Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

Peel Centre Gloucester named & shamed again:

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/man-who-spent-800-shopping-8994229.amp
Man who spent £800 while shopping at Next, Dreams and Costa hit with £100 fine for parking more than two hours at Gloucester Peel Centre

"Ocean Parking and Peel have not responded to a request for comment."

Quelle surprise...

Shaun Earl, who is from the Forest of Dean, is among the shoppers who have recently fallen foul of the strict parking rules at the St Ann Way retail park.

Mr Earl claims the new operator, Ocean Parking, say they do not care if people being fined are a genuine customer as the stores are not their client, 

"“I showed that I was a genuine customer and the timestamps show that I was in the stores on site, but they still want money," he said. "Speaking to Dreams, they told me the old operator was reasonable and cancelled tickets where customers had just lost track of time.

Dreams were clearly fed up with the situation as it is losing them business it seemed like orders are being cancelled in riposte,

The car park was practically empty when I went and that’s probably because of this. I can go to Monmouth, Gloucester or Bristol for shopping. It doesn’t matter to me but if I’m going to be targeted in Gloucester I’ll go somewhere else.”

The BPA must be so proud.

ANPR is putting the final nails in the coffin of High Street shopping.

Coupon-mad

Yet another inappropriate ANPR system at a GP surgery, not sure which PPC is ruining people's lives here:

https://www.tenby-today.co.uk/news/instances-of-patients-wrongfully-receiving-car-parking-fines-at-saundersfoot-surgery-flagged-up-656418

Issues of patients ‘wrongfully’ receiving car parking fines whilst visiting Saundersfoot surgery have been flagged-up, with one local disgruntled resident left feeling ‘shocked’ after being caught out by the new system.

A new parking system was installed after the summer at Saundersfoot Medical Centre.

"Patients and visitors to the surgery will be able to park for up to an hour with no charge at the facility’s car park, and do not have to register your car or display a ticket.  However, if anyone’s attendance at the surgery goes beyond this time frame, they will need to speak to reception to ensure they do not receive a fine."

DO WHAT?!

I mean, come on, GP surgeries.  Wake up! 

STOP DEFENDING THE DAMN ANPR & KEYPAD SYSTEM THAT IS COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE FOR ANY GP SURGERY SITE.

Engage your brains before thinking ANPR can possibly address allegedly (suspiciously?) recent 'inconsiderate parking' that IMHO could easily have been staged in the months before the PPC suddenly rocked up with a 'solution'...

Ask Yarm Medical Centre what's happened to them and their patients, held to ransom by CEL for years and after blaming drivers at first, the Doctors have only just realised it's not the patients who are at fault.

Coupon-mad

And this one is about Euro Car Parks: and keypad failures (NOT CAUSED BY DRIVERS):

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/crusader/1847743/crusader-parking-fine-cancelled/amp

"After entering the car park his £2 payment for the ticket was accepted. What he had no control over was the ticket info which only showed half of his car registration number.  He says he tried several times to input the full registration but the machine would not accept it.

Now he is in the clear, but won’t forget the distressing months of farcical rigmarole he was subjected to as the operator took its time throwing out his responses before passing him over to a debt collector.

This upped the pressure with the amount he allegedly owed spiralling. Reportedly, ECP effectively said "get lost. Pay up".

The paper concludes:

"We must acknowledge the commendable action of variety store chain Poundland, the landlord of the site in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, where the travesty took place. 

Within a couple of hours of being made aware, Poundland acted fairly and wiped the penalty doled out by its operator Euro Car Parks. Charles has been assured his credit rating has not been impacted.

Poundland stated:

“Thanks so much for bringing [Mr Lowe’s] experience parking at our Tewkesbury store to our attention. We’re getting in touch immediately with Euro Car Parks to ensure any fines are waived and what’s more we’ll be asking Euro Car Parks to provide us with an inspection report on their machines."

PLAN A (Landowner/retailer complaint, of course) STRIKES AGAIN AFTER THE ANPR FIRM REFUSED TO CANCEL THE PCN.

Euro Car Parks named and shamed.

The BPA must be so proud. Never mind that the Government is banning profiteering from keying error cases, eh?

Your members managed to block that, so you reckon you can all continue to make hay while the sun shines.

It's clear that ANPR has no place in private car parks and should be banned by statute.  I'll go for that next.  Bye bye ANPR.

Coupon-mad

Another MP wakes up to the 'outrageous scam' and his office mentions the new Code of Practice and recent Call for Evidence:

https://www.thepost.uk.com/news/north-cornwall-mp-criticises-private-parking-operators-656426

North Cornwall’s Conservative MP Scott Mann has slammed private parking firms for issuing ‘unfair fines’ and refusing to withdraw parking charge notices.

“After looking into the cases, I’ve found that many of them are quite unfair or have been issued in error. One of my constituents, who is an ex-forces veteran in her 80s with limited mobility, was issued a £100 fine for entering a car park and attempting to find a disabled space, then leaving because they were all taken. 

Other people have contacted me because they have been issued similar fines when they found parking machines inoperable. The companies refuse to show any initiative or, in some cases, speak to the people involved.

