Parking stories in the News/media

Coupon-mad

by Who wants to whistleblow and report Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council to the DVLA?
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/two-nuneatons-biggest-car-parks-26193488.amp

And Gravesham Borough Council too:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/new-way-to-pay-in-town-centre-car-parks-281226/

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/amp/new-parking-system-to-go-live-in-town-centre-290008/


Edit, add to this
Hastings Borough Council:
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/priory-meadow-car-park-in-hastings-goes-ticketless-as-from-today-here-is-what-you-need-to-know-4066543


And West Northants Council:
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/politics/council/northampton-pensioner-slams-new-anpr-system-at-busy-council-owned-car-park-following-saturday-night-chaos-4054537

Absolute mayhem!

EDIT: 
Add Rochester:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/amp/town-centre-car-parks-to-introduce-anpr-cameras-286736/

And add Runnymede Borough Council:
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/waitrose-egham-disabled-parking-row-26982863.amp


And even worse is Bodmin Town Council are letting PPS operate COUNCIL car parks as if they are private land, and ANPR has been installed despite it being banned for local authority use (for parking enforcement) in the Deregulation Act 2015:

https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/bodmin-town-council-car-parks-face-price-hike-and-anpr-camera-enforcement-615095


So are Chelmsford City Council:
 illegally letting Smart Parking operate with ANPR at a Council-owned shopping centre for THREE YEARS:

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/23671421.canvey-knightswick-shopping-centre-parking-changes/

I feel a FOI request coming on for the number of contract law 'PCNs' issued and a copy of the landowner/parking firm contract.


More questions about possible use of ANPR in Council car parks, this time I suspect it here from Derby City Council:

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/council-raises-60000-parking-tickets-8631304.amp

Edit:  
And Doncaster:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80322965/#Comment_80322965

2018 Doncaster Parking Strategy includes the following:

"East Leith Gate and NCP Frances Street Car Parks are privately managed but owned by The Council (elsewhere in the document the car park name is spelt correctly as East Laith Gate). "

EDIT: add to this in 2025, Didcot Town Council:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81531270/#Comment_81531270

But seriously:

Their legal advisors seem to have missed the fact that Councils aren't allowed to use ANPR for parking enforcement. It became illegal as part of the Deregulation Act in 2015.

Let's hope they are spending that budget wisely and only using ANPR to "assist with smooth payments" (which is allowed) and not to use the data to send to the DVLA to issue PCNs (illegal).

Look what happened to Wycombe Council when they tried out ANPR for parking enforcement in car parks:
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/08/wycombe-district-council-banned-for.html?m=1

Coupon-mad

Sainsbury's at Ely, Cambridge has also brought in ANPR:
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/sainsburys-installs-anpr-cameras-ely-26120985.amp

"A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said:

“Customers can continue to park for free at our Ely store for up to three hours during store opening hours. We have introduced Automatic Number Plate Recognition, for added ease and convenience for our customers whilst they shop.”

Righhhht... how exactly is big brother style camera 'enforcement' (which is paid for solely by £100 'fines' issued to as many victims as possible) going to add to the EASE AND CONVENIENCE for customers while they shop?

Sounds like PPC-speak to me.

Coupon-mad

Looks to me like The Shires Shopping Centre in Trowbridge is likely to see their previous customers boycotting it now they too have been persuaded to think that ANPR is marvellous technology "for the ease & convenience" of shoppers instead of the PCN machine we all know it really is:

https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/23324296.trowbridge-shopping-centre-car-park-charges-attract-mixed-reaction/

"Four Your Parking Space advisers were on hand to offer advice and guidance where needed."

Errrm...but obviously not long-term.  There will be no person on foot to assist anyone struggling to pay after their free hour.

Look at the comments.

People are already deciding to shop elsewhere and old people who don't use apps will be ripped off to the tune of £100 per day.

IMHO this was an ill-advised and useless idea by this Shopping Centre.  They'll learn the hard way.

Snakes_Belly

"This is not the first time BW Legal has sued over negative online reviews. Last year, it failed in a bid for a Norwich Pharmacal order aimed at uncovering the identities of people who posted reviews about it on the Glassdoor website."

