Parking stories in the News/media

Fruitcake

There was a piece on Radio Somerset at around 10.20 this morning about parking problems. I only caught parts of it whilst I was driving to a series of destinations, but one comment was that the RAC has done a survey of 1000 plus people, and 73% of motorists reported that they had had problems with paying via a parking app.
Problems included the lack of 'phone signal, the length of time it took to download an app, and the app then not recognising the car park location code.

Other problems mentioned during the radio segment by people who 'phoned/wrote in were that the ability to pay by cash or card should be retained. I think the RAC said there should always be at least two methods of payment available.
Some mentioned that pay by cash always added up to "odd" incremental amounts such as £1.40, £2.30, £4.20, and a lot of people didn't have the correct coin upon them, and no change would be given. Comment by the presenter was made that it seemed as if this was done deliberately to ensure failure, or make people overpay.

Different car parks/car park operators in different parts of the same site were also mentioned.

I didn't hear any mention of PPC problems as I was only listening intermittently, but most of the problems mentioned could easily result in a PCN.

Car1980

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C5tgjiS2n/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Will Hurley meeting an MP and Ocean Parking to discover why so many complaints at a retail park you have to pay to use.

molerat

Car1980 said:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C5tgjiS2n/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Will Hurley meeting an MP and Ocean Parking to discover why so many complaints at a retail park you have to pay to use.

Even the MP is calling them Penalty Charge Notices !   What hope has anyone got when he can't get a simple term correct.  Looks like he was taken in by the usual Hurley rubbish.

Ralph-y

Probably what fruitcake had posted re the RAC  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce847ngn7n8o

Coupon-mad

molerat said:

Car1980 said:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C5tgjiS2n/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Will Hurley meeting an MP and Ocean Parking to discover why so many complaints at a retail park you have to pay to use.

Even the MP is calling them Penalty Charge Notices !   What hope has anyone got when he can't get a simple term correct.  Looks like he was taken in by the usual Hurley rubbish.

I've just been reading the comments on that FB page: all those sheeple appealed then paid. Absolute eye opener as to how clueless most motorists seem to be when faced with a parking invoice they should have ignored.

Nellymoser

This article proves parking operators reject motorists appeals without reading them.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/family-slapped-parking-fine-traffic-230000264.html

Horizon slapped a driver with a £70 pcn after traffic chaos trapped shoppers in a supermarket car park.

Kara Ambrose was one of many stuck in Tesco Fleetsbridge car park on Waterloo Road in Poole, on August 27 after emergency gas works unexpectedly closed Waterloo Road.

A spokesperson for Tesco said the car park monitoring company were contacted by staff to prevent 'fines'. They said any that were issued were done in error and have since been cancelled.

But Kara's wasn't cancelled and her appeal was rejected.

kryten3000

Independent Consumer adviser Scott Dixon and the IPC’s Chris Naylor were on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday (skip to 1 hour 10).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kd3r?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

patient_dream

"But Kara's wasn't cancelled and her appeal was rejected"

And this is the problem, far too much trust given to parking companies who are only after one thing .. MONEY

POPLA and the IAS are just the jokers in the pack.   A fully independent appeals service is now vital

Nellymoser

New research reveals that tradespeople have been issued with an estimated 2.3m parking fines of up to £160 over the past year, costing them in the region of £119m.

Three quarters of tradespeople say they are unable to find parking close to their workplace at least once a week. Almost half (48%) have turned down jobs because they couldn’t park within sight of their job site, citing concerns about tool theft.

Colin Crooks MBE, CEO at London-based business consultancy Intentionality, said "the UK is in the grip of a “parking fine fiasco”.

He added: "These figures reveal a parking system that's fundamentally broken for tradespeople and throttling the UK economy."

“Intelligent reform is essential and common-sense enforcement that distinguishes legitimate work from parking abuse."

Kundan Bhaduri, Landlord at The Kushman Group, said the fines are often factored into prices and are ultimately being passed onto the consumer.

Mike Staton, Director at Mansfield-based Staton Mortgages,: "Parking tickets have become a nightmare for the mortgage industry. Many people are unaware they have parking tickets, which become CCJs, affecting their ability to obtain credit."

"Many of the private firms that manage parking spaces often go unchecked and unregulated, spelling financial chaos for anybody that gets caught in their trap. It is too easy for these firms to be able to destroy your credit profile.

“It's about time the government cracked down on these firms. They are akin to pirates in a sea of cars.”

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/25535589.parking-nightmare-2-3-million-parking-fines-issued/?ref=rss

Half_way

Nellymoser said:

This article proves parking operators reject motorists appeals without reading them.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/family-slapped-parking-fine-traffic-230000264.html

Horizon slapped a driver with a £70 pcn after traffic chaos trapped shoppers in a supermarket car park.

Kara Ambrose was one of many stuck in Tesco Fleetsbridge car park on Waterloo Road in Poole, on August 27 after emergency gas works unexpectedly closed Waterloo Road.

A spokesperson for Tesco said the car park monitoring company were contacted by staff to prevent 'fines'. They said any that were issued were done in error and have since been cancelled.

But Kara's wasn't cancelled and her appeal was rejected.

Kara needs to take action against Tesco, hopefully she will not cave in and pay, and even better she ( if she is a she) will find this place 

I can see a few possible issues here;

The Tesco store manager is failing in his/her duty of care towards customers/visitors to be free from harassment and harm as a result of allowing their agents, an un regulated parking company, to harass customers.

(would be interesting if there are any legs to this, especially where a principal has agreed/instructed their agent to cancel, or in the case of double dips, own space loading/unloading and workers carrying out essential works where a vehicle needs to be parked close to the work area)

A UKGDPR issue, Tesco/the store had told customers that any parking charge notices would be cancelled, they through their agents have no just cause holding onto or process customer data for pursuing parking charge notices related to this event.

These big companies need to be hammered over the actions of the parking companies they allow onto their land, and it would be even better if we could see individual store managers/site managers etc being held personally liable. out of town retail parks/supermarkets with large car parks have existed for many decades before the PPC infestation started, and there wasn't carmageddon ( or whatever the like of hurley are calling it)