Parking stories in the News/media

Nellymoser

Fruitcake said:

Sadly it looks like the mandatory code of practice has been kicked down the road again by the government. Instead they want yet another consultation.

New parking law plans hit with delays leaving millions of drivers at risk of £2,000 penalty

Labour has delayed plans to introduce a new Private Parking Code of Practice, which would protect millions of motorists from unfair parking charges.

It comes as the Government instead launched another consultation on the long-awaited legal action, disappointing drivers who expected immediate action after six years of delays.

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the House of Lords yesterday that the Government would launch a consultation "in the near future" rather than implementing the code straightaway.

https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/debate/2025-06-04/lords/lords-chamber/parking-code-of-practice-act-2019

Baroness Taylor, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of MHCLG worries me. Some of her replies in this debate on CoP are troubling 

- "this is an industry that helps to regulate parking"

- she sees the sector's single CoP as "the industry is trying to do something towards regulating itself, which we should commend"

- "We will take account of that industry code when we draw up the national code" 

- "We will seek to further understand motorists’ concerns about the appeals process"

😨

patient_dream

"We will seek to further understand motorists’ concerns about the appeals process"

Who on earth are these people ...the RAC and AA has made it very clear, this is a rogue industry that government allows a MEGA scam on the public. What planet do this government come from ?

They need to understand ???
Cant' they read the previous consultations...... WHAT A JOKE

Coupon-mad

Back to the news articles, this time Gemini Parking are ruining NHS staff's peace of mind:

"At least 14 NHS workers were hit with parking tickets in the staff car park at Basildon Hospital yesterday."


https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/25215751.basildon-hospital-staff-slapped-unfair-parking-fines/?ref=cprfa

A comment at the foot of the article explains:

"The issue here is far more complex than that implied in the article. There is an ongoing dispute between Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and EPUT, with the Mental Health Unit based on the same site.

For nearly a year, both sides have been trying to thrash out a parking agreement, since a new operator, Gemini, took over.

EPUT staff have been having a constant threat of being unable to park on site for most of that period (or pay the visitors' charge of £10 a day, just to park on the hospital site).

EPUT have only been able to get regular monthly delaying of such a threat becoming a reality. Staff are currently paying £10 a month to park at the hospital site, but that agreement ends at the end of June, and must only park on the upper floors of the multi storey, nowhere else.

It's not clear if those staff ticketed were Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust or EPUT employees. The situation is still not sorted, with EPUT saying one thing and Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust another.

EPUT staff are furious with their directors at the uncertainty caused by this ongoing situation, and fear the Trust will not show any more clemency after the end of this month, meaning the risk of paying £10 a day to park."

Nellymoser

Confused.com help Blue Badge holders to find a free designated parking bay by entering a postcode in their new online tool.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/blue-badge-parking-space-finder-35328974

Nellymoser

Lambeth Council has been ordered to remove its Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme with immediate effect following a High Court order and told to pay £35,000 in legal fees.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/london-council-remove-unlawful-low-traffic-neighbourhood/

The Action Group spokesperson said: “This ruling is definitive – the LTN was unlawful. The council has lost, has been denied permission to appeal, and must now face the consequences of what that means".

“At the top of that list is the £1 million in fines it issued while the unlawful scheme was in place. We now call on Lambeth Council to clarify whether it will refund those fines".

"This is not just about legality – it’s about fairness and public trust. If the law was broken, the money should be paid back.”

In the six months since the LTN was introduced, the Labour-run council raked in £1,080,580 from penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued to drivers.

Coupon-mad

Ex-wheelclamper money-grabbers UKCPM are rocking up and ruining people's lives again, with yet another unworkable and resident-targeting 'permit scheme' at elderly residents' own homes.

These are your industry's "repeat offenders" aren't they, @Kaizen2024 ?

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/they-fined-us-100-for-parking-in-our-own-spaces-325408/

"Pensioners in a sheltered housing complex say they are “living a nightmare” after being issued with repeated fines for parking outside their own homes. Six weeks ago, the housing association engaged a professional parking company to police the parking to exclude intruders.

At least eight residents living in Golding Homes’ bungalows and flats off Northumberland Road in Shepway, Maidstone, have received parking tickets, some on multiple occasions.

It was never intended that residents would be caught in the enforcement."

OH YES IT WAS!

That is precisely what these parking firms do. And its got to stop.

Coupon-mad

And we are suddenly seeing more of these illegal systems that require disabled people to have to take additional steps (literally) that able-bodied people don't have to do.

This new disabled bay targeting is alarming.

And illegal.

Euro Car Parks (and the BPA) are you proud to have extracted £240 from a disabled couple in their eighties who sadly thought they had no choice but to pay you?

It's clearly an Equality Act breach to place extra burdens/barriers in the way of disabled motorists and also involves harvesting 'special category data' from the DVLA which is completely unjustified: 

https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/25221333.kidderminster-pensioner-appalled-three-car-parking-fines/?ref=cprfa

No parking system should require disabled people to do any more than display their blue badge, as they do on-street.

Just because ANPR operators want to use a lean (remote) system is not lawful justification for breaching the Equality Act.

Coupon-mad

This one is about Civil Enforcement Ltd and DCB Ltd who made a woman with a heart condition think bailiffs would come knocking:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/i-went-heart-scan-ended-31787179.amp

'I went for a heart scan and ended up with a £170 fine and bailiff threats'

She did nothing wrong, either. She input her VRM but the useless (PCN-generating scam) machine failed.

"The 61-year-old nursing assistant says she was left ‘scared to answer her door’ and with a deteriorating heart problem because of the stress of being threatened by bailiffs four times."

Of course they had knocked back the victim's dispute and only dropped the case when the newspaper complained.

The BPA must be so proud.

Coupon-mad

This story is confusing.

The victim apparently got a PCN from ex-clampers One Parking Solution but the pub says their contract is with Creative Car Parks (another ex-clamper waste of space: Civil Enforcement Ltd):

https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/25220818.mum-fined-despite-medical-emergency-empty-essex-car-park/

Good news from the pub though: they are cancelling their contract with CEL:

A spokesman for The Swan hotel commented on the issue saying: 

"The car park like many in Maldon is run by Creative Car Parks whom I'm presuming she appealed to. We are in the process of cancelling with them when our contract expires. 

The idea was it would deter non patrons from using the car park but it has proven to be nothing but hassle."

Quelle surprise.

Still don't know why/where she got caught by notorious OPS but it doesn't sound like an agreed contract to me.

Umkomaas

Good news from the pub though: they are cancelling their contract with CEL:

Beware a CEL revenge backlash .... à la Co-op!