Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

This one is about the recurring problem of apps not clearly stating who you are paying, and the lack of clarity or warnings about overlapping locations run by 2 different firms:

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-visitor-hit-200-fine-7914362.amp

The duped driver has given up and actually paid two 'fines' from TPS instead of just coming here and winning with the template appeal...

...IIRC, TPS don't even use the POFA so this would have been a cinch to win at POPLA...

Coupon-mad

Here's a different article, slagging off Euro Car Parks (can't blame the writer.  Fat cat firm):
https://confidentials.com/manchester/neglected-euro-car-parks-millionaires-shameful-treatment-of-manchesters-heritage

"Ruining Manchester's heritage" by reportedly abandoning this lovely old building that was once ECP's head office.  Multi-millionaire owners of ECP continue to rinse money from consumers in millions, but haven't done anything to sort out this property.

Some might say they deserve to be fined...

"...listed in 1952... 29-31 Byrom Street in the St John’s Street Conservation Area of Manchester city centre are in a right state.

They are the property of what the Daily Mail recently called a ‘Fat Cat’ car park owner, Barry Tucker, of Euro Car Parks. Multi-millionaire Tucker has allowed 29-31 Byrom Street to deteriorate for years. 

The walls are listing, the mortar is eroded, brickwork has spalled, the outer skin of brickwork is missing in places and there’s physical damage to the wall where shrubs are growing...

ECP Holdings (aka Euro Car Parks) used it as a head office for 25 years up to 2012. They seemed to have spent almost nothing on it in that time. A land registry request reveals the title absolute has resided with Barry Tucker from 10 March 2017."

SHAME ON YOU.

ABANDONED MANCHESTER AND RELOCATED TO LONDON LEAVING A CRUMBLING BUILDING WITHOUT EVEN BASIC REPAIRS.

IS THIS WHAT ECP THINKS OF THE DLUHC's AIM OF LEVELLING UP AND IMPROVING HIGH STREETS?

Who knows because they aren't answering, so says the writer of this article:

"We’ve tried to contact Barry Tucker for a right to reply. Ye Gads we’ve tried. We’ve tried to contact him through all the Euro Car Park email addresses we could find. No answer. We’ve directly written to him in that old fashioned way of paper, envelopes and stamps to the Euro Car Parks HQ in London (30 Dorset Square, since you ask) and a house address in Hale Barns that appears on the land registry document. It appears Tucker now lives in a mansion in London.

We asked three questions of Barry Tucker in our messages.

Have you any plans to repair these properties?

Have you any plans to sell these properties?

Do you feel you have any responsibility to the heritage and urban landscape of Manchester?

We would have liked to talk to him directly but there is no number to call. We’ve tried to call Euro Car Parks on 0207 563 3000 but there’s no possibility of talking to anyone or even leaving a message. Everyone who has been fined by Euro Car Parks or had any dealings with them will know this.

These greedy car park companies...are some of the least accountable and most opaque in the country. They have a policy of simply ignoring enquiries - even justifiable ones. 

They are perhaps among the least popular of UK businesses."

Coupon-mad

The same publication also exposed SIP Parking back in 2019 for allegedly avoiding business rates by operating car parks without bothering with planning consent:
https://confidentials.com/manchester/the-manchester-car-park-disgrace-with-expensive-ramifications-for-the-city

"We asked SIP car parks for a comment. SIP stands for Simple Intelligent Parking, maybe it should be SAT, or Simple Avoidance Tactics. The gent on the phone wouldn’t put us through to anybody who dealt with the press or anybody in authority. “It’s not our policy,” he said, “but you can email.” We did. SIP has failed to reply.

This is unsurprising perhaps, as they must know they don’t have planning permission and are thus, no doubt, generating an impressive rates-free profit.

The worry is this: if Confidential has found two car parks without planning permission this easily, how many other car parks and how many other properties in the city and across the region have eluded planning permission and thus side-stepped business rates and health and safety?"

The same tactics werd alleged in 2016 in this guest blog about ParkingEye, published by the Parking Prankster:
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/03/parkingeye-and-planning-consent-or-lack.html?m=1

Allegations backed up by an ex-ParkingEye employee mole:
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/12/parkingeye-employee-reveals-their-rape.html?m=1

"The Prankster has been contacted by a ParkingEye employee who felt it necessary to speak out because they felt that the company was run by some of the greediest people they had the misfortune to meet, and some of the practices just screamed abuse.