I am calling on private parking firms to ‘play fair’ and consider that many of the people they are sending PCNs to are elderly and struggle with mobile apps when the machines are not working. 

Likewise, those who are visiting often don’t know the area very well and receiving a demand for £100 is not a nice way to end their holiday in North Cornwall.”

Coupon-mad

And a bit of seasonal humour:
https://news.paddypower.com/football-news/2023/12/18/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-man-united-post-match-interview-sour-grapes-satire-2023/

Manchester United have received a huge parking fine after they left their team bus on the Anfield pitch during yesterday’s 0-0 draw with rivals Liverpool.

A parking warden was spotted placing a fixed penalty notice beneath the bus’s window wipers at the half-time interval.

CCTV footage appears to show United boss Erik ten Hag reversing the bus in front of United’s goal shortly before kick-off.

‘We circled the Anfield car park several times but we couldn’t find a spot, so Erik took charge of the wheel and parked the bus on the pitch’.

‘When Erik tried to explain the car park was full and he’d only left the bus on the pitch for about 90 odd minutes but the warden was having none of it’.

‘On the plus side, Richard Arnold said the fine wouldn’t be a problem because the club has saved a fortune on goal scoring bonuses this season’.

patient_dream

I know this article is not about parking but parking must play a part

Lidl's chief financial officer quits after budget retailer recorded shock £75.9million annual LOSS

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12898069/Lidls-chief-financial-officer-quits-budget-retailer-recorded-shock-75-9million-annual-LOSS-battling-costs-despite-hike-costs-board.html

Lidl and brother Aldi are foolish to hold customers in contempt by employing parking companies. 
I don't think the German companies ever understand the UK mindset
Just get rid of these parking cowboys and make your customers respect you

Humdinger1

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/26/hackers-steal-customer-data-europe-parking-app-easypark-ringgo-parkmobile?CMP=share_btn_link

More work for the ICO?! Happy Christmas to us all Humdinger x

Coupon-mad

Another shameful 'outrageous scam' (Hansard, 2018) with an unjustified PCN issued at a hospital, to a driver who had paid & displayed (quelle surprise):

https://thestrayferret.co.uk/outrage-as-harrogate-hospital-parking-firm-incorrectly-issues-fine/

The Stray Ferret approached ParkingEye to ask why it had issued the fine after Ms O’Brien had paid the parking fee.

A spokesperson for the company said:

“The car park at the Lascelles Unit has eight prominent and highly-visible signs that give motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly, including guidance that it is staff parking only.

“The motorist parked in an area reserved for staff only without a staff permit and therefore correctly received a parking charge."

Errr, but that's not the same story they apparently told when rejecting her appeal.

Parkingeye told Ms O’Brien on November 11:

“We have reviewed the details outlined in your appeal, but we are not in receipt of sufficient evidence to confirm that the terms and conditions were not breached. The signage located at the above car park instructs motorists to enter their full, correct vehicle registration into the payment machine or terminal on site. 

“After reviewing our records, we are unable to locate any vehicle details that match your vehicle registration. We believe this is due to either a major keying error taking place, or no vehicle registration details being entered at all.”

Ms O’Brien said she was “baffled” by ParkingEye's response to the Stray Ferret and the fact that it did not match her correspondence from the company.

So they swept it under the carpet and cancelled it.  Nothing to see here.

The BPA must be so proud.

Coupon-mad

Here's a shameful rip-off reported about NPM:

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/24017870.high-wycombe-woman-gets-100-fine-sitting-car/

This was in @bargepole's stomping ground.

"Kiara Gunning revealed to the Free Press that she parked by the NISA convenience shop in Micklefield on December 10 so her friend could top up her electricity.  She had been in the bay for around three minutes without leaving the car before the two left that evening.

To her surprise, she was given a fine of £100."

She appealed the punishment to National Parking Management Limited where she was told ‘the driver must be the customer’ and that they do not accept the passenger as a customer!

Really?

That's not what the sign says...

The IPC must be so proud.

Coupon-mad

And another rip-off PCN by absentee ANPR auto-PCN (while sitting on your bums in a different county) 'specialists' Euro Car Parks:

 https://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/24020106.driver-gets-100-fine-despite-buying-ticket-evesham-car-park/

and

https://www.cotswoldjournal.co.uk/news/24020106.driver-gets-100-fine-despite-buying-ticket-evesham-car-park/

"A driver is refusing to pay a parking fine as she had bought a ticket.  Jacquie Wright parked in Evesham’s Riverside car park on November 24 as she needed to attend an opticians appointment in town.

But she was later hit with a £100 fine by Euro Car Parks, despite paying £2 for a ticket.  The letter says Ms Wright left the car park at 1.09pm and that “no valid pay and display/permit was purchased”.

“I had paid the £2 fee,” she said. “But when I checked the ticket ... the machine had only printed off the last three digits of my reg number.  I posted on Facebook about it and loads of people have commented with their own stories about parking at Riverside."

Another Facebook user said his wife received a fine after a ticket showed 'the wrong date'.

How is this happening, ECP?

The BPA must be so proud.