I think that "Glassdoor" is a employee review platform. Unless employee's had signed some kind of gagging order then I doubt that BW could do much. It's a person's opinion of the working environment, benefits etc. Obviously some unhappy employees.

I have seen some very bad reviews about Excel and VCS on an employee review site.  

Coupon-mad

Yep, but at first they were granted the NPO by the first Judge, according to the link. This would have forced Glassdoor to hand over the employees' names and contact details.

Thankfully, to protect reviewers and their own integrity (and the entire raison d'etre for their website: a 'safe place' for reviews of what it's like to work somewhere) Glassdoor challenged it.

And they got it overturned, AIUI partly on a technicality of bad service but also because the second Judge wasn't convinced that a single employee review x 2 had caused severe loss, so says the link to that case.

The original linked article shows that Trustpilot are defending BW's legal case against them but I wouldn't assume it will get nowhere.  I suspect they won't drop it.  BW are not asking for the names of reviewers in this one, they are suing Trustpilot as publishers.

I think it is absolutely shocking.

Snakes_Belly

Coupon-mad said:

Yep, but at first they were granted the NPO by the first Judge, according to the link. This would have forced Glassdoor to hand over the employees' names and contact details.

Thankfully, to protect reviewers and their own integrity (and the entire raison d'etre for their website: a 'safe place' for reviews of what it's like to work somewhere) Glassdoor challenged it.

And they got it overturned, AIUI partly on a technicality of bad service but also because the second Judge wasn't convinced that a single employee review x 2 had caused severe loss, so says the link to that case.

The original linked article shows that Trustpilot are defending BW's legal case against them but I wouldn't assume it will get nowhere.  I suspect they won't drop it.  BW are not asking for the names of reviewers in this one, they are suing Trustpilot as publishers.

I think it is absolutely shocking.

Some of these companies need to take a long hard look at themselves and their practices.

I am not against wealth creators infact quite the reverse. It's the way that the wealth is created that bothers me. There are stakeholders in a business, the owners, the employees, the suppliers, and the customers. The PPC's seem to only recognise one stakeholder.  

The CEO of St. Modwen gave Lichfield Cathedral a painting by Turner. This painting was to be sold to raise money for some restoration work. It was displayed for several weeks in the cathedral and many people visited the cathedral and the city. It created a lot on interest from the UK and further afield. Now that has been damaged by the greedy PPC operators. Mammon is their god.
  

B789

It is strikingly obvious that the level of "intellectual malnourishment"* at BW Legal is severe if they, a firm of lawyers, think they have a case that is winnable against TrustPilot for a bad review. One only has to do a tiny bit of research to understand how futile their case is, which only goes to show why they are operating on behalf of the many PPCs who are mostly serial scammers.



*Thanks to @Taiko for that apt definition.

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

Sainsbury's at Ely, Cambridge has also brought in ANPR:
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/sainsburys-installs-anpr-cameras-ely-26120985.amp

"A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said:

“Customers can continue to park for free at our Ely store for up to three hours during store opening hours. We have introduced Automatic Number Plate Recognition, for added ease and convenience for our customers whilst they shop.”

I always thought that Sainsbury's were a cut above the rest but they have joined all the other fools with such a comment
HOW STUPID

Right now they are price matching the cheaper german supermarkets.
That simply means that Sainsbury's are losing business and the answer is much closer to home ..... their car parks and the scam that goes on

patient_dream

We should all pay tribute to Betty Boothroyd who has died aged 93

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11798135/First-woman-Commons-Speaker-Betty-Boothroyd-dies-aged-93.html

For those asking why ... it was Betty, as Commons Speaker who was wheel clamped in a car park years ago by a parking cowboy.

The result being that parking clampers were banned

We hope that Mr Gove MP HANDLES THE NEW CODE OF PRACTICE in the same way

Galloglass

Not sure if anyone has picked up on the sterling work the parking industry has done in getting the DLUHC to bring in tighter controls. It seems they are being held back in bringing more benefits to the motorist by the slackers in DLUHC - or so the article says.

https://portfolio.cpl.co.uk/Parking-News/426/22/