Parking stories in the News/media

patient_dream

The BPA is the Head Office of money scammers and cowboys supported by the DVLA

Same goes for the IPC

Both are no longer fit for purpose and cannot control the rogue industry. Both should be replaced, maybe a fine from the CMA would wake them up

Car1980

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085712#Comment_82085712

You know UKCPS have made a court claim in the past for someone stopping at a zebra crossing within a no-stopping zone? 🤷

Jenni_D

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82088174#Comment_82088174

The BPA and IPC were never fit for purpose .. "no longer" doesn't come into it. 😉

Coupon-mad

A Sussex one:

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/eastbourne-car-park-fines-leave-paying-customers-bemused-8829015

Trinity Place Car Park in Eastbourne, which changed hands earlier this year, has left some customers scratching their heads after receiving fines for parking they had paid for.

The car park almost closed months ago when former owners NCP, who went into administration, selected 22 car parks to close at 11:59pm on Friday, March 27 – with Trinity Place among them.

A another company – Blue Parking – took control of the car park to save it from closure. However, since the change in ownership, some residents have reported being issued with PCNs despite receiving confirmation that they’ve paid for parking.

Tony Pulford, who recently received a PCN, shared his difficulty in being able to read the sign due to it being about six foot high on the passenger’s side.

Mr Pulford also expressed frustration at the online appeals process which has a CAPTCHA verification check that ‘goes on and on’. One individual said they paid £8.10 for eight hours of parking and, after using seven hours and 57 minutes of their time, they received a PCN of £60.

Blue Parking have been approached for comment.

Umkomaas

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82088493#Comment_82088493

Blue Parking. Linked with National Parking Enforcement, and Euro Parking Services.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/XI1LQ1X_3Y1DKdRBJxktqizCmsA/appointments

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09370159/officers

A tangled web indeed!

Castle

Ref:Trinity Place Eastbourne-

I think "Blue Parking" is a trading name of Euro Parking Services Ltd because according to Companies House; Blue Parking Ltd (Company number 172071610), wasn't incorporated until 8th May 2026.

patient_dream

EURO ….. Devil in disguise

Coupon-mad

Initial Parking ruining public spaces: "excluding locals from their own lake"

Reportedly

• no clear extra 'changed terms' signage
  
• PCNs issued the day BEFORE the cameras were meant to be switched on.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/eight-bikers-stopped-ice-creams-34380481

A group of eight bikers have become among the first to fall foul of new ANPR parking cameras at a popular Eryri lake. The cameras were activated on July 13 in an attempt to curb to overnight camping at Llyn Tegid, Bala.

After twice stopping to buy ice creams, they belatedly realised new parking fees had been introduced. The eight motorcyclists from Devon are now each in the process of receiving two lots of £60 'fines'.

“None of us remembers seeing any new signage in that motorcycle area. We would of course have paid the measly £1 charge if we had been made aware of it. Sadly, it has put a bitter taste in our mouths after visiting your beautiful countryside.”

Yet their anger pales against the fury felt by local people who feel they are being excluded from their own lake. One supporter said it was “awful that people are being pushed away from beautiful natural spaces”.

A petition has been raised with Eryri National Park Authority (ENPA) demanding free access to the lake’s car parks. Overnight parking bans at nine other Eryri car parks were paused in June following a public backlash. But the bans were retained at the two Bala facilities which now form part of a “pilot scheme”.

Other motorists have also claimed to have been hit with £60 fines after visiting on July 12, the day before ANPR cameras were activated. They are contesting the penalties but are pessimistic about their chances with a private operator now managing the car parks.

Also causing local alarm is the enforcement model. One local said:

"This scheme is being managed by Initial Parking, a private company. Whatever the safeguards, the practical effect for residents is that access to a public lake is now gated by a private firm whose income depends on charges

That is a significant change to how this land is used, and it deserved real consultation with residents and community councils before it began, not after.”

The petition can be found here.

Within six days it had raised 534 signatures, more than a quarter of the town’s population.

Coupon-mad

Do we think Parish Councils can run their public car parks as if they are private land and with ANPR?

I'm unclear on whether a Parish Council would be bound by the ANPR postal PCN issuance ban in the Deregulation Act 2015:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/26422155.acle-car-park-cameras-end-all-day-parking-problem/

Not seeing any contractual signs either!

"An Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system has been installed in the car park outside Folly Tree House on the Street in Acle, after months of complaints about commuters filling spaces intended for shoppers.

The parking problem is believed to date back to the Kings Head pub introducing its own ANPR system, which is thought to have displaced all-day parking elsewhere in the village, including Folly Tree House.

ANPR cameras now enforce a two-hour parking limit, though that period will soon be extended to three hours.

Mrs Richardson said: "This change is currently being implemented, and there is no cost to the parish council for making this amendment."

She said the parish council has not made or lost money from the camera system, which is operated at the provider's expense and only generates income from motorists who break the rules.

Usual protection racket MO.

Only in the UK would this extortionate model be legal.

daveyjp

Parish Councils are subject to FOI laws. Anyone can submit an FOI a request for the decision making process on this matter, including the legal advice that Parish Councils fall outside of the requirements under the Deregulation Act,