Smart Parking Technology Arvostelua 1 747

-5 stars if it were possible. A nasty business. Vehicle enters their car park at Tower Road , Newquay, Cornwall innocently, occupants are unable to use the app (4 adults tried individually with different phones), no mobile reception. No other way to pay, no card or cash provision. Large car park, elderly relative in car so parking position important. Trapped, fine if you stay as unable to pay, so left to find a nice council owned car park nearby that accepted cash and card. Over 14 days later PCN sent to vehicle owner, the car had overstayed grace period by 20 SECONDS!!! So appeal, thrown out, fine now £170 for 20 SECONDS in a car park that had no method of payment available. 14 threatening and harassing letters and over 2 and a half years later the vehicle owner threatened with CCJ. My advice is to NEVER park in a car park operated by Smartparking.com

Absolutely disgusting inhuman parasites who have no morality!
Parking in the car park at the hospital I work at and have a car parking pass for where they close an entire floor of the car park of about 100 spaces due to snow and ice! Parked in an EV charging place for 30 mins to sort out my first appointment and have a ticket by the time I’m back!
Appealed it but apparently they have no comprehension of extreme circumstances and would prefer patients were left without a doctor and couldn’t possibly show any leniency because they are money grabbing sharks

Ich habe heute einen Brief erhalten mit einer Forderung von 52 €, im Anhang waren über ein QR-Code Bilder zu sehen von meinem Auto die allerdings nicht zusammenpassten, das erste Bild stand das Auto mit den Reifen auf einem Boden mit geriffelten Asphalt auf dem anderen Bild stand es auf einem Parkplatz mit glattem Asphalt zusätzlich war der bordstein in einer Biegung Punkt das erste Bild sah aus als würde ich gerade in einem Parkplatz einfahren oder ausfahren das dritte Bild war so dunkel dass man meinen könnte es wäre Abends gewesen. Ich hätte die parkzeit überschritten auf der Adresse rathausstraße 11 , es soll der Parkplatz einer Bank gewesen sein doch bei dieser Adresse ist keine Bank dort ist Action. Das war so unglaubwürdig dass ich sofort ein Widerspruch eingelegt habe und auch direkt mit meinem Anwalt gedroht habe den ich auch in Anspruch nehmen werde sollten die weiterhin auf die Forderung bestehen. Über die Summe müssen wir ja nicht reden selbst bei einer Überschreitung würde es niemals zu so einer hohen Summe kommen.

Utterly useless outfit - we provided all the registrations for our retail team back in October for a retail park and are still getting fines, reminders and now debt collection letters - just cant believe how completely useless they are

Absolute sharks, paid for a ticket and have reciept however they want £60, went through the appeals process and delay tactics start, they they say I have not appealed in time.
Absolute disgusting company, I will not be paying the fine.

Absolutely corrupt!! Don’t know how they get away with it! Absolutely disgusting company. Service, response, everything is diabolical!

Tried issuing 7 parking fines, all of which were out of time, there are strict rules on this but they don’t seem to grasp the concept there business. Ge yourself onto ChatGBT, scan your fine letter in and it generates a response automatically, dead easy and gives you peace of mind knowing the rules, they are hoping your going to just pay without disputing with them. Save yourself a fortune ChatGBT

They have underhandedly, in my opinion, tried to charge me £60, if paid in 14 days for allegedly failing to pay for a ticket. However, I paid for a ticket. I tried appealing the charge. However, having tried twice online without success, I will now be seeking legal advice. I believe that the appeal process is deliberately flawed, as they want to put people off lodging an appeal. The lesson I have drawn from my very negative experience, is that in future I will not park in any car park this company manage.

Scam company who just threaten and harass when they know they can't pursue

Terrible experience.
Received parking ticket which I legitimately contested. Heard nothing more until i started receiving letters from debt recovery plus.

To speak to Debt recovery plus you need to spend over an hour on hold each time to speak to anyone. You then hear nothing more until you get further letters with the fine increasing.

Also complained to the complaints address for smart parking with no response. Incident happened in July and left with no option but to pay.

They are awful avoid them at all costs

Parkabzocke auf dem REWE Parkplatz.
Da hängen in 3 Metern Höhe Schilder mit langen juristischen Texten, die sich niemand durchliest, wenn man in den Supermarkt geht und hinterher noch einen Kaffee trinken.
Jetzt verlangt diese Firma "Smart Parking " 48 Euro mit einer Zahlungsfrist von 5 Tagen !!!
Mafiöse Verhältnisse und reine Abzocke.
Ist das wirklich rechtens und angemessen?
Zum Glück bin ich Rechtsschutz versichert....

Extortionate Fines
This company has issued a £100 fine for a 1-minute car park overstay.
The date on the letter is 10 days prior to my receipt so the 28 days' notice is compromised.

1. The car park used has been free for many years and inadequate lighting making it impossible to see any signing in the dark.
2. I receive the fine on 09/12/25 and only had one day to pay the £60 fine otherwise it would be £100.
3. The webpage would not allow me to pay the fine using the unique reference number and my registration plate.

