Formula 1 is finally getting the season underway at the Austrian Grand Prix today and I'm giddy with excitement. Notso- Smart Parking might be very envious of the speed with which the F1 teams are able to make tyre changes in the pits after this instruction from the Advertising Standards Authority to fix all their breaches of the 2015 Ofcom regulations on non-geographic numbers:
"We have contacted Smart Parking to instruct them to amend the Parking Terms and Conditions on their website and the car park signs to make it sufficiently clear wherever the telephone number is stated, that a service charge of 10p applies, and there is also an access charge that applies. Further to this, we have said to them that, whilst personal correspondence is not within our remit, we would suggest they also include this information in letters. We will get their assurance for these changes."
This means every sign, in every car park, across the whole of the UK has to be updated, again. Could this be the most expensive spurious charge Smart Parking have tried to scam? We may find out in the coming months.
To provide a little of the back-story, I received my first UK parking ticket last summer, on land adjacent to Shopper's World in Ammanford. I did not take it well. I'd been recorded by ANPR visiting the site in good faith for 14 minutes. I found a shopping list of issues at the site and tried to resolve the matter amicably. After that Smart Parking rejected my appeal, which set the wheels in motion to look more closely into their dodgy operations. POPLA upheld my appeal shortly after (costing Smart Parking in the process). A world championship is built from more than one chequered flag.
Scores of residents and visitors to Ammanford have been similarly cheated by notso Smart Parking. This company has gouged a chunk of cash out of the local Welsh economy, siphoned out to their operations centre in Birmingham, England, HQ in Perth, Scotland and divvied out millions in dividends. They have demeaned and terrorised a number of my older friends. Pensioners have paid hundreds of pounds in spurious charges, out of fear or an inability to navigate the unfair appeals procedures. Carmarthenshire County Councillors have been uninterested in victims' plights.
One widower (let's call him Mr K) wrote back to Smart Parking taking up their offer to have the matter listed in court, to which they've pursued him with "debt-collectors", onerous legal threats and payment plans. Mr K's experience of debt-counselling (and helping others do the right thing in court) has meant he's challenged the so-called debt, which should have put a hold the harassment. And yet Smart Parking continued to pursue him. If a heart bypass hasn't stopped Mr K helping the lonely & isolated every week, nor from serving the needy with compassion at FoodBank throughout the corona-virus pandemic (he should be shielding!), then I won't be deflected from my path of seeing justice prevail.
To be clear, I have no issue with paying for parking, but charges have to be fair and the operation lawful. Smart Parking's greed has led me to uncover that they have not been operating fairly or lawfully.
I've regularly been described as persistent, professionally at performance appraisals, and in my personal life. I've always welcomed the term as a compliment. It may have taken the ASA 10 months to reach this point, but I'm ready for a long season.
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