Parking stories in the News/media

BlueonBlue

One of the Which mag execs had something to do with the PPC,s ?
Cant remember the detail but it was posted on here .
The regulars will know about it.

kryten3000

TikTok parking fine videos force council review

A story about confusing signs for council and private car parks which are next to one another.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9142nlpvyo

TomOrrow

BlueonBlue said:

One of the Which mag execs had something to do with the PPC,s ?
Cant remember the detail but it was posted on here .
The regulars will know about it.

My jaw has just dropped to the ground. Surely not. An association between a consumer organisation like Which and the most blatant non-consumer interested area like private car parking isn't believable .... surely.
It's akin to David Sullivan joining Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers and Listener's Association (showing my age!!) 

Coupon-mad

It's a slightly tenuous connection but:

"NSL is owned by Marston (Holdings) Limited, which in turn is owned by another company, and so on and so on, through an amazing ten layers of companies until you get to the top of the tree, which is Free Flow Topco Limited. 

It has contracts with local councils and government agencies that include enforcing warrants, issuing warning notices, clamping, impounding, and disposing of vehicles. And last year its turnover was £255million. 

It claims that its Marston offshoot operates within an 'ethical framework' headed by an advisory group run by Sam Younger CBE. Who's he? Astonishingly, he is the chairman of consumer organisation Which?"

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-11318569/TONY-HETHERINGTON-boss-staying-quiet-parking-fiasco.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Younger

TomOrrow

Coupon-mad said:

It's a slightly tenuous connection but:

"NSL is owned by Marston (Holdings) Limited, which in turn is owned by another company, and so on and so on, through an amazing ten layers of companies until you get to the top of the tree, which is Free Flow Topco Limited. 

It has contracts with local councils and government agencies that include enforcing warrants, issuing warning notices, clamping, impounding, and disposing of vehicles. And last year its turnover was £255million. 

It claims that its Marston offshoot operates within an 'ethical framework' headed by an advisory group run by Sam Younger CBE. Who's he? Astonishingly, he is the chairman of consumer organisation Which?"

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-11318569/TONY-HETHERINGTON-boss-staying-quiet-parking-fiasco.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Younger

Wow That makes total sense now. Convoluted linage yes, but that's how rotating chairs / chief exec systems work. You don't have the DNA of the organisation in your bones. You just move from one paycheck to another.
I guess that does put David Sullivan into bed with Mary Whitehouse. Quite an image not to behold!!

I still find the grass roots of Which very helpful but have seen changes making it more commercial.

Gr1pr

Ripoff Britain,  this morning,  16th April 

NPC pcn to a lady who turned around in private car park,  appealed but was rejected by NPC.  The rejection went into her spam folder,  unseen 

She ended up with a default CCJ for over £500 ( I think it was for 2 unpaid pcns  )

She didn't mention paperwork,  like the N1SDT claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton,  so lots of questions unanswered,  so unfilled blanks , no real conclusions due to missing information 

Nellymoser

Volunteer delivery driver at a food bank receives ECP pcn for dropping off a donation at a Travelodge hotel. 

https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/25082369.foodbank-volunteer-100-euro-car-parks-fine-cancelled/

Travelodge customer service said "they couldn't help" the volunteer and ECP declined his appeal but no surprise when the newspaper got involved both businesses changed their stance and his pcn payment was eventually refunded.

Shameful people have to turn to the papers for help.

Nellymoser

A good parking story ??? 

The Arena has teamed up with Meadowhall to offer additional free off-site car parking spaces (for certain events only) as an alternative to on-site Arena parking spaces when the venue car park is sold-out. 

What could possibly go wrong.....

https://www.utilitaarenasheffield.co.uk/parking/alternative-parking/

 Is this not the retail park that limits it's customers to 14hrs free car parking a week? Wonder if this T&C applies to event parkers.

Coupon-mad

https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/24/pensioner-fined-325-parking-tickets-car-sold-years-ago-22781542/#

ParkingEye and DCB Legal involved: apparently, one or both of them think it's perfectly OK to keep this chap's money despite knowing that he wasn't the owner of the car.

"A pensioner says he still fighting £325 worth of parking fines issued more than four years ago for a car he no longer owned at the time.

Merrick Clarke, 69, from Rugby, Warwickshire, sold his Peugeot in September 2020, and initially kept the paperwork. Over the following months, two tickets were issued for parking violations involving the car at a hospital parking lot. Mr Clarke reportedly first became aware of the problem last January when he received a letter from debt recovery firm DCBL, who were acting on behalf of Parking Eye.

He was also unable to attend the court hearing as he was living in France. The court ruled against him and he had to pay the £325 fine as well as around £75 in additional costs."

Coupon-mad

Nellymoser said:

Named and shamed, UK's biggest parking firm 'cowboys': Drivers are getting record 40,000 tickets a day despite Government promises to tackle 'bandit' operators

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14444053/amp/Named-shamed-UKs-biggest-parking-firm-cowboys.html

Haven't summarise anything here it's long article covering many points.

Just reviving this post because the numbers are pure profiteering, seems to me: