OPINION
KR The best results are achieved where local authority parking providers work in partnership with local businesses and traders on a formal basis, enabling both sides to understand where the other stands. Trust can only be achieved by working together in a common cause. We should not forget though that there are millions of car drivers who never get a parking ticket, yet benefit enormously from the impact of good parking management. Their needs need to be taken into account too.
the law for local authorities to run their parking enforcement operation with the intention of making money, and legislation requires that, in the main, any surpluses can only be spent on transport-related items for projects.
GJ As a result of NoTo Mob interventions, where we pointed out the failures of those enforcement authorities and their contractors/ advisers regarding problems with CCTV, signs and lines, and Traffic Management Orders etc., a number of local authorities have paid back approximately £2.8m to motorists they have unlawfully penalised. We do not so much consider these as successes for the NoTo Mob, but more as failures by those seeking to hold others to account, who at the same time fail in their own duty of care towards those they purport to serve.
www.britishparking.co.uk
We consider ourselves to be a group or
‘mob’ of ordinary people who are standing up and saying ‘No’ to the injustices we encounter on a daily basis
GJ One of the things that got us looking more closely at the parking industry were the constant reports in the press of ‘rogue clampers’ and their over-enthusiastic enforcement methods. It turns out that a number of these so called ‘rogues’ were actually members of the BPA. Clearly though, BPA didn’t succeed in curtailing its members’ activities, because in October last year the government passed legislation that didn’t stop at simply banning clamping on private land, it actually outlawed the practice. This is a clear indication of the failure of BPA, a company that actively seeks the respect of the government and the industry it advises. When outlawing clamping, the government threw the industry a bone in the shape of further legislation regarding ‘recovery of unpaid parking charges.’ This is the industry’s chance to prove that it can succeed where it has previously failed. The measure of success must surely be gauged by the lack of attention to this area in the press, and yet week after week we are seeing stories of parking companies using overenthusiastic enforcement methods to boost their income. So where do we think the industry has got it so wrong?.
KR In the absence of regulation for the private parking sector, something which the BPA lobbied successive governments for, we set up the Approved Operator Scheme in 2007 with the aim of stamping out rogue clampers and providing a measure of regulation to the sector. A code of practice was developed, setting out what operators must do to provide fair and reasonable parking enforcement and a sanctions scheme and audit process introduced to measure compliance to the code. Any member who does not adhere to the standards of the code is sanctioned and, to date, five operators have been expelled. Numerous others have also left as they were also not able to meet
MAY 2013 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52