Parking stories in the News/media

1505grandad

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/mum-s-170-parking-fine-cancelled-after-ticket-company-tried-to-shift-blame-onto-local-store-owner/ar-AA1QRdw3?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=692066706d84431baa584fde0f4c94b8&ei=26

VCS  -  where businesses actually pay them for e-permit:-

"A mother from Sheffield has successfully challenged a parking fine of £170 that she received following a visit to a hairdressing salon in Banner Cross.

The penalty arose from problems with an electronic permit system that local businesses subscribe to for £150 per year."

Surprise surprise the equipment is faulty:-

"However, technical difficulties prevented the salon from registering her vehicle on the system during her visit."

Coupon-mad

1505grandad said:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/mum-s-170-parking-fine-cancelled-after-ticket-company-tried-to-shift-blame-onto-local-store-owner/ar-AA1QRdw3?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=692066706d84431baa584fde0f4c94b8&ei=26

VCS  -  where businesses actually pay them for e-permit:-

"A mother from Sheffield has successfully challenged a parking fine of £170 that she received following a visit to a hairdressing salon in Banner Cross.

The penalty arose from problems with an electronic permit system that local businesses subscribe to for £150 per year."

Surprise surprise the equipment is faulty:-

"However, technical difficulties prevented the salon from registering her vehicle on the system during her visit."

Aha, a conclusion to this article. VCS failed to shift blame to the hairdressers but this single cancellation comes after businesses on site have PAID hundreds of unfair PCNs for clients:

Coupon-mad said:

Another article from our 'parking scam knowledgeable' and friendly journalist, David Walsh at the Sheffield Star, featuring VCS:

https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/consumer/excel-parking-sheffield-mum-slams-car-park-set-up-to-fail-drivers-after-demand-for-ps170-5406056

A Sheffield mum has vowed to fight a £170 bill from a Sheffield car park that is ‘set up to fail’ drivers.

Sophie Culf received the demand after a visit to the Carla Hackett hair salon. Customers park free if business owners input their registration number into a website, run by Vehicle Control Services, and obtain an ‘e-permit’.

Hairdresser Carla Hackett said on the day Sophie visited she was locked out of the system so she emailed the firm but was told they could not deal with her because she wasn’t the landowner.

Carla said: “We have paid loads of fines for clients, but the system was set up to fail. I’m now advising clients not to park there at all.”

Her salon is above Fellas hairdressers.

Paul Hood, owner of Fellas, said the website was a “shambles” and he had paid PCNs worth more than £1,000 on behalf of customers to maintain good relations with them.

The business had a ‘permanent list’ of staff and regular clients whose registration numbers were supplied to VCS, allowing them to park without repeatedly inputting details, he added. But six months ago (reportedly) it was removed without warning.

One worker received five £100 PCNs in a week.

ANPR and faulty systems setting consumers up to fail: repeated articles show this is all in a day's work for private parking firms.

#UK's Private Parking industry: Ruining high streets and businesses near you.

The IPC must be so proud.

patient_dream

" local businesses subscribe to for £150 per year."

Is this protection money ??

Coupon-mad

patient_dream said:

" local businesses subscribe to for £150 per year."

Is this protection money ??

It is actually terrible. Managing agents of retail parks are so frequently taken in by PPCs.

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

patient_dream said:

" local businesses subscribe to for £150 per year."

Is this protection money ??

It is actually terrible. Managing agents of retail parks are so frequently taken in by PPCs.

YUP, and how much do the agents and land owners earn from this ? Probably cash in hand, no tax, OR .... holidays. perks which Rachel from accounts has no clue about

Parking companies rob normal people of their money and what the fool Reves fails to understand is there is a goldmine in this scam insustry ... VAT being one to which should be included in thr £100 ticket.  That's £20 for each ticket. That is appicable to every ticket paid by fools. How will HMRC account for this, they can't because they are also clueless as Rachel from accoubts

Just imagine the £millions available  from parking companies and the DVLA

Nellymoser

VCS said: Despite claims the portal was not working on the day in question, we can confirm it was working. So if that's true why did VCS then cancel the PCN. Hope it shuts down the bad publicity.

Think this Trustpilot review shows how PPCs expects others to pay for their faults. It's from a ParkMaven employee who quit after a month "because I couldn’t take part in such practices. During the training, I was instructed on how to deceive people and extract money from them. The company’s entire model was based on misleading and pressuring clients. I was told that no matter what arguments or valid points customers had, they should always be treated as if they were wrong and forced to pay."

https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/68cc661f4e22ad3b25fbb596

Coupon-mad

Nellymoser said:

VCS said: Despite claims the portal was not working on the day in question, we can confirm it was working. So if that's true why did VCS then cancel the PCN. Hope it shuts down the bad publicity.

Think this Trustpilot review shows how PPCs expects others to pay for their faults. It's from a ParkMaven employee who quit after a month "because I couldn’t take part in such practices. During the training, I was instructed on how to deceive people and extract money from them. The company’s entire model was based on misleading and pressuring clients. I was told that no matter what arguments or valid points customers had, they should always be treated as if they were wrong and forced to pay."

https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/68cc661f4e22ad3b25fbb596

Good find.

Nothing seems to have changed in the industry - in fact they've grown and got worse - but it reminds me of the ParkingEye whistleblower who contacted Alex Shipp:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/12/parkingeye-employee-reveals-their-rape.html?m=1

ParkingEye employee reveals their "rape and pillage" approach to hospital parking

Nellymoser

You're certainly right c-m the industry have got worse. Seems their confidence grew over the years with the realisation that no govt or watchdog organisation was actually going to stop their appalling practices to obtain money from the public.

Nine years ago that whistleblower contacted Alex Shipp and still today there are many who believe the private parking sector are 'managing parking' to benefit communities.

Coupon-mad

Shoppers outraged at parking fines at Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham due to ANPR issues

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/outrage-as-shoppers-given-incorrect-parking-fines-at-shopp-332920/

This is UKPA issuing £100 rip off charges. Due to an “intermittent connection issue” affecting Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and payment machines at the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham, some shoppers’ registration details were not being collected properly.

Richard Dannaher was one of the shoppers who received a fine. He wants to raise awareness so people are not caught out. He was issued a fine a couple of years ago and he has successfully had it cancelled. However, on October 25, he noticed the same issue.

He said: “Every time you come to the Pentagon, you feel conscious about the machines not working correctly. I see other people in there, including elderly people, and I feel so sorry for them because I think they'll get tickets through which they shouldn't be paying.”

He added: “We came here and the machines didn't know what time you came in, so they were down and offline. Everyone was queuing and not knowing what to do, but we paid our ticket anyway, and I said to my wife ‘I bet we get a ticket through’, and sure enough we got another ticket.

“I was outraged again because we all know what parking tickets are like in a lot of these places now, and it's all been on TV and Watchdog and all these places – contacting these people is impossible.”

He said people come to the town centre to shop and should not have to worry about getting a £100 fine through the door.

“It’s scaring people away,”

#ANPR in the hands of private parking firms: ruining high streets & retail parks near you.

1505grandad

It's a pity all these articles don't usually mention that the motorists private data is sold by the DVLA to the scammers willy-nilly otherwise of course they would advise the DVLA in accordance with the KADOE requirements:-

"G2. Publicity and Media

G2.1. The Customer shall notify the DVLA immediately if any circumstances arise which could result in publicity or media attention to the Customer which could adversely reflect on the DVLA or the KADOE Service."