Please can you send me the Lux levels for the car park and can you also confirm why it has taken 13 days from printing the letter to send me the PCN giving me less that 24h to pay?

The signs for the parking are not visible in the evening and there is virtually no lighting in the car park. You receive a £60 parking fine which they purposefully print out and send so you have less that 24h to pay the lower rate which is automatically increased to £100 if you dont pay it within those 24h. To make it even better you cant used the website to pay the fee because they have a system error conveniently and you have to ring a number and provide your card details to an automated machine which inevitably will sell all of your information into others for telesales. Please can you provide your LUX level survey for the lighting in your car park because it would be fascinating to see if it complies with any standards.

Sneaky small signs regarding 4 hours limit in Bloomfield retail shopping centre car park, Bangor Northern Ireland. They have since upgraded to large signs and a payment facility for extra parking time but it cost me multiple £60 fines in the intervening period. Crooks?

Parked on local car park for 72 minutes , the phone No wasnt manned and I couldnt download the Ringo App due to the phone signal (thats who collects the payments for these crooks)So once I got home contacted Ringo (A Bot as usual) who gave me Smart Parking details. Contacted them to try and pay the fee but no couldnt help me I had to wait for the fine then appeal is what I was Told . 3 months later the fine arrives I appeal as instructed explaining I did everything possible to pay the fee on the day but they had restricted me from doing that . Dont use their car parks they are terrible people to deal with. WATCH OUT THEY WILL NOT HELP YOU IN ANYWAY. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES ARE.

Smart Parking is one of the most predatory and misleading private parking firms I’ve ever dealt with.

I received a completely unjustified Parking Charge Notice despite being a genuine paying customer at the premises. Their ANPR system produced contradictory timings, their signage was unclear and misleading, and they even ignored evidence from the landowner confirming I was authorised to be there.

They then escalated the charge to debt recovery while my appeal was still ongoing — aggressive and intimidating behaviour that no responsible operator should engage in.

I eventually won my case through the Independent Appeals Service, whose adjudicator agreed Smart Parking had NOT proven that their signage or terms were clear. That alone says everything.

But not everyone has the time, knowledge, or confidence to fight these unfair charges — and after reading hundreds of similar complaints online, it’s obvious this company operates a volume-driven, unfair model that catches out ordinary people.

If you’ve received a charge from Smart Parking, don’t assume it’s valid. Challenge everything. Their business relies on people giving up.

Avoid sites run by Smart Parking if you can – and warn friends and family.

Arrived, paid for parking within 2 mins and left within the 10 min grace period.
Got a fine because they went on the time I entered the car park using anpr which meant I overstayed grace period by nearly 2 mins.
They rejected my initial appeal because they kept arguing I overstayed my grace period.
However they also stated that they operated a 10 min grace period which according to British transport legislation is the period of time after "paid session "expires. Therefore they contradicted themselves

Went through IAS in the end who sided with me as I left within the official grace period.

The evidence they supplied themselves actually went against their arguments and their records demonstrated I left in reasonable time

Worst parking experience if there is such a thing.

I write this long spiel as I have read a lot that people have stopped appealing because smart parking argue the anpr fact, but remember grace period is the 10 mins after paid session, not the moment you enter the car park. That is the consideration period which is 5 mins by law.

If yo have abided by the legislation they don't have a leg to stand on.

Recently issued a PCN for apparently not paying for parking at Manchester Airport Holiday Inn. Appealed as I had paid the airport and sent proof, was then asked for proof of stay at the hotel and informed them that there was no requirement to stay at the hotel to park there but still gave them my booking reference.
Heard nothing until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting letters from Debt Recovery Plus.
Fraudulent company that attempts to bully people into handing over more cash!

If I could give minus stars, I would.

I’m a paying member of a leisure park where Smart Parking runs the car park. What they don’t tell you upfront is that you must register your car every single time you visit — even as a member. Miss it once, and you’re fined. I only discovered this absurd rule after the penalty letters started arriving.

Here’s the nightmare timeline:

- First fine: Sent to my old address before I updated my logbook. I never received it, never knew it existed.
- Second fine: Arrived at my correct address. I appealed, explained I was a member and unaware of the rule. They reduced it — grudgingly — as if they were doing me a favour.
- Third fine: Also at my correct address. I appealed again, but this time they rejected it outright. I paid both fines immediately.
- One year later: Out of nowhere, bailiffs contacted me about the first fine I never received. Smart Parking had my new address for the second and third fines, yet they never re‑issued the first one, never mentioned it, never gave me a chance to pay.

When I challenged this, their response was robotic: “It was your obligation to change your address.” Yes, but once they had my new address, why didn’t they forward the old fine? Why keep silent until bailiffs are involved?

The bigger issue:
Smart Parking’s system is designed to trap honest people. Their rules are confusing, their communication negligent, and their customer service hides behind technicalities instead of applying common sense. Even as a paying leisure park member, I was treated like a target, not a customer.

My verdict:
Smart Parking is not about managing parking — it’s about manufacturing fines. They exploit unclear rules, ignore fairness, and weaponize bureaucracy. Their practices are predatory, their processes broken, and their attitude toward customers disgraceful.

Avoid them at all costs.