Smart parking Ltd. PCN- ANPR- Havens bank retail park, Exeter

[lookinforinfo]

There are many reasons why not to appeal and also not to appeal too early. Let's start off with the appeal you were going to send on post 1. [Well done by the way for doing some research first].

These crooks issue hundreds of tickets each day and most only take about 10% of those to Court and ok a fair number of people do pay up straight away. So the crooks have to decide which people to take to Court. They know that most of their tickets were issued incorrectly and wouldn't stand up in Court but they do have the effect of frightening or shaming people into paying. So the ones who do not respond are perhaps the ones who are not scared to ignore the demands so who else can they pick on. That's right- those who have put their heads above the parapet and appealed. 

When I was in sales, if anyone said straight away-"I am not going to make a decision today" what they are really saying in most cases is that I am a pushover and although I do not want to make that decision today, I know that I will make it if the sales rep is good enough. So to appeal in the eyes of the crooks is to say that although I do not want or think I should pay, if I get pushed/scared enough I will pay. They also have an up to date address for you-and with luck, maybe a email address. 

For similar reasons, do not mention whether you were the driver or not and that you are not going to disclose who was. If you do have to write, just say that you are the registered keeper and obviously avoid saying that "I" parked or "I" did something since using I is a dead giveaway that you were the driver.

So given that by appealing has given them a reason to pursue you all the way to Court  the last thing you should do is to tell them where their parking ticket has gone wrong You telling them ." Insufficient  detail" is no problem for them-now they know you know they have plenty of time to concoct a reason for the ticket, prove it by stating a Court case and demand a higher sum. That would frighten many into paying up there and then. 

 

Bear in mind that you are dealing with crooks who always use threats of their own so threatening to complain to the landowner/MP when you have already said that the claim against you is too vague is hardly going to scare them since there may well be a valid reason why a ticket was issued just that they haven't as yet divulged it. Their ticket wordings often cover a multitude of infringements and if people pay up then, there is little reason for them to print different versions of possible offences when one will do.

Also if you do not write to them they often keep their pre Court notifications vague too which helps in your defence against them and is then often too late for them to make amendments.

 

Another reason for not appealing is that you do not as yet know just how bad their claim is. It can take several weeks before you know what is wrong with their Notice to Driver [if there was one] ditto for their Notice to keeper and their Reminder. We have not seen their signs which are often conflicting or forbidding which means they cannot form a contract with the driver. We do not know if they have planning permission from the local council to erect their signs nor install cameras.Then you hang on to that information until it is needed. Why waste time writing a long winded letter [like this one] pointing out why they have no chance in Court when they were probably never going to take you to Court in the first place.

Just get on with your life ignoring all their threats [unless it is a Court threat -then come back to us] and bear in mind that they use unregulated debt collectors who often unlawfully add extra charges to boot. They can safely be ignored =my dead cat has more power than them.

PS well done for including that bit about kelvin Reynolds from the BPA