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#Post#: 114500--------------------------------------------------
Re: Final reminder from Smart Parking
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: March 26, 2026, 11:58 am
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So - on the face of it, if they did not receive the notice, it
has not been served, and accordingly, the keeper cannot be
liable. However, whilst that is true in theory, in practice, it
will be very difficult to prove (how do you prove you didn't
receive something?).
Without sight of the original notice, we can't really advise on
its contents and whether it is compliant with the relevant
legislation - they could send a Subject Access Request to Smart
Parking to get a copy of it.
What they do next depends to a certain extent on their attitude
to risk...
Option 1 is to pay up - if they do this, there's a 100% chance
that they will lose £145. In return for that £145, they will get
the certainty that the matter is closed, and the certainty that
they won't have to pay any more than that.
Option 2 is to do nothing, await Smart Parking probably taking
them to court, and seeking to defend it. If they do this, they
might win, or Smart Parking might pull out before a hearing (in
either of these cases your friend would pay nothing), or they
might lose, which would (generally) cost in the region of
£200-230.
On the face of it, from what you have told us so far, they don't
have a defence on the basis of the actual contravention, so it
would depend on any defencde to be found in the signage,
technical defects in the original notice that we haven't yet
seen, or Smart Parking's solicitors messing up the process.
I appreciate the above is somewhat vague, but as you can
hopefully appreciate, we've not got much to base our advice on
currently.
#Post#: 114504--------------------------------------------------
Re: Final reminder from Smart Parking
DIR By: DWMB2
Date: March 26, 2026, 12:03 pm
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Adding - Option 3 is to make a "without prejudice" offer to
settle the matter and try to convince them to accept a reduced
amount. If I were trying this, I'd be making reference to the
fact that I do not accept I owe the debt, but that I am prepared
to settle the matter in a bid to avoid further time and expense.
But making clear that if they do not accept, you'd be prepared
to defend the matter in court, which by the time they have paid
for their lawyer etc. would potentially cost them more than they
would hope to recover, and certainly lead to less profit that
them accepting your settlement amount.
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