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car park fines Scotland


Feb82000

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There seems to be a particularly unpleasant bunch of cowboys operating in Inverness called "Smart Parking" who start with a demand for £60 and then, if unpaid, rack this up to £160 with threat of court action. They have terms and conditions outside their car parks which are unreadable from the driver's seat on the way in and even difficult to decipher on the way out.

Social Media buffs in Inverness could do a lot worse than start a campaign for the boycott of Smart Parking car parks and businesses whose customer parking is operated by them.

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I got one a couple of years ago in Hermiston Gait, Edinburgh (I actually left my car there all day to go up to Sneck for an ICT game). Even though I had spent about £120 in B&Q it appears you are limited to 3 hours.

The 'Parking Charge' was from a company in Preston called 'Parking Eye'. 

 

They pay the retailers for the right to erect their (tiny) warning signs then make whatever profit they can from gullible car owners.

As advised on an internet forum, I ignored the letters which stopped after 3 as predicted.

 

There were so many ways this could have been contested that they would never take court action as they were bound to lose. It just scares some people into paying.

A bit like the TV licence actually  :whistle:

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There seems to be a particularly unpleasant bunch of cowboys operating in Inverness called "Smart Parking"

 

Funny you should mention that.  They took over Perth's main multi-storey a few months ago and there has been a lot of local press coverage about their practices.  A few days ago I was absolutely fuming when I got one of their £60 demands, knowing that I had fully paid, hadn't overstayed or anything like that.  It's one of those places that uses number plate recognition cameras, and you enter your reg when paying at the machine.  In our case, we visited the car park twice in the same day, afternoon and the evening, buying separate tickets each time.  It seems that their system cannot cope with that!  The charge they sent correctly showed us arriving at 2pm and leaving at 9pm, but with no mention of what happened in between!  They must know about this flaw in their process and could easily check either the cameras or the payment records to prevent issuing incorrect charges, but they just seem to chance their luck.

 

The other scandalous thing is that they didn't issue the notice until 12 days after the event.  With computerised matching etc, there's no reason why they couldn't do this within a day or two, but it is very convenient for them to wait until most people have chucked away their receipts and are left feeling they have no choice but to give in to the threats.  Luckily for me, after going through a bin bag, I found the receipts. This proof has been emailed to a local councillor and the local MP who were compiling evidence against this company.  Also sent to Trading Standards, and I'll have a look to see if there is an industry body that Smart Parking are supposedly approved by.

 

I still have to respond directly to this inappropriately named company, having stopped myself from replying in the heat of the moment with just 3 words, the first one being "Go..."

Edited by Yngwie
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There seems to be a particularly unpleasant bunch of cowboys operating in Inverness called "Smart Parking"

 

Funny you should mention that.  They took over Perth's main multi-storey a few months ago and there has been a lot of local press coverage about their practices.  A few days ago I was absolutely fuming when I got one of their £60 demands, knowing that I had fully paid, hadn't overstayed or anything like that.  It's one of those places that uses number plate recognition cameras, and you enter your reg when paying at the machine.  In our case, we visited the car park twice in the same day, afternoon and the evening, buying separate tickets each time.  It seems that their system cannot cope with that!  The charge they sent correctly showed us arriving at 2pm and leaving at 9pm, but with no mention of what happened in between!  They must know about this flaw in their process and could easily check either the cameras or the payment records to prevent issuing incorrect charges, but they just seem to chance their luck.

 

The other scandalous thing is that they didn't issue the notice until 12 days after the event.  With computerised matching etc, there's no reason why they couldn't do this within a day or two, but it is very convenient for them to wait until most people have chucked away their receipts and are left feeling they have no choice but to give in to the threats.  Luckily for me, after going through a bin bag, I found the receipts. This proof has been emailed to a local councillor and the local MP who were compiling evidence against this company.  Also sent to Trading Standards, and I'll have a look to see if there is an industry body that Smart Parking are supposedly approved by.

 

I still have to respond directly to this inappropriately named company, having stopped myself from replying in the heat of the moment with just 3 words, the first one being "Go..."

 

Precisely the same thing happened to me at the Kinross Services. Stopped off on my way to Edinburgh and again, many hours later, on my way back. Received a 'parking fine' with a photograph of me arriving in the morning and leaving in the evening with no acknowledgement that I had left and returned in between.

 

Simply ignored them and they eventually went away.

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Funny you should mention that.  They took over Perth's main multi-storey a few months ago and there has been a lot of local press coverage about their practices. 

 

I believe their registered office is actually in Perth. Someone really does need to start a Facebook/Twitter campaign urging a boycott of their facilities and companies and shops which franchise out their car parks to them.

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There have been problems at Morrisons, TK Max and Halfords with similar fines!

I now keep my parking tickets in Morrisons for weeks. So many friends have had tickets in error there.

 

Aye and some people thought the wee mannie that was there before was bad :ohmy:

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I believe their registered office is actually in Perth. Someone really does need to start a Facebook/Twitter campaign urging a boycott of their facilities and companies and shops which franchise out their car parks to them.

 

 

What happened is that a Perth based "traditional" car park operator called Town and City Parking got rebranded Smart Parking after being taken over a couple of years ago by an Australian company which produces the defective "smart" technology. UK HQ seems to be Birmingham now.

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There have been problems at Morrisons, TK Max and Halfords with similar fines!

I now keep my parking tickets in Morrisons for weeks. So many friends have had tickets in error there.

 

Aye and some people thought the wee mannie that was there before was bad :ohmy:

 

Aye, I remember the wee mannie :lol:  I have parked more or less daily in Morrisons for the last couple of years and have never bothered with a ticket. Nobody checks then since the wee mannie was made redundant and as long as you are out within three hours the camera system can't identify whether you have one or not.

