Smart parking fine in Northern Ireland
Discussion
The person concerned parked their hire car at a retail park in NI and did not notice any private parking signs or time limits. The first they knew was when the car hire company emailed them with a notice of a traffic violation which is a Smart parking invoice. The hire company procedure is to pass on the details of the hirer so the fine can be reissued to them by Smart so all dealings are then between the hirer and Smart.
The hire company charge the hirer an administration fee for this process and claim to be unable to prevent this being charged without a cancellation notice from Smart.
There are multiple stores in the retail park but none of them own the carpark and are not prepared to contact Smart parking to get the fine cancelled and have apparently had problems themselves with staff getting parking invoices too.
The questions are as follows:
It appears fines issued by Smart are not enforceable in Northern Ireland according to posts on this forum - should the fine be ignored when it arrives?
The hire company has access to the hirers prepaid debit card and will attempt to charge the administration fee so the debit card holder has a balance of zero in their account and has blocked their card - when would it be safe to unblock the account ie for how long will the hire company attempt to debit the admin fee?
Thanks in advance
The hire company charge the hirer an administration fee for this process and claim to be unable to prevent this being charged without a cancellation notice from Smart.
There are multiple stores in the retail park but none of them own the carpark and are not prepared to contact Smart parking to get the fine cancelled and have apparently had problems themselves with staff getting parking invoices too.
The questions are as follows:
It appears fines issued by Smart are not enforceable in Northern Ireland according to posts on this forum - should the fine be ignored when it arrives?
The hire company has access to the hirers prepaid debit card and will attempt to charge the administration fee so the debit card holder has a balance of zero in their account and has blocked their card - when would it be safe to unblock the account ie for how long will the hire company attempt to debit the admin fee?
Thanks in advance
Saw this in SP&L too.
The parking charge you can ignore (if you choose) and they probably won't chase it. (too much hassle and you're unlikely to return)
However that means it won't ever be cancelled.
The hire company are still owed their admin fee because it was in their Ts&Cs and you did have a contract with them. Again they may not chase it or they may never hire to that person again or it may affect a persons credit rating.
Ideal situation would be to get the parking company to admit the charge is not valid (out of good will, benefit of doubt) and cancel it in writing and then forward that to the hire company.
Do you have any reason to believe the parking charge was issued in error? (not "noticing" the signs isn't really good enough)
Also, burning question, what kind of amounts are we talking here before we ride into battle?
The parking charge you can ignore (if you choose) and they probably won't chase it. (too much hassle and you're unlikely to return)
However that means it won't ever be cancelled.
The hire company are still owed their admin fee because it was in their Ts&Cs and you did have a contract with them. Again they may not chase it or they may never hire to that person again or it may affect a persons credit rating.
Ideal situation would be to get the parking company to admit the charge is not valid (out of good will, benefit of doubt) and cancel it in writing and then forward that to the hire company.
Do you have any reason to believe the parking charge was issued in error? (not "noticing" the signs isn't really good enough)
Also, burning question, what kind of amounts are we talking here before we ride into battle?
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