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#Post#: 132212--------------------------------------------------
Smart Parking PCN - Overstay (ANPR) - KFC Chelmsley Wood
DIR By: elleexs
Date: October 5, 2026, 12:01 pm
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Hi all,
First time posting so apologies if I've missed anything. I'm the
registered keeper of the vehicle, V5C is in my name.
Just to get this out of the way, I can't find the original PCN
anywhere. I've got the rejection letter from Smart Parking dated
21/07/2026 and both debt recovery letters which have all the
details on them. If anyone needs something specific from the
original PCN then let me know and I'll try and dig it out, but
I've searched everywhere.
So, what happened. On 07/06/2026 the vehicle was at KFC
Chelmsley Wood. ANPR has arrival at 19:52 and departure at
20:51, so 59 minutes in total. The PCN says the max stay is 45
minutes, which makes it a 13 minute overstay, or 3 minutes past
the 10 minute grace period.
The driver went through the drive thru, got food, and ate it in
the car park. They were on a work break and are a genuine
customer. At the time the driver thought the limit was an hour,
and didn't see any clear signage saying 45 minutes from where
the car was parked.
Timeline of everything so far:
07/06/2026 - alleged contravention, 59 mins on ANPR
22/06/2026 - PCN issued by Smart Parking Ltd
06/07/2026 - appeal submitted through their online portal
21/07/2026 - Smart Parking say they emailed a rejection. I never
got it.
20/08/2026 - passed to Debt Recovery Plus
24/08/2026 - DRP letter demanding £170
15/09/2026 - I sent a formal complaint to Smart Parking about
the missing rejection
21/09/2026 - DRP letter again, still demanding payment and now
threatening to push it to £280
01/10/2026 - Smart Parking replied. They confirmed the appeal
was received on 06/07/2026 and say a rejection was dispatched on
21/07/2026. They reckon there's no record of failed delivery.
They also told me they're IPC members now rather than BPA, so
it's the IAS rather than POPLA.
What I've done so far is appeal on 06/07/2026 with no response,
complain on 15/09/2026, and try the IAS which got rejected as
out of time. They told me I'd need to ask Smart Parking for a
Non-Standard Appeal. I haven't paid anything and I haven't asked
for the Non-Standard Appeal yet.
The main things I'm trying to work out are whether this £170
(apparently £280 now) is actually enforceable or if it's just
made up debt collector fees, and whether there's any real
argument against the original charge given it's a 13 minute
overstay and the driver was a genuine paying customer. I'm also
unsure whether the Non-Standard Appeal is worth doing or if I
should just sit tight and wait for a Letter of Claim. And does
the fact Smart Parking never actually delivered the rejection
letter give me anything to work with, or is that a dead end?
The other thing is the DRP letters. Do I just keep ignoring
them? I've been ignoring them so far but it's getting a bit
unnerving.
Attachments are here:
HTML https://postimg.cc/gallery/7hwS0tr
That's the Smart Parking rejection letter from 21/07/2026, both
DRP letters (24/08 and 21/09), the complaint response from
01/10/2026.
I don't have photos of the signage from the day but I'm going to
go back and take some, I'll add them to the thread once I've got
them.
Thanks in advance for any advice, and sorry for the essay.
#Post#: 132213--------------------------------------------------
Re: Smart Parking PCN - Overstay (ANPR) - KFC Chelmsley Wood
DIR By: jfollows
Date: October 5, 2026, 12:07 pm
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Ignore DRP completely and utterly. They have no power of any
sort.
Send a Subject Access Request to Smart for all data they hold on
you, which will include the original PCN you have lost. It may
be vital to construct a defence.
What did your appeal and other correspondence to Smart say?
If the PCN is dated 22/6 for some kind of alleged contravention
on 6/6 then it is issued too late to transfer liability to the
registered keeper using
HTML https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4
from the
unknown driver, as long as the driver has not been identified.
If you didn’t identify the driver, you have the basis for a
defence to the inevitable court claim which will follow. If
properly defended, it’s likely that it will be discontinued
before going to court. Search the forum for similar cases for
more information.
--- Quote ---
> (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.
>
> (5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)
is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on
which the specified period of parking ended.
--- End Quote ---
#Post#: 132215--------------------------------------------------
Re: Smart Parking PCN - Overstay (ANPR) - KFC Chelmsley Wood
DIR By: elleexs
Date: October 5, 2026, 12:34 pm
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Found the wording I used in the appeal. It was:
"I am appealing this charge on the grounds that I was a genuine
customer at the KFC restaurant and that I did not see clear or
visible signage from the bay in which I parked about the 45
minute time limit. I can confirm I was customer by providing a
bank statement on this day and time, having gone through the
drive thru and ate my break food in my car. I request you please
cancel this charge."
I'll leave it to you to read what that means for identification.
My original complaint on 15/09 was only about the missing
rejection letter and the escalation to DRP which they replied
to.
Does that affect the POFA point? If so, what am I left with?
Signage and the 3 minutes past the grace period?
Sending a SAR off today to get the original appeal and the PCN
back so that should settle it.
Anything else I should be doing in the meantime or just wait for
the SAR?
#Post#: 132216--------------------------------------------------
Re: Smart Parking PCN - Overstay (ANPR) - KFC Chelmsley Wood
DIR By: jfollows
Date: October 5, 2026, 12:36 pm
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You said “I” so you identified the driver. PoFA is therefore
irrelevant.
To be clear, you responded as registered keeper and identified
yourself as the driver.
Anyone who implements a “grace period” won’t extend this. You
either left within the period of parking plus the grace period,
or you didn’t. Whether it’s 1 minute, 3 minutes, or 300 minutes
doesn’t matter. Clear signage, or lack of such is a more
promising approach I think.
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