Smart Parking Technology Omdömen 1 751

I unfortunately overstayed short stay parking at Lincoln station by 11 minutes. I misread the signage and believed the time allowed was 20 minutes and not 5 minutes. My fault and I have today paid £60.00 (£5.45 per minute, or £327.00 per hour).

Although acknowledging my mistake, I have noticed it can take over five minutes from entering the car park to leaving when it's busy and please be aware, the clock is ticking from entry (not parking) to exiting the car park.

Organisations such as Smart Parking benefit from not being formally regulated and effectively, can charge whatever they wish and of course, it's not a fine, it's a contractual charge we agree to simply by entering the car park.

One could suggest such charges are unreasonable or perhaps, more appropriately, extortion applied by unscrupulous operators. However, they are not breaking any laws, simply relying on unsuspecting members of the public making a mistake. The actual charge for 20 minutes is 50p and perhaps a reasonable penalty would be £1.00 (good margin when compared with most businesses) but of course, this wouldn't satisfy their business model.

Out of interest, I checked their records at Companies House and their annual turnover is almost £23 million with a net profit, of over £3.5 million. Not bad considering they are not producing anything, not providing a service and simply behave as a parasite towards the public.

It is also shocking that the car park owners allow such practices.

Naturally, I do not expect a response from the company, how could they, their business model is based on exploiting an unregulated opportunity, made contractually viable by signage.

We cannot of course avoid their car parks and we are simply left with a feeling of annoyance and frustration that our law makers allow such organisations to prosper.

It's an impossible challenge, but wouldn't it be great to deprive them of their income by being more careful and not allowing them to charge such extortionate fees.

You are absolutely disgusting. my husband had an operation at the hospital and was discharged a bit later than expected so I waited outside with my disabled son in the car park as I thought he'd probably struggle walking after general anesthetic. We were not informed that we needed to put any info into a machine at reception and you sent me a parking charge of £100, I appealed stating the facts and you still charged me.
What a disgrace charging people at a hospital ! I didn't see any signs as I was too worried about my husbands op to go checking the lampposts and walls.
I don't know how you sleep at night in fact I hope every one of you gets covered in pustules.

This is worse company I seen so far.
I clearly pay for my parking - send proofs of payment. They without any investigation offer to pay reduce penalty. On email they have sent clearly stated as they believe that I entered the incorrect vehicle registration mark. I always believe as appeal should investigated an answer provided. Unfortunately no answers and dep recovery company nocking our doors. Also I never agreed with this company as they can share my email address with second parties.

This company does not display parking signs or payment methods clearly at all. I have received a fine in the post, but even paying the fine is almost impossible. The advertised telephone payment service is no longer in practice. The fine I received is not logged for online payment yet despite the 14 day cut off date for paying it. They should be shut down for incompetence!!

Terrible company to deal with
Hounding 80 year old man for getting numberplate wrong
Utter s""t company

Absolute joke and bullies. Take my daughter to court who is a vulnerable adult. Disgrace. Pulled out a parking fine from 3 years ago, she can’t even remember when they are going on about so can’t really defend. Awful

Je wordt de terugweg niet opgehaald. Taxi moeten nemen van 30 euro. Ze nemen de telefoon ook niet op 0 bereikbaar

By shutting down for good. Disgusting fining myself due to there machines not working. Appealed to no avail. Should be completely ashamed and shouldn't be allowed to trade at all.

AVOID AVOID AVOID

Terrible company - avoid at all costs - even when you follow the parking instructions on their signage - they will fine you - if you appeal with evidence this is ignored.

In 2025 businesses that oprerate with such underhand tactics should be bought to justice by the government.

Speaking from personal experience and from work as well.

AVOID AVOID - park anywhere else - even if the rate is higher - as after fine you will still be better off.

Disgraceful company who claim to have sent a Parking Charge letter to my address but the first I heard of any parking fine was via Debt Recovery Plus.

