Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

This article features a victim who actually paid £85 to Horizon Parking even though their P&D machine wasn't working:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14653127/hour-parking-cowboy-firm-fined-machine-isolated-intimidated.html

Lenny Samms of Eastbourne, told MailOnline he received an £85 charge in early January for the totally accidental breach in October.

He gave up because he (wrongly) thought he had to prove that the machine was out of order and he (also wrongly) thought court was too hard:

'When you get a parking charge like this, it can be quite intimidating, threatening you with court procedures. I just wish I had the proof but I know next time to get proof, you need evidence. It was a hard lesson to learn, really, then I probably wouldn't have had to pay it.' 

Named and shamed: Britain's parking firm 'cartel'Britain's biggest private parking companies: latest annual turnover figures

Firm		Turnover
ParkingEye		£57.5m
Euro Car Parks		£58.6m
Smart Parking		£20.5m
Civil Enforcement*		£28.6m
APCOA Parking (UK)		£106m
Horizon Parking		£33.4m
UK Car Park Management		£15.3m
UK Parking Control (UKPC)		£40.3m
National Car Parks (NCP)		£186.6m
CP Plus		£34.5m
Britannia Parking Group		£2.5m
Premier Park		£10.1m
National Car Parks (EUK) - (NCP)		£2.6m
Excel Parking		£18.6m

Umkomaas

Surprised that NCP turnover is more than 3 times that of PE. But I guess it includes their legitimate P&D income, whereas PE have no legitimate income stream!

Nellymoser

Local business owner enlists the help of McDonald’s staff after he was given a 7hr parking charge from UKPC despite leaving after just 30mins.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-says-despicable-coffee-stop-100219360.html

The businessman makes regular visits for coffee on weekdays before opening his shop says:

“It’s a bit frustrating, I tried to ring UKPC to explain but I was told I would have to pay in full. Why should I? It never happened.

“I’m not there for seven hours, I don’t know whether the cameras are faulty.

“It has now got to the stage that court proceedings are in place. I think it's despicable.”

This isn’t the first time the furniture shop owner has had to do battle with a parking charge, having already had an erroneous ticket at McDonald’s thrown out once before.

Ralph-y

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2d0gnzkj67o            wonder how many are PPC scam ones ?

Kaizen2024

Simple solution is make the decisions made by the Single Appeals Service (when it comes) legally binding on all parties, with all ignored Charges and declined appeal cases (if no payment) fast tracked to auto judgment in favour of the operator (much like the LA process). There is no excuse for not doing so once regulation kicks in.

Coupon-mad

Kaizen2024 said:

Simple solution is make the decisions made by the Single Appeals Service (when it comes) legally binding on all parties, with all ignored Charges and declined appeal cases (if no payment) fast tracked to auto judgment in favour of the operator (much like the LA process). There is no excuse for not doing so once regulation kicks in.

In your dreams...

Won't happen and your industry's failed farce of IAS will not be part of any appeals service.

What your industry does is nothing like LA penalties.

Jenni_D

Ignored charges can be for a variety of reasons - the main one being the PPC sending the PCN and all other communications to an old address. (i.e. not doing a trace until court claim time). Sending such cases straight to a default judgment in favour of the PPC would be a huge miscarriage of justice.

patient_dream

With the amount of money coolected by scammers, has Rachel Reeves missed the point ??

The scam private parking is void of VAT yet they are a SERVICE industry offering a servics to landowners

No doubt the companies claim VAT back on their daily running of their business but DO NOT pay VAT on their invoices. They are double bubble winners.

VAT should be included in the parking ticket charge which will assist government in their desire to spend money they don't have.

Private scools now pay VAT, why not Private Parking Companies ??                               

Kaizen2024

Who said anything about The IAS 🤷🏼‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

It’s a perfectly logical solution, and I note you have not suggested an alternative or explained why my suggestion would not work; or is it simply your desire for private parking enforcement to cease full stop.

prowla

Kaizen2024 said:

Simple solution is make the decisions made by the Single Appeals Service (when it comes) legally binding on all parties, with all ignored Charges and declined appeal cases (if no payment) fast tracked to auto judgment in favour of the operator (much like the LA process). There is no excuse for not doing so once regulation kicks in.

That is a joke, right?

Kaizen2024 said:

Who said anything about The IAS 🤷🏼‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

It’s a perfectly logical solution, and I note you have not suggested an alternative or explained why my suggestion would not work; or is it simply your desire for private parking enforcement to cease full stop.

Oh, maybe not!