Parking stories in the News/media

Umkomaas

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81998468#Comment_81998468

Perhaps not if PE is involved (Prem Ejac, not Parking Eye!). 😉

Nellymoser

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5px20452do

A campaigner says she is "delighted" after evening parking charges at a number of council-owned sites in East Grinstead, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath have now officially been dropped.

Businesses had complained the charges between 18:00 and 20:00 had impacted trade. People said they would "think twice about visiting when the charges were in effect. A petition against the charges attracted several thousand signatures.

The U-turn came after 18 months after the charges were first introduced."

Nellymoser

This one's from Feb but I don't think it's been posted

https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/driver-beats-sheffield-firm-excel-parking-in-16-month-battle-over-ps2-charge-5607046

A young driver Sam Liddle who couldn't get the £2 parking fee paid within Excel's stated 10 mins is celebrating victory after Excel discontinued their £263 court claim.

Although happy with the end result Sam criticised Excel and DCB Legal saying: “I think it's an absolute disgrace for them to proceed with this for so long only to discontinue the case on the day before they are required to send their witness statement."

The Durham car park in question has one tariff - £2 for all day - and Sam could see no reason why motorists had to pay in a hurry, since overstaying wasn’t an issue.

The Star asked Excel why it had a 10-minute rule at the one-tariff, all-day car park and why it continued Sam's case for a year after this rule was banned by industry's ATAs.

Excel spokesperson said they regarded 10 mins as a reasonable time to pay. And they had dropped the case after the ban. 🤥

Sam got support from Facebook group and campaigner Lynda Eagan.

Lynda said: “I just can’t express my disgust with Excel’s inhumanity. Chasing people to court for something they know was wrong all along and how they have left all of these people with this worry of having to go to court hanging over their heads for so long.”

Coupon-mad

CPS (Car Park Services) work at some council owned sites in NI … but I can't tell which type of PCNs they are issuing. In this case the site is owned by the council but it seems it has been leased to CPS.

Loads of complaints though. Looks like PCNs by post aren't being sent 1st class:

https://thedownrecorder.co.uk/2026/05/11/downpatrick-car-park-operator-responds-to-fee-complaints/

Downpatrick car park operator responds to complaints

CPS responded to a statement released by local councillor Conor Galbraith, in which he said there were “ongoing concerns surrounding parking charges” at the council-owned location.

He also stated that issues with the car park have been “raised repeatedly by local residents and traders, with frustration centring on 24-hour charging, the impact on town centre footfall and penalty notices arriving close to, or after, the 14-day discount period.”

“I’ve been contacted by a steady stream of people about this, and the message is the same every time – the current set-up at Market Street just isn’t fair,” he added.

“People don’t mind paying to park, but 24-hour charging and fines turning up when the discount window is nearly gone leaves a bad taste.

It feels overly harsh, and it’s putting people off coming into town altogether. That’s a real concern when our local businesses are working hard to keep footfall up. The last thing we need is anything that makes Downpatrick feel less welcoming or harder to access."

Looks completely empty!

https://downnews.co.uk/galbraith-addresses-downpatrick-parking-fees/

"It also begs the question: why is the Council not managing its own car park when it is committed to the principle of sustainability?"

People are literally driven away from high streets by unfair and excessive ANPR systems that are set to generate as many PCNs as possible.

#ANPR in the hands of private operators who only make money from PCNs: killing the high streets.

This is true in E, W, S and NI alike.

Wake up, MHCLG.

Nellymoser

https://www.rossgazette.com/news/views-sought-on-new-parking-strategy-and-enforcement-cameras-907520

The Council’s Cabinet member for roads said: “Parking is something people experience every day, and we want to understand what works well and what could be improved."

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/consultations/may/herefordshire-parking-strategy-consultation/

Have your say...

● Read the draft parking strategy

● Complete the parking strategy survey before 3 June 2026

Nellymoser

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/39132911/car-park-firm-collecting-fines-after-collapse-my-rights/

ADMINISTRATORS for NCP are trying to claw back almost 100,000 unpaid parking fines since the company collapsed earlier this year.

While 80,000 of these had been parked by debt collectors, with a further 15,000 waiting to go through the courts, administrators at PwC are now working through them to try and recover the unpaid fines.

Car1980

1. That's a lot of people who don't pay. Good.
2. 15,000 court claims? That's going to be a lot of discontinuations unless Moorside have a small football stadium's worth of advocates to queue outside county courts across the land.

Bazarius

The Administrators have a tough job in their hands . PCNs debts cannot be sold off to third parties so somebody has to buy out NCP to keep the debt live .

I can’t see how they can afford to pay the court fees upfront as Poorside doesn’t have any guarantees to get the money back from NCP ? The only way to do that is Champerty - it’s probably a form of selling the debt isn’t it ?

Kaizen2024

PCN debts can indeed be sold in this scenario.

Car1980

Without a credit agreement?