NI-specific parking question

Robothell

I've been reading the other posts about the various private parking companies and their "tickets" with great interest. Fortunately I haven't fallen foul to them but both my Mum and wife have (and, despite advice to the contrary, paid the tickets - Mum had to take two spaces at the back of a carpark, well clear of anyone else, as she is disabled and needs to open her door fully to get in and out; the missus was heavily pregnant and found it difficult to get her messages done in the two hour limit in a different one).

Anyway, on to the question - one of the threads links to an article in the Daily Mail and there are a variety of industry experts quoted. The bit that caught my eye was as follows:

The law regarding parking on private land changed on October 1 with The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

It outlawed clamping on private land and set up the independent appeals body POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals).

Does anyone know if this applies to NI? The reason I ask is that the Northern Health and Social Care Trsut have a private company (PEA) running their parking and they have been clamping people left, right and centre. One of the problems is the unusually large aomunt of wasted space in car parks that are improperly marked. As a result there is a lack of car parking space in the staff car parks so you're left with the choice of leaving your car at the opposite end of the very large site or taking a chance and parking considerately but against the rules. Many people have then complained that they are very slow to remove the clamps around 5pm when most day staff are leaving.

If this ruling applies then it might be an interesting one to inform them of!

GlynD

I can find a specific regulation in connection with Northern Ireland at

• 2012 c. 9
• Explanatory Notes
• The Act
• Commentary on Sections
• Part 1
• Chapter 1
• Schedule 1
• Part 6

To me this indicates that the act is UK-wide and applies to Northern Ireland in its entirety except where specific exclusion is noted.

The full act can be seen here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/contents/enacted