The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
westminster to tackle rogue parking firms
All companies would have to sign up to a code of conduct under law
MPS have backed a law to end the “plague of the parking cowboy”.
Private parking firms will be forced to sign up to a code of conduct under the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill.
It would see rogue operators who use unscrupulous practices to prise cash from drivers punished by an independent regulator.
The legislation passed its first hurdle yesterday and is now destined to make it on to the statue books when a final vote is held later in the year.
The Private Member’s Bill, which has the support of ministers, was hatched by members of the cross-party House of Commons rock band MP4, which includes Perthshire MP Pete Wishart.
Mr Wishart said: “Private parking companies have simply become a curse to so many of our communities and they are out of control in so many areas.
“They are a blight on communities, harassing motorists and driving tourists away from so many of our towns and city centres.
“The city of Perth is simply plagued with these cowboys.”
The SNP MP described Smart Parking, the operator of the Kinnoull Street car park in Perth, as the “John Wayne of all these cowboys”.
“This company distributes fines like confetti and their so-called smart technology seems almost designed to frustrate and harvest fines from motorists,” he said.
The rogue tactics the Bill targets include poor and misleading signage, unreasonable terms, excessive fines, aggressive payment demands and a murky appeals process.
Sir Greg Knight, the Conservative MP who is the Private Member’s Bill’s main sponsor, said responsible private parking firms have nothing to fear, but the clampdown is vital to protect motorists.
Those who flout the rules, which are still to be agreed, will be banned from accessing DVLA data, which would effectively force rogues out of the industry.
Analysis by the RAC found private parking tickets are being issued at the rate of 17,137 a day in the UK – the equivalent of 12 every minute.
Independent parking companies are said to make about £100 million a year from fining drivers.
Mr Wishart insists the law will apply in full across the whole of the UK.
Murdo Fraser, the Conservative MSP in Perthshire, says he backs the Westminster version but is putting forward his own proposals to Holyrood.
He added what “is clear is that the net is closing in on those who try to exploit parkers with borderline illegal practices”.
A Smart Parking spokesperson said: “We listened to the debate today in Parliament with much interest, and we are fully behind the idea of a single code of practice for the industry.
“In England and Wales we already have POPLA, the independent appeals process, and we strongly believe that remains the single most important enhancement in standards that the industry has ever introduced.
“In regard to Mr Wishart, we have invited him to meet us at our offices on a number of occasions, we have even offered to pay his expenses, but each time there has been no response to our offer. On the one occasion we arranged a meeting with Mr Wishart in Perth he cancelled the meeting with us.”