I had parked at Linkway West RP Superbowl in St.Helens on 4th August 2025, during the summer holidays to enjoy a morning at Superbowl with my children. I input my car details into the tablet device near the pay point inside Superbowl which I then thought meant that my car would be fine for the duration of our visit. I also visited Home Bargains on the same site, following our time bowling which meant I had stayed in the car park for 132 minutes rather than the 90 minutes it states that you get on the signage. However, as I had put my details into the tablet device inside Superbowl, I thought that this time restriction then didn't apply. Surely that is the point of validating your vehicle registration!

So despite following the correct process, I received a parking charge but only found out over a month later when I received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus.
I appealed the fine directly with Smart Parking Ltd but they said due to the amount of time the parking charge had been open, I had to contact Debt Recovery Plus who are now handling the fine on their behalf. The parking charge has only been open so long due to not receiving any correspondence until after the 28 day period. This also meant I was never given the option of paying £60. The only option I have had is to pay £170. I have had to wait a further 28 days for a response to my appeal. So since the date of parking, I am now 3 months on with no resolution to the error they have made. They are unwilling to be helpful or considerate and have not responded directly to any of the points that I raised.
I will not be using that car park in future and the businesses on site are sure to lose custom due to this ridiculous company and the way it operates. Sadly, I probably have no further options other than to pay the fine. If I am eventually successful in appealing it, surely they should face a penalty for making an error and causing unnecessary stress!!!

Eine absolute Katastrophe! Ich hatte einen Shuttle zum Flughafen gebucht. Um 4 Uhr morgens wurde ich einfach nicht abgeholt. Der Fahrer sei krank!

I parked at Red Lion in Bushey Herts. I went into the pub - had a few drinks. I did not see the screen and failed to put my reg in. I then received a debt collection letter for £170 saying this was the fourth letter I had received so Smart Parking had handed it over. This was the FIRST letter I had received. I tried Smart Parking - emailed them - automated response and nothing. I called and held for an hour to Debt Recovery Plus who said I had to go back to Smart Parking. I then received a letter from Debt Recovery saying they had reviewed my case and did not agree and I then owed £280. This is a complete rip off. Now my credit rating is at risk. I would pay the initial parking fine but no way and i paying £280. Really not fair.

Despite having a valid parking ticket still recieved a parking notice. Fortunately not cleaned the car so still had the ticket for proof. Have appealed it and awaiting outcome.

BEWARE!!! Attended a friend's funeral last year and only just received a parking fine for £170. I clearly remember paying for the parking, typing in my reg and paying cash. I've had to pay it because I can't handle the stress of fighting it but am absolutely disgusted with what's happened. Never use this car park!!! They've done this to hundreds of people!!! BEWARE!!!

Thieves!!! They have parking with minimal legal signage and threatening letter.

People working for this company should be ashamed!!!!

Disgusting company sent me a fine for parking in a pub car park did not see signs got a ticket. I appealed a long with evidence from my bank sent that I had been in there had to do it again as they wanted further evidence so another shot of bank detailing clearly but wasn't enough evidence and reduced it 20.00 I just paid it. Pub should of made it clear I needed to sign in but didn't. Have boycotted pub since as they are also to blame!!

Disgusting scammer, this company should be ashamed of themselves. Scamming hard working people, declining my appeal when I had paid for parking so forcing me to pay or sending debt collectors! Will never use your car parks again. Avoid at all costs

These people round down the time you purchase parking and round up when you leave - be aware

Was park in garage in challenge house croydon still sent me parking fine for parking in their car park

Contested parking charge with screenshots, images, and references with links to government website and the Protection of Freedoms Act (they list this legislation on the back of the letter they send out), as they did not follow correct procedure when issuing and delivering the PCN, which according to legislation, renders the charge invalid and unlawful.

Still received another letter after contesting stating the charge is upheld and still needs paying for.

Complete lowlife scum of a company, I had to take this to the IAS (Independent Appeals Service) to get this matter resolved.

Even when confronted with evidence, screenshots of legislation, and a detailed description of my counter argument. They seemed unable to pull their head out of the sand and admit wrongdoing.