Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

Kaizen2024 said:

What makes you think the camera(s) is hidden?

Because they ALWAYS are.

ANPR was bad enough ... but the recent (always covert) CCTV filming takes the biscuit. Can you prove me wrong?

Show me an image of a PPC CCTV camera that is so prominent and obvious that it is bound to be seen and the filming known (with a non-small-print sign warning drivers in full view) before pulling onto the usual dark road or forecourt.

Conspicuous PPC cameras don't exist, yet PCNs are being churned out by AI and keyed up for a KADOE request in seconds.

No warning.

No chance to read the signs.

No opportunity to leave.

This all flows from this despicably rogue industry having the jolly wheeze of a joke 'Code' that says they don't have to allow any consideration period whatsoever when the area is supposedly not offering parking.

How is a driver meant to know that?

How is a driver going to know they are being filmed from a camera set up (deliberately inconspicuously) on the wall of a high floor of a building, often many metres away and up?

And in OPS' infamous and extreme case, they have a camera inconspicuously set up on a wall of a carpet shop that films cars pulling up on a vets forecourt - filming every resident, shop-workers, passer-by pedestrians and every single vehicle on the roads across a main bus route B road.

The vets surgery is actually in a different town than the covert canera!

Kaizen2024

Car1980 said:

Kaizen2024 said:

What makes you think the camera(s) is hidden?

Only mention on the signage is small print reference to "photographs" of "you and your vehicle", ANPR and an erroneous illustration of a public highway speed camera, not a CCTV camera.

I'm also guessing that "on the balance of probabilities" (one your favourite phrases!) that the CCTV is an anonymous black device on the building or high up on a metal pole. Certainly not highlighted by means of yellow colouration.

So you believe it’s ok the disrespect the landowners wishes if you think no one is looking 🤦🏻‍♂️

ChirpyChicken

Kaizen2024 said:

Car1980 said:

Kaizen2024 said:

What makes you think the camera(s) is hidden?

Only mention on the signage is small print reference to "photographs" of "you and your vehicle", ANPR and an erroneous illustration of a public highway speed camera, not a CCTV camera.

I'm also guessing that "on the balance of probabilities" (one your favourite phrases!) that the CCTV is an anonymous black device on the building or high up on a metal pole. Certainly not highlighted by means of yellow colouration.

So you believe it’s ok the disrespect the landowners wishes if you think no one is looking 🤦🏻‍♂️

And when the land owners realise they have been hoodwinked by the sales patter of a parking firm.......

Coupon-mad

Kaizen2024 said:

Car1980 said:

Kaizen2024 said:

What makes you think the camera(s) is hidden?

Only mention on the signage is small print reference to "photographs" of "you and your vehicle", ANPR and an erroneous illustration of a public highway speed camera, not a CCTV camera.

I'm also guessing that "on the balance of probabilities" (one your favourite phrases!) that the CCTV is an anonymous black device on the building or high up on a metal pole. Certainly not highlighted by means of yellow colouration.

So you believe it’s ok the disrespect the landowners wishes if you think no one is looking 🤦🏻‍♂️

I think you need to re-read the DPA 2018 and the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice. And your industry needs to understand contract law a tad better.

What you are describing is illegal under the DPA and no different than me charging everyone who walks through my gate and is captured by my Ring Doorbell.

In this industry's warped minds, that's fair game as long as I put a tiny sign on my side fence or hidden in the porch, not seen until it's too late.

Car1980

Kaizen2024 said:

Car1980 said:

Kaizen2024 said:

What makes you think the camera(s) is hidden?

Only mention on the signage is small print reference to "photographs" of "you and your vehicle", ANPR and an erroneous illustration of a public highway speed camera, not a CCTV camera.

I'm also guessing that "on the balance of probabilities" (one your favourite phrases!) that the CCTV is an anonymous black device on the building or high up on a metal pole. Certainly not highlighted by means of yellow colouration.

So you believe it’s ok the disrespect the landowners wishes if you think no one is looking 🤦🏻‍♂️

The landowner wishes to stop people leaving, but instead they've brought in a company who still allows them to wander off site through poor signage and covert surveillance but now they won't return to legitimately use the shops either and the whole town now knows to avoid the place  🤣

Reminds me of a Pizza Express and an Italian restaurant near me that used to argue about customers parking in the wrong designated areas of the same car park. They brought a PPC in and six months later they had both gone under. 

