We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Parking stories in the News/media
Comments
-
So good we said it twice! Or more…
PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD3 -
Cumbrian man warns motorists payments for parking at Lowther Street car park are not being registered on Initial Parking's system. This failure is causing the operator to wrongly issue pcns.
Note the two responses from Initial Parking are different:
They said to the motorist: "the charge has been paid and the matter is now closed." So basically, we're keeping the tariff and the pcn monies you paid so p**s off.
Yet to the newspaper Initial Parking said: "We can confirm that a Parking Charge was generated as no payment for parking was registered against the vehicle on the date in question.
"All transactions made at the Pay and Display machines are sent through via the Pay and Display manufacturer’s back office. On this occasion, the motorist’s payment had not been registered - which we were unaware of at the time of processing the Parking Charge.
"The motorist made payment against the Parking Charge on 01/02/2026 and subsequently contacted us on 03/02/2026 regarding the matter, in which they provided proof of payment. Upon receiving proof of payment, the charge was cancelled and a full refund was issued.
"We have requested our Pay and Display manufacturer, Flowbird, to complete a full investigation and provide a report on why the payment was not registered and sent to us.
"We would like to thank the motorist for engaging in the appeal process."
With a number of reviews on Trustpilot reporting payments and VRMs not registering on Initial Parking's system at various sites across the country one has to question whether Initial Parking is a suitable company to be let loose on the public and to have easy access to VK details via the DVLA.
5 -
Also whether Flowbird are a suitable company to be allowed to sell payment systems in the UK for these applications?
3 -
Indeed. And why Initial Parking continue to select them when they are aware of the faults.
3 -
I'm delighted every time I see a different article about this :)
Always remember to abide by Space Corps Directive 39436175880932/B:
'All nations attending the conference are only allocated one parking space.'
Genuine, Free and Independent 247 Advice: 247advice.uk "The Gold Standard for advice on parking matters."6 -
The Guardian takes a look st 24hour EV charging
If a vehicle is being fueled/charged then this should fall outside of the definition of parking, even more so if the charging area is leased by the charge company from the car park owner
If a charger is advertised as available 24 hours a day, 7days a week or whatever then people should be able to use it as advertised.
Maybe something for the CMA to look into
From the Plain Language Commission:
"The BPA has surely become one of the most socially dangerous organisations in the UK"6 -
Yes I suggested people should raise precisely this unfair terms example to the CMA in response to their unfair terms Guidance Consultation.
My suggestions are here on the thread by my friend and fellow Brighton lady, @ParkingMad
And a few others like barrier-less Airport Drop offs with a disproportionate hike from £8 to £100 for tired family members not remembering to register later & pay the fee that nobody reminds them to pay.
It would be good if the CMA didn't merely cover unclear signs in their guidance. There is so much more that is set up to make drivers more likely to fail.
PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD3 -
Another day, another faulty ANPR set up trousering money in breach of the DPA 2018, GDPR, the KADOE rules for 'reasonable cause' and the ICO Camera Surveillance Code.
And oh look, it's the CMA's 'flavour of the month' BPA AOS member Euro Car Parks:
"The Whitehills pub in Kingsthorpe reopened in November following a month-long, six-figure refurbishment which included the installation of a new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) parking system."
What a stupid, clueless decision by yet another pub!
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!
This did, and we can all predict that this 'glitch' is only the start of the pub's woes:
By February, "the pub acknowledged that some people had been wrongly issued parking fines despite not even using the car park."
A local, familiar with this pub, said:
“Used the Whitehills pub many, many times over the years and not once have we struggled to find a parking space because of cars parking there who shouldn’t. Not once. This implementation of parking charging is an over-the-top reaction to a non-existent problem, penalising your customers, who will remember next time and go elsewhere.”
Another said: “pubs should be trying to build community spirit, but this seems to be doing the exact opposite – especially with all the stress that multiple false fines will have caused."
Another wrote: “First night it reopened, got a £60 fine for parking in the disabled area. My wife can’t walk and I displayed the proper badge… food wasn’t that bad though.”
Another said: “The camera is completely unnecessary. Never in all my years have I struggled to park at the Whitehills. Surely all the administration of reversing wrongly issued tickets makes this a counterproductive process.”
Another commented: “Have these car parking charges actually improved your customers’ experience? A friend of mine has been using Whitehills for years, had dinner there recently, didn’t realise the rules had changed and ended up with a fine.”
Another added: “Just a money-making scam.”
The BPA must be so proud.
PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD6 -
Honest John has caught up with the news about the massive fine that the CMA imposed on Euro Car Parks:
Just in case anyone missed it … or just wants to revel in the news again:
"Euro Car Parks has been forced to pay £473,000 after it failed to hand over information to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The fine was imposed by the CMA after Euro Car Parks ignored seven requests for information, reports The Guardian — including by registered post, email and even hand-delivered letter."
What goes around, comes around!
😅😅
PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD5 -
THE BPA MUST BE SO PROUD ?
The BPA operate a members club full of rogue traders and scammers
Difficult to understand why government thinks the BPA IS FIT FOR PURPOSE …. IT'S NOT
1
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.5K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.5K Spending & Discounts
- 247.4K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.5K Life & Family
- 261.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards