not turn up for the hearing
4 as a matter of principle I would not settle unless for a token amount, which you can try for at the mediation stage of the process.
They are unlikely to agree and will push for the full amount £80 + costs.

If you could post up a redacted copy of the Claim and Parking charge notice (first remove identifying details such as name, address reference numbers but leave in all dates and times) we might e able to advise further.

Trust you have not identified the driver.

You should also send a CPR 31.14 request to DCBLegal requesting all the documentation they intend to rely on in court.

[Lolalux]

Thank you so much for the reply

I have now:
- completed the AOS online,
- submitted a SAR to Smart Parking,
- and sent a CPR 31.14 request to DCB Legal.

I have not admitted to being the driver.

I’ll wait for the responses and will upload/redact further documents once received.

Thanks again for the guidance so far.

[Lolalux]

I’ve attached the claims form xx

[des8]

So that is a standard template claim from DCBLegal.
Any chance of obtaining photographs of the parking signs?
From Google Earth it seems there are no signs easily visible to a driver at the entrance to the carpark (up the slope from the road).
So really check on the signs... positioning, size, legibility from a car. font sizes of all lettering , height etc.
The actual wording on the signs is very important