Coupon-mad

He is a bit muddled in his reasoning and understanding of POFA but this person is fighting back nicely against Initial Parking:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mark-over-legality-parking-tickets-141803030.html

Question mark over legality of parking tickets issued at Cornwall's aiport

“Their solicitor stated the airport is not under statutory control as no byelaws exist for the airport, but I found the byelaws immediately on the airport website,” he added. “That was their only defence."

He went on to claim: "It took me less than five minutes to locate them. Yet ... Initial Parking has continued issuing PCNs unlawfully and misleading motorists."

Coupon-mad

The ongoing furore about the rip-off £100 'fines' at Manchester Airport drop off zone continues.

This one below is interesting because APCOA's excuse of a 'purpose' for introducing the cynical motorist trap of the 'barrierless' drop off zone last year (that has by now probably generated millions for them), is to avoid congestion as vehicles exit.

Earlier this year among the huge backlash from motorists and taxi drivers caught out, Manchester Airport said: "Drop-off and pick-up charges help us to manage demand ... and reduce traffic congestion". 
 
But it doesn't have that effect in busy times:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/airport-parking-outrage-driver-charged-32962937.amp

A driver has been left outraged after claiming he was charged £25 at Manchester Airport while parked up for just four minutes to pick up his family.

"Archie McCaig pulled into Terminal 2's barrier-free pick-up zone at 8.23am on November 21.

He claims that within four minutes, he had collected his nephew and family from their holiday and was already leaving the pick-up area, only to be held up by a traffic jam on his way out. Having set up his Jeep Renegade for automatic airport parking fee payments, he received a £25 email invoice the next morning.

Archie remembers the area being 'swamped' with vehicles as he departed, finding himself, along with many others, stuck in a traffic queue upon exiting the pick-up zone. He suspects there may have been an accident at a nearby roundabout.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News., he expressed his outrage: "I think it's absolutely scandalous for four minutes of parking. There must have been hundreds of cars there all queuing to get away. If everybody has been charged an extra £20 instead of the usual £5, that's thousands of pounds just for the time I was there plus however long the traffic jam went on for. It's not about the money. I'd pay £25 to someone sleeping rough but it's the principle."

Kerchhhiiing!

The BPA must be so proud.

Nellymoser

An investigation into the firms making millions from your parking nightmares — with Trustpilot data, DVLA statistics, and horror stories that will shock you.

https://www.parkdefend.co.uk/blog/uks-most-hated-parking-companies-shame-ranking

1 — EURO CAR PARKS - The Crown Jewel of Hatred

2 — PARKINGEYE - The £235 Million Monster

3 — UK PARKING CONTROL - The "Just Ignore Them" Champions

4 — SMART PARKING - The "We'll Find You Eventually" Specialists

5 — HORIZON PARKING  - The Tesco & Premier Inn Menace

6 — APCOA - The Airport Ambush Artists

The Debt Collector Pipeline: Where Your Money Really Goes  (though there's no selling of the alleged debt as the reporter states)

How to Fight Back: The Expert's Guide

• Based on thousands of MoneySavingExpert forum threads and successful appeals

The Government's Broken Promise

• Remember the £50 cap?

The Bottom Line

This industry exists because:

• The DVLA sells your data for £2.50 a pop.

• ANPR cameras cost almost nothing to operate, creating an automated enforcement system.

• Most people pay out of fear or intimidation, rather than understanding their rights.

• The government consistently refuses to regulate the sector properly.

Umkomaas

👆👆 Equally damning article by the same organisation. 

https://www.parkdefend.co.uk/blog/private-parking-billion-pound-industry-exposed

I do hope the MHCLG are getting this shoved under their nose!

kryten3000

I have checked Trustpilot reviews for as many companies as I could in June 2024, April 2025 and November 2025.

The mean scores were: 1.5 then 1.4 and back up to 1.5 again.

The results are skewed by the good review scores for NCP, CarFlow and a couple of others.  The Median score is 1.2 and Mode just 1.1.