Parking Code of Practice Consultation - now EXTENDED - closes Friday 26th September

NCC1701-A

Well that was painful but felt good pressing send! And sending separate email with photo evidence.  

Fingers crossed this moves things forward.

Umkomaas

NCC1701-A said:

Well that was painful but felt good pressing send! And sending separate email with photo evidence.  

Fingers crossed this moves things forward.

Great stuff, well done. I'm planning to press that same button tomorrow. Out for early morning breakfast, then final touches ..... and whoosh!

MHCLG, after all this work we've undertaken on yet another consultation ....... don't let us, or 14 million motorists (and voters) down!

Umkomaas

Umkomaas said:

NCC1701-A said:

Well that was painful but felt good pressing send! And sending separate email with photo evidence.  

Fingers crossed this moves things forward.

Great stuff, well done. I'm planning to press that same button tomorrow. Out for early morning breakfast, then final touches ..... and whoosh!

MHCLG, after all this work we've undertaken on yet another consultation ....... don't let us, or 14 million motorists (and voters) down!

Yep, my whoosh was whooshed, job done!  

Now let's see if the will of Parliament is upheld, or if the sharp-suit snake oil salesmen of the BPA and IPC have pulled the wool over the Govt's eyes yet again. 14 million motorists (and their money and mental health) in PPC crosshairs every year. 

Message to the MHCLG - the Knight Act was about bringing the out-of-control private parking industry to heel. It was never about the motorist!

Car1980

Nothing like leaving it to last minute! Mine's gone in.

And yes, I did use the word boll ocks in one question. Can you guess which one? 

LoneStarState

Submitted my beast of a document and got the automatic reply.  Attached lots of evidence that I hope will open their eyes in particular to the corrupt IAS.

For question 33, I also made extensive mention of how the DVLA seems to have got off scot free as the data controller in chief in the whole affair even though they make what in hindsight seem to be comical assurances about "data safeguards", demonstrating "reasonable cause", "effective self regulation" and "established independent appeals services".

Having seen the results of SARs to the DVLA about data requests, nothing more than the VRM, enquiry date, event date, enquirer name and address, a vague and generic enquiring reason ("breach of the terms and conditions of a private car park"), unique reference are recorded.

I suggested more specific data items should be captured as part of requests such as:
specific contravention/reason for request
actual parking/contravention period
unique site identifier with post code
site type (public use pay and display car park, private road, airport land etc)
copies or a link to photographs should a human review be flagged

This sort of data could easily stop spurious requests at source, particularly when consideration periods become mandatory, or at least flag for human review (which would also be logged).

Anyways, glad that's done.  Let's hope that the MHCLG do the right thing

1505grandad

Mostly as above(s)  -  fingers crossed it has not all been in vain.

Thorndorise

Mine in this morning too, let's hope it works and they listen!

delabc

I finally got my response in yesterday. I took the opportunity under Q9 to say that the consultation is merely tinkering around the edges of a deeply flawed and often corrupt industry and it should be looking at a comprehensive bottom up overhaul of the system, which is currently allowing PPC's and DRA's to jump onto a gravy train of issuing and trying to enforce unfair PCN's. I haven't said this, but the consultation is a prime example of the civil service mentality which values process over outcome.

I won't go through my whole response but on Q7 I went for Strongly Disagree. We need to get rid of the assumption that every motorist who has made an innocent mistake or has trivially breached the T's & C's should receive a legalistic and bombastic first letter demanding a payment of £100 "kindly" reduced to £60 for prompt payment. There must be a primary assumption of innocence not guiIt and in my opinion the first letter to the keeper should be a polite reminder that they, or somebody who had the use of their car, may have inadvertently not paid for the full cost of their visit and inviting them to pay the missing fee plus, perhaps, a small extra charge of, say, £5 or £10. Only after that, if unpaid, should the PCN be sent out but £100 is far too high a figure. I have suggested that a charge of £40 or £50, with no bribe for early payment, would be more appropriate.

The most important part of the consultation, in my opinion, is on ANPR although it only merits one question. The MHCLG are missing the whole point with ANPR which has the potential, if government grasps the mettle, to transform the industry. The MHCLG says somewhere in their introduction that some 90% of PCN's are issued for car parks that use ANPR. It is probably more than that by now. In my own current case with Epping Forest the car park has ANPR cameras which accurately record the entry and exit times and yet the motorist is expected to estimate the amount of time they will spend there and pay in advance via the flawed RingGo app. Why do this when the operator has all the data they need to allow payment after the event? Payment could be made either by a machine on site with a credit/debit card reader or on the operator's website or app. This is the same way that TFL collects the London Congestion Zone fee, where motorists are given a full three days afterwards to pay. They can also set up Autopay to ensure that they never miss a payment. About 140,00 vehicles per day enter the zone and well over 95% pay the fee within the three days. Many European motorways are also using ANPR technology for collection of tolls, eliminating the need for toll booths and the people manning them.

PPC's will no doubt resist this so I have suggested that, where ANPR cameras are in use, the government should make it mandatory for landowners and private parking companies to implement a system of collecting parking fees after the event, with a minimum of 24 hours allowed for the motorist to pay the relevant fee.

1505grandad

Well I'm blowed  -  closing date extended?:-

Edit  -  updated today apparently  -  wonder if any questions etc amended/added/deleted?

Coupon-mad

Yes, I just got an official email:

This email is to update you that the Private Parking Consultation will be extended for 3 weeks, closing at midnight on Friday 26 September 2025.