I stopped bothering with tickets when it got to the stage that I had to tour the car park to find a machine that works or had to wait for an enernity in the Queue From Hell at Morrisons' front counter to get change.

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There seems to be a particularly unpleasant bunch of cowboys operating in Inverness called "Smart Parking"

 

Funny you should mention that.  They took over Perth's main multi-storey a few months ago and there has been a lot of local press coverage about their practices.  A few days ago I was absolutely fuming when I got one of their £60 demands, knowing that I had fully paid, hadn't overstayed or anything like that.  It's one of those places that uses number plate recognition cameras, and you enter your reg when paying at the machine.  In our case, we visited the car park twice in the same day, afternoon and the evening, buying separate tickets each time.  It seems that their system cannot cope with that!  The charge they sent correctly showed us arriving at 2pm and leaving at 9pm, but with no mention of what happened in between!  They must know about this flaw in their process and could easily check either the cameras or the payment records to prevent issuing incorrect charges, but they just seem to chance their luck.

 

The other scandalous thing is that they didn't issue the notice until 12 days after the event.  With computerised matching etc, there's no reason why they couldn't do this within a day or two, but it is very convenient for them to wait until most people have chucked away their receipts and are left feeling they have no choice but to give in to the threats.  Luckily for me, after going through a bin bag, I found the receipts. This proof has been emailed to a local councillor and the local MP who were compiling evidence against this company.  Also sent to Trading Standards, and I'll have a look to see if there is an industry body that Smart Parking are supposedly approved by.

 

I still have to respond directly to this inappropriately named company, having stopped myself from replying in the heat of the moment with just 3 words, the first one being "Go..."

 

I also know of people who have driven through the St Catherine's (Halfords's etc.) car park to go from Morrison's area to Crieff Road and made the return journey later in the day, never having stopped in the car park, but have been ticketed.

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Funny you should mention that.  They took over Perth's main multi-storey a few months ago and there has been a lot of local press coverage about their practices. 

 

I believe their registered office is actually in Perth. Someone really does need to start a Facebook/Twitter campaign urging a boycott of their facilities and companies and shops which franchise out their car parks to them.

 

Absolutely nothing in the rules to say you yourself can't start a campaign Charles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got one from smart parking for waiting to pick up the family, who were in TK Maxx. Pictured going in, and coming out of car park 11 minutes later. Not going to pay it, as I didn't get out of the car, and didn't use a parking space. Waiting to see what happens, thats six weeks now, no follow up letter or anything. 

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I got one from smart parking for waiting to pick up the family, who were in TK Maxx. Pictured going in, and coming out of car park 11 minutes later. Not going to pay it, as I didn't get out of the car, and didn't use a parking space. Waiting to see what happens, thats six weeks now, no follow up letter or anything. 

I know of someone who had an identical experience to yours Bauhaus. A demand for £60 eventually arrived. When it wasn't paid it was followed by a demand for £160 from a debt collection company which threatened court action. This has also been ignored so we'll see what, if anything, happens next.

 

Alex... I would gladly start my own campaign but I don't use Facebook or Twitter and don't actually know how to!!!

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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These clowns rely on intimidation to make people pay up. Basically, any debt in uk, under £1800 is unlikely to be persued by companies. Sure, they will threaten all sorts, even going to the bother of sending out their own official looking debt collectors letters. But just dont ever pay them

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I got one from smart parking for waiting to pick up the family, who were in TK Maxx. Pictured going in, and coming out of car park 11 minutes later. Not going to pay it, as I didn't get out of the car, and didn't use a parking space. Waiting to see what happens, thats six weeks now, no follow up letter or anything. 

 

 

Alex... I would gladly start my own campaign but I don't use Facebook or Twitter and don't actually know how to!!!

 

Good grief. We have something in common.

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  • 1 year later...

I've just received a 'FINE' from smart parking. I was waiting in the car last Friday didn't even have  the engine off and was sent a pic of me entering and leaving 11 mins later. They want £100 now and the fine will increase if not paid immediately. This was for TK MAXX car park . I intend to ignore and see what happens next. Do TK MAXX employ these people? 

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The landowner usually appoints an operator like Smart Parking ro run the car park.

You'll get loads of increasingly threatening letters over the next few months, then some offers to pay a reduced amount, and then they stop.

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This is nothing to do with TK Maxx. Smart Parking are merely their anti social, objectionable neighbours. I believe they come from down Yngwie's way. The evidence of a lot of people's experience is that if you ignore them, the b******s will go away after they have sent you a couple of threatening letters purporting to be from debt collectors. The best thing TK could do is to issue a public statement totally disassociating themselves with these cowboys. Maybe Highland Council could be a bit more proactive in the public interest as well. But on the other hand Highland Council seem unable even to get that chancer in Eastgate to remove his scaffolding after about 4 years or to do anything about these "dig a hole and walk away" utility company chancers whose latest obstruction is on Culduthel Rd.

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You could reply that your friend Charles Bannerman was driving your car!  I could imagine the reply they would get from him, I could not get parked on Culduthel Road because of the road works and someone has put scaffolding in my other parking space at Eastgate :laugh:

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17 hours ago, IBM said:

You could reply that your friend Charles Bannerman was driving your car!  I could imagine the reply they would get from him, I could not get parked on Culduthel Road because of the road works and someone has put scaffolding in my other parking space at Eastgate :laugh:

:lol: Morrisons is FAR better for parking!

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I'm working with a sparky on a job just now and he was saying he received a fine/invoice for the same car park almost a year ago and he is still receiving letters from debt collectors even now . They are obviously persistent 

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