Car park cowboys shamed in commons
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OPERATORS of Inverness’s controversial Strothers Lane car park have been slammed for levying “disproportionate fines” and “harassing” motorists as the row was taken to Westminster this week.
Highland Council’s trading standards department has also welcomed the Highland News campaign, and assured everyone who has raised concerns that they will be contacted directly.
After backing our calls for action over the city centre car park run by Smart Parking, on Tuesday MP Drew Hendry raised an Early Day Motion on the issue in the House of Commons.
Inviting other MPs to back his stance, the motion addresses increasing concerns about “the practices of private operators, such as Smart Parking”, denounces “disproportionate fines” and hits out at the “subsequent harassment of users”.
It also calls on the government to bring private parking companies under statutory regulations “accountable to the communities they serve”.
Speaking to the HN this week, ahead of raising the motion, Mr Hendry said he had also written to UK Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, saying action was needed to regulate private parking operators.
“Smart Parking refuse to engage with me or anyone else on their practices and it is unacceptable that they are not accountable to the communities they serve,” he said.
“More and more people are coming forward to say that they have been victims of excessive penalties and threats over payments.
“People are often unaware of the unnecessarily complex requirements to register for parking until after they have committed to leaving their car there.
“It’s fairly common to see fines of £30 to £60 for tiny overstays, sometimes of mere minutes, and easily-made typing errors.”
Accusing the firm of “profiteering,” he added: “I hope this Early Day Motion will help raise awareness of this issue and gather support from other MPs.”
Highland Council’s trading standards manager, David MacKenzie, said: “We’d like to thank the Highland News for its efforts in providing us with this information, as well as members of the public for coming forward in this way.
“Our job depends on information coming in to us and although we have received a number of complaints about this car park from individuals, it’s probably the case that many wouldn’t have found their way to us without the Highland News raising this as an issue.
“We’d like to assure those who have responded through the Highland News that we are actively pursuing this matter and will be in touch shortly as our investigations continue.”
The HN contacted Smart Parking for comment but it failed respond before we went to press.
As we revealed last week, the car park is actually owned by the pension fund of British Aerospace (BAE).
Asked again to respond to readers’ concerns, as it failed to do so last week, a spokeswoman for BAE said: “This is really a matter for the car park operator.”
The HN is continuing to press BAE for a fuller answer but any readers who would like to make their feelings known to either firm can contact Smart Parking on 0845 230 3081 or the BAE pension fund on 0800 917 9568. The pension fund can also be reached by email at fulwood.pensions@equiniti.com
