Smart Parking PCN - Haven Banks Exeter reg number error

[Drogon]

Hi,

I received a notice to keeper from Smart Parking after the vehicle had parked in Haven Banks car park in Exeter.

A ticket had been purchased,

but the driver had accidentally missed one of the characters of the registration number when entering it.

 

The ticket was displayed for the duration of the stay,

but obviously the ANPR in use in this area would not have recognised this.

 

A copy of the ticket was initially sent to Smart Parking,

but they upheld the charge

and we have since been through the standard series of letters and demands from DRP, Zenith and now Gladstones solicitors.

 

Rightly or wrongly,

there has been no further contact with Smart Parking or their agents since their refusal to accept that a ticket was in fact purchased at the time.

A case of 'Computer says "no"'.

 

The latest letter from Gladstones refers only to an amount outstanding of £160

with no date of alleged infringement or location.

 

They are 'kindly' providing an opportunity to pay the full amount before it goes to court.

 

Is this a 'Letter Before Claim'? Or is that the next I can expect?

 

Thanks for any advice?

Drogon

[ericsbrother]

No it isnt,

it is the owners of the trade association Smart belong to trying to look hard.

 

another debt collection letter

but at least solicitors are registered with the FCA to handle money so slightly less roguish than the others.

 

There is case law regarding the errors on inputting info for parking tickets so they have no grounds to make a claim as they have not suffered a loss and any breach of contract is so minor it would not be of interest to a court,. that doesnt mean they wont try but this letter is not the last notice of that.

 

Now, what to do?

You can wait to see if they do send an lba and then give them both barrels or you can tell them to get stuffed as a response to this one.

 

Look up the case law, it is mentioned on some old threads and also on the Parking Pranksters blog but you will need to have a decent trawl.

Also the PATAS significant cases database may well help.

[dx100uk]

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