Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

Fergie76

Fergie76 wrote: »

And to the DVLA:

Good afternoon,

It has come to light as the result of an Freedom Of Information request that APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947 are obtaining Registered Keepers details for Northwick Park and St Mark’s Hospital, Watford Road, Harrow.

I requested a copy of the contract from the hospital as part of FOI request, as I fought a penalty charge from APCOA. I received a copy of the contract yesterday from the hospital and the contract is with FMG (Harrow) Limited and Lister Healthcare Group Limited. It appears that Lister are now dissolved and FMG (Harrow) have been taken over by or renamed to APCOA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (HARROW) LIMITED, company number: 03481526. As you can see APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947 have no contract with Landowner and therefore have no authority to request the Keepers details and are in breach of the Data Protection Act. I have contacted the hospital to ensure that they have in fact sent me the correct contract.

Until evidence to the contrary arises, I contend that APCOA Parking (UK) Limited have no lawful authority to obtain Registered Keepers details for the above site and request that they are immediately suspended from doing so until they can prove that they have the lawful authority of the Landowner.

Freedom Of Information Request

Can you please supply me, broken down to yearly figures (going back to when first requested), how many registered keepers details requests you have received from APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd and also APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd for the above site up to 30 Nov 14?

After sending a hastening email last night after receiving no reply from the DVLA to the above, I have today received this rather worrying reply:

Thank you for your emails dated the 28th November 2014 and the 1st December 2014, where you have raised issues concerning the landowner agreement between APCOA and the disputed land.

This has been passed to the British Parking Association(BPA) to investigate. The BPA will be asked to provide a response and details of any actions they may pursue to the DVLA on completion of their investigation. If it is identified that data has been obtained in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 or Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, APCOA may lose their access to DVLA data.

Unfortunately, the DVLA cannot regulate the practices of private car parking companies. The Agency accredits trade associations to ensure that those who request information are legitimate companies that operate within an enforceable Code of Practice. Accredited Trade Associations (ATAs) have responsibility for ensuring compliance with their code of practice so when we receive an enquiry or complaint relating to the practices of a private parking company, we pass it to the relevant ATA to investigate and inform us of the outcome.

In respect to your Freedom of Information Request, this has been passed to the FOI team for consideration and you should receive a response in due course.

So from the horses mouth, the DVLA do not regulate who has access to their database.

Also no mention of suspending them from access, while it confirmed if they have the correct authority or not?

Coupon-mad

Well it's true they don't regulate them. Nor do the BPA. No-one does, not really. At least it's been passed to the BPA to 'investigate' which means the DVLA/BPA have to record it as a formal complaint and the BPA will have to look at it...

Don't hold your breath!

Fergie76

Whist I agree C-M that they don't regulate PPC's, they certainly should regulate who has access to the database. The should not be able to abdicate their responsibility on this.

I also think, that until the Trust/APCOA prove otherwise, that APCOA should be banned from accessing the database for this site, because if it is confirmed that they don't have a contract then the surely the DVLA have breached the DPA by releasing data to a company that is not entitled?

Fergie76

Fergie76 wrote: »

So taking inspiration from Martin's (I'm assuming that's your name :rotfl:) thread, I have just sent the Trust the following FOI:

I would be grateful if you could provide me with the following under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Can you please give me a full breakdown of what the £126,890.73 was paid to APCOA for in 2013/14?

2. Can you please give me a full breakdown of what the other £93,851.72 and 7,075.68 was paid to APCOA by the Trust for in 2013/14?

3. How much did the Trust receive from Staff for parking in 2013/14? How much was retained by the Trust and how much of it was paid to APCOA? What services do APCOA provide to Staff parking to justify this sum?

4. In your reply to question 3 below, you state that APCOA pays the Trust annual fee how much was this fee for 2013/14 for Northwick Park Hospital and the Trust as whole?

5. Given that your car parks are run by APCOA for a profit, can you please confirm if Business Rates are applicable in your car parks and if so, who’s responsibility it is to pay these? If it is the Trust can you please confirm how much you have paid for 2013/14?

6. Is the Trust paying APCOA (and therefore being invoiced) the VAT due on charges that are being levied by APCOA?

7. Other than slapping tickets on peoples cars, what other services are APCOA contracted to do in regards to parking management? How do you monitor they are achieving this?

8. How many parking tickets were issued by APCOA in 2013/14 and 1 Apr 14 at Northwick Parks Hospital and how many of them were related to disabled people/blue badge holders?

9. How many complaints has the Trust received about APCOA in 2013/14 and 1 Apr 14 to today?

Had a reply to the above FOI today:

1. This is the contribution paid by the Trust to APCOA in lieu of direct income from staff (as expected under the original contract) for parking acts within the staff car parks at Northwick Park& St Mark’s Hospitals; the sum is not broken down further save for being invoiced on a monthly basis.

2. These are costs associated with the managementand administration of the car parks and associated facilities at CMH & Ealing Hospital.

• The £93,851.72 is made up as follows:
Management fee for CMH car park - £45,066.72
Pay and Display telephone transaction - £427.15
Parking Notice processing at CMH - £574.05
Staff costs at CMH - £47,783.60

• The £7075.68 is made up as follows:
• Management Fee for Ealing Hospital = £4937.84
• Other Costs = £2137.84

3. The Trust received £453,670.90 from staff for parking for 2013/14. As per Q1 theportion of this sum paid to APCOA (in lieu of direct payment by staff) is circa £126k. APCOA provide management, monitoring, security and administration of the car parks and staff permit system.

4. The Trustreceived the sum of £469,582.98 (excl. vat) from APCOA for the 2013/14 period.

5. The Business rates are paid by the Trust and recovered from APCOA in line with the original Financial model. The Business Rates for the hospitals are assessed on a whole site basis; the Trust paid £2,122,434.30 in Business rates for the year 2013/14 (for NPH only this is £1,042,434.30). The sum recovered from APCOA for Business Rates was £88,000 in line with the original financial model.

6. VAT is recoverable on all but staff chargeslevied by APCOA

7. APCOA provide all general management, monitoring, security and administration of the car parks. At NPSM the contract also includes for the funding and construction of the multi-storey car park; the land is held by APCOA under a formal lease. The contract is monitored via monthly meetings between the Facilities Team and APCOA.

8. PCN issued by APCOA the details are below

2013/14 - Invoices issued - 2574 Blue badge holders - 108
2014 - Invoices Issued - 1014 Blue basge holders 44

9. 2013/14 - 8 2014 - 6

Coupon-mad

Those sums are ridiculous. No wonder the Country is in a shambles if highly-paid top bananas at Hospital Trusts think this is a good example of a business contract, it's just money going round in circles and the sums don't even add up, and the victims in all of it are the staff and patients.

Castle

The FOI response simply raises more questions than answers.
It would interesting to see what they would say if you were to ask for a breakdown of the monies between each of the APCOA companies!

Fergie76

Castle wrote: »

The FOI response simply raises more questions than answers.
It would interesting to see what they would say if you were to ask for a breakdown of the monies between each of the APCOA companies!

Im still waiting a week later for them to confirm if it was indeed the correct contract they sent me and also when I will receive their GPEOL.

Ryan_Bryan

Interesting though that APCOA lease the land meaning that they can show a financial interest.

Castle

Ryan_Bryan wrote: »

Interesting though that APCOA lease the land meaning that they can show a financial interest.

But which company, APCOA (Harrow) or APCOA Parking UK?

Fergie76

Also, is the lease just for the multi-storey or all car parks? The driver wasn't parked in the multi-storey.