Comments please.

D_P_Dance

Whether an MP comes up trumps today or it is of little import, he may get a PCN in the post tomorrow.  

Umkomaas

Fruitcake said:

My MP has forwarded my concerns to Neil O'Brien MP with this comment: -

"Thank you for your letter of 28 October in reply to my letter about parking charges on behalf of my constituent Fruity McFruitcake, Fruitcake Folly, Zumerzet Riviera, although I’m afraid it left Mr Fruitcake far from persuaded."

No manure, Sherlock.

Hardly busting a gut for your vote!

Fruitcake

This is what I sent in the end, 

"Whilst I appreciate Mr O’Brien’s response, my concern regarding disabled motorists receiving parking charges because they did not display a blue badge does not appear to have been addressed at all. The blue badge scheme does not apply on private land, yet private parking companies refuse to accept any other indicator of a disability, despite the legal requirements imposed on parking companies by the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for motorists with disabilities and who have protected characteristics as defined by The Act.
They have had eleven years to resolve this issue yet steadfastly refuse to acknowledge any indicator of a disability except a blue badge. A system to recognise other forms of proof surrounding a motorist's disability must be put in place.

I recently viewed the oral hearing held by the Government Select Committee dealing with the private parking sector, during which a number of witnesses were given the opportunity to speak. These witnesses included the chief executives of the two parking trade associations, the head of a major parking company, the head of a debt collection agency, and the heads of two motoring associations. What was conspicuously absent at this hearing was any input from those people most affected by parking charges from unregulated private parking companies; people like me, members of the motoring public.
I have no association with any of the witnesses at this hearing, none of them represent my interests, and I doubt they represented the interests of any motorist who has ever received a private parking charge. I believe the direction of this hearing was completely biased towards the interests of the unregulated private parking industry, which is the exact opposite of Sir Greg Knight’s intentions when he put forward his Parking Bill to Parliament.

During the online public consultation of the proposed Parking Bill code of conduct, and the more recent public consultation concerning the proposed level of charges, both the motoring public and parking companies had their chance to make comments. However, this consultation was tainted by hundreds of repeated copy-and-paste comments from parking operators in a deliberate and cynical attempt to skew the result, and approximately one third of these comments were removed as not being genuine submissions.
Parking companies have since made public comments to various news agencies that the majority of respondents to the consultations wanted higher charge levels to be imposed, however this did not take into account the hundreds of fake comments that were disregarded, meaning that the majority of respondents were actually in favour of lower charges that matched those of council charges.

In this oral hearing, the witnesses mentioned numbers and figures to the committee, without any form of proof to back up their claims. Figures appear to have been plucked from the air and quoted as if they were fact, yet remained completely unchallenged by the members of the committee. Not one witness was required to produce proof to the committee, let alone written proof, of their claims.

Some of the figures claimed were contradictory, some were confusing, and I believe at least some of them were untrue. Allowing only the parking industry and motoring organisations to speak to a parking select committee is unfair, and undemocratic.
I have many more concerns, especially about parking companies and trade associations run by convicted criminals including one where the owner of parking company made threats of rape against a motorist's wife. No checks are carried out by the DVLA before personal data is released other than to confirm the parking company is a member of a parking trade association. UK Police have to undergo much more stringent checks to obtain a person's data, far more than is required for a parking company, and that cannot be right.
Even then it is not fool-proof. In response to a recent freedom of information request, the DVLA admitted they had released personal data to a company that was no longer a member of a trade association, even though the owner had a conviction for racially aggravated assault. I would therefore like to know how people like me and other members of the motoring public can have our say, and raise our concerns with the people who are making decisions about parking companies.

I would also ask you to forward this to the department for levelling up, and to mention my concerns in the house of commons."



I strongly urge everyone who has been affected by private parking companies to complain to their MP, and ask how they can have their say because only allowing the unregulated parking industry and motoring associations without the balance of comments from the motoring public is unfair and undemocratic.

Please feel free to use information I have posted, but whatever you do, do not copy and paste my comments.

Fruitcake

Umkomaas said:

Fruitcake said:

My MP has forwarded my concerns to Neil O'Brien MP with this comment: -

"Thank you for your letter of 28 October in reply to my letter about parking charges on behalf of my constituent Fruity McFruitcake, Fruitcake Folly, Zumerzet Riviera, although I’m afraid it left Mr Fruitcake far from persuaded."

No manure, Sherlock.

Hardly busting a gut for your vote!

Precisely so. He has forwarded my complaints to various people, but has not made any comments of his own to say whether or not he wants my vote at any forthcoming election. 

The MP of the relative I helped beat VCS at IAS appeal stage has been much more proactive, and said she support Sir Greg's bill, and has stated how unfair she thinks the unregulated parking industry is. I suspect she will get my relative's vote in the future.

Umkomaas

Just thinking whether having mentioned Sir Greg in your email, you might forward him a copy in case he's not aware of what has recently happened. I wonder if he's still keeping his ear so closely to the ground these days.