Parking stories in the News/media

BlueonBlue

"They get a cut of the money collected from parking fines but says it invests the funds back into the parks."

Surely this has to be alot more common than we know about or rather have proof ….its easy money .

Coupon-mad

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/action-after-kentonline-investigation-highlights-parking-fin-337061/

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Elli, the senior journalist says:

"for nearly two years, I’ve been highlighting the stressful side of visiting - and parking - at eight of KCC’s treasured green spaces. Far from leaving with peace of mind, thousands are returning home only to be hit with a penalty notice weeks later, despite having proof they paid for parking.

Last year, I revealed that 994 park users had appealed their ticket only to be told they’d made a major keying error and could pay a £20 administration fee instead."

Now from a fresh FOI request:

And that £18,680 DOESN'T include the extra 33% of victims who refused to pay (quite right too: they'd easily win in court, not that ECP attend hearings, they just let DCB Legal use & abuse the court service as a method of intimidation with no intention to get to hearings).

"Shorne Woods Country Park collected £4,620 from major keying errors from 231 park users in the one-year period.

At Trosley Country Park, 684 tickets were issued in a year, with 13% paying an admin fee for making an error – that’s 80 people and £1,600 made.

Overall figures show that 9,189 tickets were issued in the one-year period, with 15% of them being paid at the £20 major keying error rate.

Data also showed that one in four appealed their ticket and 33% of all tickets are yet to be paid and are outstanding."

BlueonBlue said:

"They get a cut of the money collected from parking fines but says it invests the funds back into the parks."

Surely this has to be alot more common than we know about or rather have proof ….its easy money

Yes, in the Beavis case, ParkingEye paid the landowner £1000 per week for the right to scare & sue their slowest customers.

Therefore the £85 was artificially VERY high to achieve that end, and to keep their client sweet (not the retailers, some of whom hated the time limit & ANPR) ParkingEye were clearly incentivised by the contractual promise to the landowner, to justify their position by issuing as many PCNs as possible, so they could share high spoils.

This infestation of retail parks and country parks should be curbed to the extent that PCN levels are more proportionate and either:

• no landowner should make money from third party 'charges' for breach, which should be capped at a sum no higher than Local Authority PCN levels,

Or

• landowners should be encouraged and even given tax breaks to run their car parks themselves and stop falling so meekly for the protection racket 'we'll run it free, guv, and you can send anyone who complains to us' ANPR spiel.

That way, if there are to be parking charges (which are not required at most sites) a £50 PCN cap would work. People don't need an extortionately high 'deterrent' when shopping or enjoying a country park.

They just need prominent signs, intuitive payment systems and/or free parking periods that are not set deliberately tight (by the PPC) to catch out elderly or disabled people, or families who are naturally likely to be slower when out & about.

Nellymoser

Update on the Co-op one

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/25897077.graffiti-found-framlingham-co-op-parking-issues/

Vandals sprayed the world "uncooperative" as well as expletives. Another section of the graffiti references the supermarket Lidl written above a heart.

Umkomaas

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81905710#Comment_81905710

Relating to the possibility of Lidl opening in that area …. but they won’t be slow in getting ParkingEye involved to harass their customers! As the saying goes …. ‘When one door closes, another one opens’!

Jenni_D

Do Lidl use PE as well? (Aldi do).

Coupon-mad

Yes they do.

Le_Kirk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81905719#Comment_81905719

Or, in my case, when one door closes, another one shuts!

MothballsWallet

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81904842#Comment_81904842

So they can farm the processing out to places like India to save costs (as @Coupon-mad said), maximise profits and make sure their shareholders and CEOs can keep buying new stuff every year.

Then ignore when rogue employees in those centres start selling data to scammers.

Coupon-mad

Following on from this comment on another thread about the 'outrageous scam' anti-motorist regime run by UKCPS at Leeds station:

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I then found this article:

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/travel/travel-news/ukcps-complain-aire-street-leeds-city-station-5499337

The victim almost got sucked into paying to make it go away:

Michael Smith said he had driven to the train station on December 27 to drop his sister off. After accompanying her to the platform he returned to the car and took off his seatbelt at the exit barrier so that he could insert his ticket.

He said that he then stopped in the road for “approximately 30 seconds” to reapply his seatbelt and drove off.

On January 13 he received a letter dated January 5 with details of the “no stopping” fine and appealed it on the same day.

This disappeared into a black hole.

After getting confirmation of his appeal through an email, he went to check where the process was up to on January 22 and was told on the UKCPS website that there was no record of it.

He said he was told to pay in full or the fine would be passed on to debt collectors.

He said that he sent further emails and tried to speak to staff over the phone to no avail, and it wasn’t until he reached out to his MP and Network Rail that he received a response from UKCPS, who said that they would cancel the charge “as a gesture of goodwill” despite it being issued “in accordance with the site regulations”.

“It is worrying that they say ‘no communication has been received’ and it is virtually impossible to contact UKCPS.”

The number provided on the website tells customers to call between 11am and 1pm but multiple calls from the YEP found that it disconnects instantly, which was the same experience of Mr Smith.

Mr Smith called out UKCPS:

“With phone lines that disconnect automatically and no monitored email address, motorists are being blocked from appealing and funnelled toward debt recovery".

Nellymoser

Update:

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/25883160.residents-drop-legal-fight-north-berwick-parking-fees/

A group of residents had hoped to lodge an application at the Court of Session in Edinburgh by Sunday to "stop the clock" on the scheme's introduction but were unable to find a solicitor or advocate to act on their behalf. Every firm they approached declared a conflict of interest due to working with the local authority.