Success! - thanks to this forum

TreeofLife

BPA response as to who regulates them, most of you will have no doubt heard this before:

Good Afternoon,

 Thank you for your email.

 We are an independent trade body who are seeking to bring self-regulation into the parking sector through our code of practice.   We are working actively with the Government on establishing the new single Code of Practice and the surrounding architecture. It has long been our aspiration to establish a standard setting body overseeing a single code of practice and one independent appeals service to give the motoring public a level playing field when dealing with parking operators that manage private land.

 

(Removed by Forum Team)

Compliance Investigations Officer

British Parking Association         

Email: aos@britishparking.co.uk

Web:  www.britishparking.co.uk

 I am wondering if anyone would like to respond to this statement?

Coupon-mad

What it really means:


Good afternoon yet another 'rogue motorist',

We are an ostensibly 'independent' trade body whose Directors, event sponsors, main Board policy influencers and even this Compliance team are dominated by people who currently own, work for - or (in the case of this Compliance team, two of my colleagues for starters) used to work for - Parking Companies, debt crawlers, clampers and roboclaim 'bulk litigation' firms, aka 'solicitors'.

We were seeking to support this billion pound industry (who pay zero VAT on private PCNs) by bringing the obviously self-serving concept of 'self-regulation' into the parking sector through our code of practice...and it was all going so well...

...that is, until all the complaints from rogue drivers ('law-breakers', Kelvin Reynolds calls them in our publication 'Parking News' this month) caused our mates' little (big) game to be unfortunately torpedoed by MPs, whose words in 2018 included:

"Self-regulation has obviously failed dramatically. The British Parking Association is as much use as a multi-storey car park in the middle of the Gobi desert. The parking cowboys hide behind BPA membership to give a veneer of legitimacy..." etc.  You get the picture.

We always said we wanted the parking industry regulated by Government but 'be careful what you wish for' is the lesson we are now learning, now we've seen the writing on the wall of what that's likely to mean.

Judicial Review bombs by our beloved/richest members aside, we have little choice but to be working actively with the Government on establishing the new single Code of Practice and the surrounding architecture.

We really thought we could make friends and influence people.  It always worked before.

It has long been our aspiration to establish a standard setting body overseeing a single code of practice and one independent appeals service to give the motoring public a semblance of a level playing field when dealing with parking operators that operate rip-offs akin to protection rackets on private land.

We really hoped we could have created it without the likes of 'MSE Forumite' Coupon-mad on the Government Steering Group for the past three years.  How DID that happen on our watch, right under our fellow Sussex noses?

It was all going so well...look how we twisted the POFA to our advantage and told everyone that 'keeper liability' (Schedule 4) would "bring much-needed clarity and reduce the burden on the courts".  Of course, the opposite happened and an entire sub-industry has been created taking bulk litigation to a whole new level of bullying, known as credit-clamping these days.  Very lucrative it is, too.

The Dept For Transport fell for it, lapping up everything we said in 2011/12.  Why not the DLUHC?  Waaaah...!

patient_dream

TreeofLife said:

BPA response as to who regulates them, most of you will have no doubt heard this before:

Good Afternoon,

 Thank you for your email.

 We are an independent trade body who are seeking to bring self-regulation into the parking sector through our code of practice.   We are working actively with the Government on establishing the new single Code of Practice and the surrounding architecture. It has long been our aspiration to establish a standard setting body overseeing a single code of practice and one independent appeals service to give the motoring public a level playing field when dealing with parking operators that manage private land.

 

(Removed by Forum Team)

Compliance Investigations Officer

British Parking Association         

Email: aos@britishparking.co.uk

Web:  www.britishparking.co.uk

 I am wondering if anyone would like to respond to this statement?

(Removed by Forum Team) is just talking rubbish, all the BPA are interested in is collecting money from their bunch of money scammers and inventing the great  fake add-on scam

SHE SAYS .......
"a single code of practice and one independent appeals service to give the motoring public a level playing field when dealing with parking operators"

Wonder why the BPA never did this ???  

The simple fact is that the BPA are a disaster, not fit to be an ATA, GOVERNMENT WERE DUPED with POFA 2012. now is the time for government to get rid of them and get professionals to do the job

The BPA has a lot of councils as paying members..... what is the point of that, it is tax payers money being wasted just to read propaganda ??

Another call for Rishi to wake up and cull these wannabees

TreeofLife

Jenni_D said:

It ain't over until the fat lady sings ... have PE/DCBL confirmed that the PCN has been cancelled? (You could go to PE's website as if to pay it and see if the PCN has a £0.00 value, or is not recognised).

I have checked on the PE website and the amount owed is £0, just wondering when they were going to let me know?

Coupon-mad

They never do.

TreeofLife

The latest is that PE have responded to my SAR. It is a joke.  They claim to be unable to disclose my data because it was transmitted using encryption.....well I am very pleased to know that the transmission method was transcripted but this does not mean that I am not entitled to know what they transmitted.  Also they are claiming that because they don't hold physical copies of my data so they can't provide it.....

They admit to having shared my data with various third parties DVLA, a tracing agency and a debt recovery agent and I have asked them what lawful reason do they have for doing so.

They have admitted that the charge was cancelled by the landowner, but they have not provided that juicy piece of my personal data.  Somehow I don't think that the landowners waited what 15months to inform PE of the cancellation - me thinks PE were informed at the time, but for some reason only known to themselves they chose to pursue me regardless.

I have put them on notice to 'declare the facts' - Pre-action protocol - their choice as to whether they respond, if not I will be sending them a N266 application.

Coupon-mad

Very good!  You not them...

Their response (that seems to be trying to sweep their own mess up under the carpet) is appalling.

Le_Kirk

I would make a report to the ICO.

TreeofLife

Here is the response from the Dept for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities to my letter expressing my concerns wtr to the parking regulationin the England.  If you have any comments about what the department has to say, please feel free to direct them to (Removed by Forum Team):

Tel: [Enter phone number]

Fax: (Removed by Forum Team)

Email:(Removed by Forum Team)

Dear 

Thank you for your letter regarding the British Parking Association. As a policy

advisor working on parking, I have been asked to reply.

I am sympathetic to your situation and I am grateful to you for bringing it to my

attention. Currently, parking companies regulate themselves through the two main

trade associations independent of Government. As I am sure you will appreciate, I

cannot comment on, or intervene in, individual disputes with parking companies.

The Government is taking action to improve the regulation of the private parking

industry. We are currently implementing the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019,

introduced by Sir Greg Knight MP, which includes the development of an

independent Code of Practice for private parking companies. If a parking company

fails to follow this Code, they will effectively be banned from issuing parking

charges.

Produced in close consultation with private parking experts, including consumer and

industry groups, the Code will set out straightforward rules that private parking

companies across England, Scotland and Wales must follow.

We are currently considering some elements of the Code to ensure that it provides

the best possible protection for motorists while giving parking companies the tools to

crack down on motorists who park obstructively or dangerously. We intend to consult

on these elements of the Code over the Summer and I invite you to take part.

Thank you for writing in on this important matter.

It seems to me that the vast majority of PCNs are issued not to prevent obstrcutive or dangerous parking but simply on technicalities for the financial gains of unscrupulous crooks.

Jenni_D

giving parking companies the tools to

crack down on motorists who park obstructively or dangerously

Yeah - ANPR really helps with that, eh? 🙄🤦‍♂️