A response from Neil O'Brien MP

Fruitcake

My MP has done the bare minimum again following another complaint I made to him by forwarding my complaint to Mr O'Brien at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, and forwarded Mr O'brien's response to him back to me.

I disagree with my MP who for the second time says he thinks the response sounds reasonably reassuring. I do not find it reassuring at all.

I asked how the new mandatory CoP would be used to protect disabled motorists who had protected (disability) characteristics as defined by Equality Act 2010, but did not have or did not display a blue badge.

Mr O'Brien failed to respond to this the first time round, but at least had the good grace to apologies for missing it in his second response, however it does not reassure me. He refers to the proposed "Appeals Charter which will require parking operators to handle certain grounds of appeal based on innocent or mitigating circumstances. The consultation proposed to include instances such as a failure to display a blue badge as the circumstances where the parking charge should be cancelled."

He just doesn't get it. Yes, there may be instances where someone fails to display a blue badge, but the fundamental point I have been trying to get him and others to understand is that a blue badge is not the only indicator of a disability, and the charter/CoP must allow for other forms of proof of a right to use an accessible bay other than the blue badge scheme. This nothing to do with a failure to display a badge that is not only not applicable on private land, but according to the blue badge scheme itself carries a penalty for using it other than for on street parking or council car parks.
In other words, you have to breach the terms of the blue badge scheme in order to display it on private land, and can receive a penalty for doing so.

With regards to the selection of witnesses at last year's oral hearing, he said, "The Government does not have a role in deciding how the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee selects witnesses to their evidence sessions, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on their process for doing so."

Well okay then, who does decide? How do people like me, a member of the general motoring public get an invite to these otherwise one sided sessions? Oh wait, it would be inappropriate for an MP to do that. In light of recent revelations, there are apparently a lot of things MPs have done that were inappropriate.

I asked about fake add on charges where a no-win no-fee system is offered such that a PPC claims monies they have not actually spent. He said, " ... we are placing greater value on the substantive content of consultation responses than if a view was expressed by multiple respondents."

I suspect this is a reference to the number of copy and paste responses to the first consultation, (and possibly even the second) by unregulated parking companies, where a cynical attempt was made to bias or skew the result by the parking industry.

Mr O'Brien made a hand written comment at the bottom of the letter. Please note that I have had to guess at some of the words.
"To reassure Mr Fruitcake - we have been taking the view of motorists and those affected by poor practices in the industry."

patient_dream

Well done for pushing this.

My view is that with everything going on at the moment, Tory MP's will struggle to hold onto their jobs, especially those seats in the North who loaned their votes.

Mr O'Brien will have the same problem if he does not get to grips with this mega scam and stop listening to the BPA and the other stooges

Router66

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

patient_dream

Router66 said:

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

No harm in showing the email here. Just don't mention his name

Router66

patient_dream said:

Router66 said:

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

No harm in showing the email here. Just don't mention his name

I agree with many of the thoughts outlined in your email. Many of these parking companies do behave like mafia organisations in being impossible to contact, hiding behind false holding addresses and heavily relying on trade associations finding in their favour as they themselves have very little teeth when it comes to enforcement. 

I will of course share your correspondence with the Minister and will keep you updated on any reply I receive

patient_dream

Router66 said:

patient_dream said:

Router66 said:

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

No harm in showing the email here. Just don't mention his name

I agree with many of the thoughts outlined in your email. Many of these parking companies do behave like mafia organisations in being impossible to contact, hiding behind false holding addresses and heavily relying on trade associations finding in their favour as they themselves have very little teeth when it comes to enforcement. 

I will of course share your correspondence with the Minister and will keep you updated on any reply I receive

Sums it up and now you need to copy that email to your MP and ask why his/her competition is more interested in the scam than they are
The trade associations do support their members and it must be pointed out that they are not in the interests of the public and not fit for purpose.

The MP's who give "nothing to do with me mate" are the ones who will lose their seat 
It's not easy for a bad MP to find another job paying a £80k plus salary

Get tough, in 2022 you will not go to prison or get your head chopped off

Fruitcake

Router66 said:

patient_dream said:

Router66 said:

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

No harm in showing the email here. Just don't mention his name

I agree with many of the thoughts outlined in your email. Many of these parking companies do behave like mafia organisations in being impossible to contact, hiding behind false holding addresses and heavily relying on trade associations finding in their favour as they themselves have very little teeth when it comes to enforcement. 

I will of course share your correspondence with the Minister and will keep you updated on any reply I receive

That's a much more positive attitude than my I got from my MP.

patient_dream

Fruitcake said:

Router66 said:

patient_dream said:

Router66 said:

My Tory MP has given up forwarding my concerns to Mr O'Brien, stating that she is confident "officials will consider all relevant concerns"...So I asked a family member to contact their MP (A Labour Shadow Minister). He was only too willing to help and responded with a very positive Email which ripped into the Parking Industry.
I am reluctant to post it in case @Fruitcake has his thread taken down...

No harm in showing the email here. Just don't mention his name

I agree with many of the thoughts outlined in your email. Many of these parking companies do behave like mafia organisations in being impossible to contact, hiding behind false holding addresses and heavily relying on trade associations finding in their favour as they themselves have very little teeth when it comes to enforcement. 

I will of course share your correspondence with the Minister and will keep you updated on any reply I receive

That's a much more positive attitude than my I got from my MP.

If your MP is TORY, you need to point out who is the boss .... it's NOT BoJO, right now it's you