CAR PARK CASTS A LONG SHADOW
AN INFAMOUS car park is still fining people £100 and “putting people off” visiting a Welsh tourist destination. On a recent trip to Llangrannog in Ceredigion to discuss the impact of coronavirus and how the seaside village hopes to overcome the effects of a global pandemic, there was one thing that everyone wanted to talk about – and it wasn’t Covid-19.
“Are you here to talk about the car park?” one local woman asked, while one visitor said they couldn’t stay long, leading to a business owner replying, without a second’s hesitation, “because of the car park?”
The privately-owned car park sits right in the middle of the village, surrounded by shops, cafes, two pubs and a beach. Complaints have long flooded in about the car park, which is run and managed by One Parking Solution Ltd, a company based in West Sussex. They have installed a camera as you arrive, which clocks every car coming in and out, noting the exact time of their arrival and their exit.
Back in 2019, the issue with the car park was a fairly simple one, or so it seemed.
The pay and display machine was regularly out of order, meaning you could not pay with cash. There was no facility to pay by card either, so users would have two choices: phone a number to arrange payment or download and use an app on their phone to register payment.
However, if there is one thing more infamous in Llangrannog than its controversial car park it’s the lessthan-robust internet connection.
This, coupled with the fact that people could not get through to the number displayed on the machine, meant visitors were stuck. They had already entered the car park and parked, all the while the camera attached to the side of the Ship Inn (the proprietors of which have nothing to do with the running of the car park) was recording their feeble attempts to pay.
As a result, people were fined £100, some even more than that. The issue was so febrile that Ceredigion MP Ben Lake became involved, while one tourist who visited the lovely West Wales village even wrote to the local welfare committee and said they would not be returning again, declaring Llangrannog a “no go zone”.
In December 2019, a thawing of the ice occurred, with the owners of the car park offering free parking over the winter months as a “goodwill gesture” to the people of Llangrannog. Furthermore, a card payment facility was installed at the car park, something that is now in place and functioning. But issues clearly remain.
One woman who drove to Llangrannog in recent weeks said she believes she paid enough to cover the duration of her stay. Getting the ticket at 1.36pm, she thought she would have been free to park at the site until 3.36pm. However, despite leaving the car park at 3.15pm, she later received a notice in the post demanding she pay a fine of £100.
“I went down to Llangrannog over the Easter holidays,” explained Sara Powell, a barrister with links to Ceredigion and who lives in Cowbridge.
“Then a couple of weeks later I got this letter in the post – it was a fine for £100. So I put a post up on Facebook to see if anyone else had any similar issues and I couldn’t believe the amount of people that replied – there were so many people saying the same.
“It’s a huge problem because I’ve had people contact me to say they have ignored fines and they now have CCJs (County Court Judgements) to deal with. Others then are intimidated by these awful letters they send out demanding payment.”
The issue for visitors is the potential of receiving a large fine in the post, but the wider issue for the people who live in and around Llangrannog and rely on its ability to draw people in is the idea that the car park can dissuade others from wanting a day at the beach, and therefore a day in the cafes, the shops and the pubs.
“I have three friends who all live in the local area, with young children, and they went to Llangrannog a couple of years ago,” said Sara.
“It’s putting people off going to Llangrannog. If you have mobility issues or small children you can’t really park anywhere else because the other car park is a bit of a walk from the beach and the village itself.
“I’m quite used to having parking fines over the years but this is definitely the highest I’ve ever experienced. £100 is huge. It seems like such an injustice; people can ill afford to pay these fines. How much money is the company behind it making? We’re talking potentially thousands of pounds.”
A quick look at the TripAdvisor page for Llangrannog (the village as a whole) is inundated with complaints about the car park. One visitor called it “pathetic”, while another called it “stupid” and implored people not to use the facility at all.
Llangrannog Welfare Committee has even set up a dedicated page to help people who have received “unfair fines from One Parking Solution”. The committee goes on to warn people that: “If you cannot pay within 10 minutes of entering the car park, you should leave and not park there, or you will be fined. They do not listen to reasonable excuses. If the machine is broken, they still expect you to pay.”
The page also states that the committee and locals have “tried very hard to get rid of” One Parking Solution Ltd, but said those efforts have proved unsuccessful.
Concerns raised about the car park and its management have been put to One Parking Solution Ltd, which has not responded to requests for a comment. Efforts have also been made to contact the owner of the land, who employs One Parking Solution Ltd to manage the car park and administer fines. The owner has thus far not responded to attempts to clarify the ongoing issues at the car park.
One person who has already been contacted by numerous people left out of pocket after a trip to Llangrannog is Ceredigion MP Ben Lake. He has previously raised the issue with the British Parking Association and has called the issuing of some fines “unacceptable”.
“I shall be pursuing this issue again with the British Parking Association as we cannot allow one of Ceredigion’s most cherished seaside villages to be torn apart like this,” he said.
The British Parking Association said it would investigate all complaints received.