Sadly ParkingEye are typical of the parking industry. 

ParkingEye's early success was due to its gung ho approach. Contracts while making business sense only sought to delay proceedings so the tactic was to bang the kit in and deal with the ramifications later on.

One thing to note that may be of interest to motorists is that in the majority of sites, there is no planning permission. ParkingEye operate a model of retrospective planning. So get the go ahead from the client, bang the system in and then if there was any noise file a retrospective planning order.
The point was to save on costs. And it worked."

Mouse007

This one, a little different, but same quack mentality

Look for the sign, too much food leads to .... £150 fine

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11521555/Pensioner-66-wrongly-fined-150-littering-went-feed-ducks-park.html

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

This one is about the recurring problem of apps not clearly stating who you are paying, and the lack of clarity or warnings about overlapping locations run by 2 different firms:

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-visitor-hit-200-fine-7914362.amp

The duped driver has given up and actually paid two 'fines' from TPS instead of just coming here and winning with the template appeal...

...IIRC, TPS don't even use the POFA so this would have been a cinch to win at POPLA...

The West country seems to be a money scammers paradise.

TPS yet another BPA money scammer ?    So many money scammers in the BPA

Government back in 2012 were duped by the BPA, since then, the BPA has grown into the biggest scam membership in the UK

Do government really want this unfit for purpose organisation full of money scammers to continue ripping off the public ?

Snakes_Belly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oer7hzW2gzk
This chap witters on a bit but the main points are that DCB appear to transfer the debts to DCBL and inflating the amount. That this is done before the 28 day period that the debtor has to pay.  


There is a possibility that the pensioner that fell foul of the Excel car parks in Lichfield fell foul of the DCB/DCBL switcheroo. How could these PCN's tot up to £2000.00?  

I don't think that they were given 28 days to pay before the visit from the bailiffs and why are they adding on all these charges? 

patient_dream

Snakes_Belly said:

There is a possibility that the pensioner that fell foul of the Excel car parks in Lichfield fell foul of the DCB/DCBL switcheroo. How could these PCN's tot up to £2000.00?  

I don't think that they were given 28 days to pay before the visit from the bailiffs and why are they adding on all these charges? 

I'm sure this Womga style operation has already been reported to the authorities INCLUDING DLUHC

Coupon-mad

SABA (previously Indigo) have reportedly made so much money from a confusing 'two car parks' set up at a station that they are "waiving the PCN for first 'offence' if people appeal":

https://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/politics/parking-company-agrees-to-waive-first-offence-charges-amid-confusion-at-leighton-buzzard-train-station-3950947

Just shows how bad it is.  They say when people appeal (which is a minuscule %) they will cancel and will explain in the response letter how to comply.

How about explaining that on signage, eh SABA?

Offence? Yep you are causing it...

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

SABA (previously Indigo) have reportedly made so much money from a confusing 'two car parks' set up at a station that they are "waiving the PCN for first 'offence' if people appeal":

https://www.leightonbuzzardonline.co.uk/news/politics/parking-company-agrees-to-waive-first-offence-charges-amid-confusion-at-leighton-buzzard-train-station-3950947

Just shows how bad it is.  They say when people appeal (which is a minuscule %) they will cancel and will explain in the response letter how to comply.

How about explaining that on signage, eh SABA?

Offence? Yep you are causing it...

No doubt SABA picked up this little trick (SCAM) from MET Parking at Stansted

The mind boggles why these companies are so desperate to tell government they are not fit for purpose ... 

Coupon-mad

And take a bow (yet again) one of the BPA's *finest* large operators, Euro Car Parks who are named and shamed here:
https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/23186313.wrexham-lesley-griffiths-ms-addresses-unfair-island-green-fines/

The Welsh Labour MS for Wrexham has sent an open letter to the BPA, who will no doubt be gearing up to lift that dusty old carpet again:

"I have been contacted by many constituents over a several months in relation to them receiving questionable, and in some cases, unfair fines from Euro Car Parks when they have used the above-named car park. (Island Green)

I received a significant number of constituents' concerns during 2019 and unfortunately, a similar pattern is emerging again. Increases in fines, out of order and poorly maintained machines and accessibility for blue badge holders are just some of the issues I have been contacted about.

I believe this is having a detrimental impact to Wrexham city centre."

Not exactly what the DLUHC want...