Parking stories in the News/media

Nellymoser

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyg10y7ewgo

The charge will increase from £3 to £5 on 9th March.

One regular customer said she was "flabbergasted" when she heard that the prices were increasing. "Even £3 is a ridiculous amount to have to pay for 10 minutes."

Nellymoser

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/driver-2000-taken-bank-ncp-36790296?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

The taxi driver criticises NCP systems after he was wrongly charged for almost 80 hours of parking at Birmingham Airport. NCP took the £1,955 cost within an hour as the driver's got an automatic account but it took NCP six days to return his money.

The driver said: "They should have a system where something like this is flagged up and they look at cameras before taking people's money. It's wrong." NCP's cameras clocked him going in, but they didn't when he left.

Seems NCP policy is to charge first investigate later if challenged.

MothballsWallet

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910258#Comment_81910258

Do they employ anyone who used to work for Capita TV Licensing by any chance?

Because that bunch have a similar MO, although they use "guilty until proven innocent".

Coupon-mad

Apparently, Euro Car Parks was featured on Watchdog (the One Show) while I was watching paint dry Arsenal's time-wasting crap so-called 'football' at the Amex stadium last night (credit to my team for actually playing the beautiful game despite drawing a blank against the yawnworthy 'park the bus' merchants in red).

Anyone see it? Watchdog, I mean!

Coupon-mad

Chorley pub to install number plate recognition cameras in car park

https://www.lep.co.uk/news/chorley-pub-number-plate-recognition-5616667

"The Halfway House, on Preston Road, is planning to introduce the cameras over ‘the next few weeks’ to ensure parking is available to its genuine customers, noting cars have been left for ‘several’ days and people have incorrectly told guests they cannot park in certain spaces because they are ‘rented’."

Hmmm…

1. How do they know this?
2. Who told their patrons lies about spaces being rented? Could it be the prospective PPC who pitched for the business?
3. How exactly will ANPR prevent (if it ever happens) 'cars being left for ‘several days' given the fact that is one thing that ANPR completely ignores & can never prevent?!

"We believe this approach will positively impact our customers by keeping spaces available, ensuring safety, and reducing frustration."

What could possibly go wrong?!

They'll regret that decision.

Coupon-mad

Another one, does the Quays area never learn?

New camera enforcement at a Southampton city centre car park has been confirmed weeks after equipment was installed while a public consultation was still ongoing.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/25874586.anpr-camera-system-confirmed-leisure-centre-car-parks/

"The city council has announced that the management of The Quays North and South car parks will transfer to BH Live from Sunday, March 1. The operator of the swimming and diving complex has brought in Horizon Parking to manage the new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system.

Concerns have been raised this could lead to drivers inadvertently picking up fines, with comparisons made to recent experiences at nearby West Quay Retail Park (the farce operated by Britannia Parking which is now the subject of local uproar and a petition).

Under the new arrangements, visitors to The Quays will be able to access free parking for three hours by entering their vehicle registration details on a tablet located through the turnstile at reception. Parking charges will be in place for longer sessions and for non-leisure centre users.

Council season tickets and BH Live Quays parking permits will no longer be valid in the two car parks, which will still be owned by the local authority."

That'll really help 'the customer journey' (the councillors actually fell for that spiel).

https://www.southampton.gov.uk/news/article/important-parking-charges-update-at-the-quays/

"BH Live identified direct management of the car parks as part of its preferred operating model, with the aim of enhancing the overall customer experience for visitors. To facilitate the change, the council carried out a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation in December 2025, proposing the removal of the two car parks from the City Centre Off Street Parking Order".

This approach offends against public policy and goes completely against the Robert Goodwill MP (DFT and MHCLG backed) letter from 2014 that said councils must not opt off-street car parking spaces out of the TMA and must not offload the management their owned car parks to allow them to be treated "as if they were private land".

ANPR as a PCN enforcement method is also banned in council car parks under the Deregulation Act 2015, but this is an example (and there are loads like it) of how Councils are getting round that.

Coupon-mad

This also looks like a system that will go against the Robert Goodwill 2014 letter to local authorities…

…unless they are only using ANPR to calculate stays & aid car park users with a smoother system and not to issue penalties by post, which would be illegal for a council under the Deregulation Act:

https://westbridgfordwire.com/council-to-charge-for-public-car-parking-at-county-hall-with-anpr-and-introduces-airport-park-and-ride/

bill6262

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81911032#Comment_81911032

Sign in then go to 7 mins into show

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s63n

Coupon-mad

The AA has slammed the (considered warped) report produced by Bournemouth council which begs the DFT to join them in (deliberately?) misinterpreting the true results of the higher parking penalties that were trialled in August:

https://www.aol.com/articles/aa-concerned-over-resorts-parking-181049423.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGZ87T5cDDEakRe9LV3KS7c7oW3ttqAUP6N74PcoblEJnM4nL_msg0alTttxDqasYR7Hm-zIHZUhRbWFlY4LQ0LrwPxhyVMPwJEVltyRlRpjseLXYcijJv9EFDGkskiO37SVZpixMBl-68sEN4LpEjCZ9lJQ0Lb7ZNaABOQaRMcx

The AA calls BCP Council’s plans to increase parking fines to London-levels as “unacceptable”

https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/greatest-hits/dorset/news/the-aa-calls-bcp-councils-plans-to-increase-parking-fines-to-london-levels-as-unacceptable

It's been said here before (in an earlier post) but of course even a cursory glance at the final report sent to the DFT shows that it DIDN'T WORK AS THEY WANTED IT TO.

• PCN issuance in the test area only went down 6.8% overall, which is insignificant and mainly boosted by double yellow line penalties which are easy to manipulate if CEOs hide in shop doorways watching out of sight;
• PCN issuance off-street (i.e. in car parks, which were also subject to the extortionately hiked penalties) increased significantly - by a far higher % than seen before - so it fails to support the narrative the Council and BPA were jointly seeking (the Council pass this off as 'displacement' of drivers seeking to avoid the high penalties but that argument makes no sense!);
• The control town (Christchurch, where normal penalty levels remained in place) saw a significant decrease in PCN issuance despite being patrolled as normal.

Report here:

https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Assets/Parking/Penalty-Charge-Notice-Trial-Final-Dft-Report.pdf

The council's pleadings include something along the lines of disappointment about the Christchurch stats and they have said, effectively: "let us do a trial again but we'll choose a 'better' control town next time…"

…what, a town carefully selected by you and perhaps 'helped' by the BPA - where you can either manipulate the figures with more patrols to drive up PCN issuance where you want it to show, or where you are confident it'll return the statistics you wanted?

patient_dream

Council and BPA were jointly seeking;

The BPA …… WHAT A JOKE, SCAM ALLEY