Smart ANPR PCN Letter of Claim - Church Street, Amesbury

[theSC0TT]

Evening all,

After being successful last year with a parking charge in Basingstoke, I am back again with another one in Amesbury on 6 Feb '22.

I received a letter with the usual jazz on dated 21 Feb '22, however I received it on 28 Feb '22. Pictures of license plates blah blah. The Driver didn't see signage yet again as it was pitch black and we were late for a meal. I didn't respond to this letter.

Yesterday, I received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus, with the amount of £170.00 now owed. It's escalating again... They've also stated I have now lost the right to appeal as I hadn't responded in a timely manner.

Looking at those dates listed above, and taking PoFA 2012 into account, is this grounds to cancel the parking charge?

For those unaware, PoFA 2012 states that I must be informed within 14 days of the "offence"(with day one being the day AFTER the offence taking place).

by my calculations, if the "offence" was committed on the 6 Feb, they have until the 21 Feb to send the letter out; which is what the letter is dated. However, I received the letter and was informed 22 days after the "offence"!

They had 14 days to send this letter out, and they wait until the last possible moment?

Not my problem, cowboys!

Also, unless they pay for same-day-delivery, what are the chances of this letter getting to me within the 14 days I wonder?

Slim to none...

Thanks in advance. 

[dx100uk]

Please use the same sticky you filled out last time and scan up bothsides of every letter to date to one mass pdf.

 

Dx

[lookinforinfo]

That lateness of the PCN means that it is not PoFA compliant so that means that the alleged debt cannot be transferred from the driver to the keeper. 

It is important that the driver is not revealed to make it as difficult as possible for Smart to win.

[theSC0TT]

Good Evening,

This is a follow up from the below thread. 

I have now received a Letter Before Claim today (02/11/2022) from CST Law dated 06/10/2022, probably due to Postal strikes in my area stating that I have 30 days to respond.

Anything after that is pointless "because legal proceedings are likely to have begun".

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Scott

1 Date of the infringement 10/02/2022

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] 21/02/2022

3 Date received 28/02/2022

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [Y/N?] Yes

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes

6 Have you appealed? [N]

Have you had a response? [N]

7 Who is the parking company? Smart Parking Ltd

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Church Street, Amesbury

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

I've merged your threads but I'm not sure if I should have now. Is this a continuation because you've had a LoC or a new problem please?

 

HB

[theSC0TT]

This is a continuation due to receiving a Letter Before Claim.

[honeybee13]

Thank you for confirming.

 

So now you need to look for a 'snotty letter' amongst our PPC threads. Have a look at our Parking Successes forum, any thread that mentions going to court is likely to include a snotty letter from the point when a LoC turned up.

 

You'll need to adapt it to your particular case, please post it here before you send it. The guys can also have a look at the information you just posted to see if Smart have made any mistakes so far.

 

HB

[dx100uk]

just use our enhanced google search box

snotty letter

pop your idea up here 1st

and run the 30 days too, dont reply too early.

have you the org PCN as we dont have it up here?

read upload

scan bothsides to one PDF

dx

 

[theSC0TT]

No I don't have the original, it had been so long without further correspondence that I'd stupidly assumed they'd given up.

I'll have to get this snotty letter in within the next few days to be compliant with their 30 days.

Would it be possible for you to copy and paste a good snotty letter please, so I've got something to go off.

I'm looking through these threads and there's a lot of posts to trawl through.

Thanks.

[dx100uk]

as advised

simply type in smart snotty letter

in our enhanced google search box like below

 

Programmable Search Engine

CSE.GOOGLE.COM

clickme^^

[theSC0TT]

CST Law,

Cheers for your Letter Before Claim. Adding financial stresses to an already milked-dry country is exactly what we need right now. I imagine you feel very proud representing a cowboy parking charge company leeching off a community of OAPs.

What's laughable is the fact you think I am going to part with my hard earned, much needed money so easily. I take orders from a County Court in these matters, not a cowboy parking company that passes the responsibility of collecting these invoices to third parties, in turn adding their own made up and illegal charges.

I dispute this parking charge notice on the grounds of signage being in an appalling state and extremely poorly lit, leading to them being missed. Due to it being late into the evening with no light, the driver missed the signage as it was poorly lit and covered in moss/debris. I can't imagine what Smart Parking Ltd spend their "hard earned money" on, but it is absolutely not on the upkeep of their properties. 

I also dispute the Notice to Keeper that was dated 21/02/2022. I didn't receive this invoice until 28/02/2022. This is 18 days after the alleged "offence". I was under the impression Smart Parking Ltd were a legitimate, professional company? Then when are they not complying with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012? As it clearly states in PoFA 2012, Schedule 4, paragraph 9, subsection (4):

The notice must be given by—

(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

This clearly states that the Notice to Keeper must have reached the keeper's hands within 14 days of the "offence"! Smart Parking Ltd failed to uphold their responsibilities set forth in PoFA 2012.

With the "offence" have allegedly being commited on 10/02/2022, and the letter being dated 21/02/2022, what exactly were Smart Parking Ltd doing about this evil, vindictive "offence" that took place on their property.

I know what they were doing; sat in their offices with their thumbs lodged firmly up one orifice in particular.

They dragged their feet, failed to get a NTK out in time. That's their problem and not mine/the keepers/the drivers.

I've got plenty of free time for the foreseeable future, so I am more than content in taking this matter, my photographic evidence of the state of the car park and the threatening letters I have had over the past 9 months to a County Court and let a trained professional deliver their verdict and outcome. 

I hope you can view this matter from my perspective, and come to your senses before this gets hauled infront of a judge and you make yourself look a complete fool, as well as a parasite on society.

"FULL NAME".

Any good? Any changes you'd make please? 

[FTMDave]

The good news is that we have never seen Smart Parking dare take anyone to court.

 

However, on the tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny off-chance that they do, it's best not to give away how you would defend the claim.  Therefore I'd cut out everything from "I dispute this parking charge notice" to "not mine/the keepers/the drivers".

 

Instead in that central part write something like "It's not my fault if your greedy clients are too tight to put 50p in the meter".  That hints at what you might do but doesn't play your cards too early.

 

Also write at the bottom "COPIED TO SMART PARKING LTD".

 

Invest in two 2nd class stamps tomorrow and send to both CST and Smart.

 

The likelihood is that you will never hear from the fleecers again afterwards, but if by some freak you do you can SAR them to get the original PCN.  However, it's probable from their previous here that they will crawl back under their stone.

 

 

[lookinforinfo]

The bad news is that because the PCN was dated the 21st, the PCN is deemed to arrive in two days therefore legally the PCN is considered compliant.

 

You could try contacting the DVLA to find out when they replied to Smart Parking's request.

[theSC0TT]

Dave, with that suggest to replace in my snotty letter, what am I trying to imply there?

That's I'm going to deny I might have been the driver and make them prove I was?

[FTMDave]

No, the sarcastic comment about them not putting money in the meter was meant to hint the signs were unilluminated, but of course without being specific.

 

The snotty letter is always a fine balancing act where you have to come up with something that shows their case is pants, without giving away how you would defend the case if they were daft enough to do court.

 

Your concluding paragraph mentions you have photographic evidence of the state of the car park so I thought the comments fitted in well.

 

BTW, in your second paragraph it should be "unlawful" rather than "illegal".