I tried to reason with Newham Council but their response is full of repeatitive waffle. In regards to to communication of change, this was unacceptable but they stated comms went out in August 2023 by letter and on the app message section as well as on the website. Don't believe any of this. No letters were received. There is no message section on the app and website just updated in Feb 2024!!. See full response below. At this point my fight is over. 

YOU HAVE ONE DAY TO USE YOUR VISITOR PERMITS AS THIS FRIDAY(BANK HOLIDAY) AND SUNDAYS ARE GENERALLY FREE

NEWHAM'S RESPONSE TO MY COMPLAINT AND PETITION

Your complaint Review 29613862
I am the Resolution Lead Triage & Quality Assurance Officer and I am writing in response to a review of your complaint 29613862 received on 18 February 2024  .
 I am very sorry that you were not satisfied with the original response to your complaint.
 I would also like to apologise for the delay i my responding to your review request.
 Summary of your complaint

I will summarise your original complaint and response to our initial investigation then explain the reasons for my review conclusions.

You are unhappy that the visitor permits your purchased from the Council are due to expire shortly due to a change in policy on the permits and the parking permit scheme following your purchase of visitor permits.  You are dissatisfied that you have been advised that there will be no refund or transfer of the permits to the new parking permit scheme. 

 Review findings

I have carried out an investigation into your complaint has concluded that your complaint is not upheld.

Records indicate that in July 2023, amber communication messages were posted on the Newham website, letters and MiPermit in-app messages were sent before the permit changes took effect on 8 August 2023.

These changes support Newham's air quality action plan to improve air quality and will also make the permit system simpler and more consistent.

You can read  more about the Parking Fees and Charges by visiting.https://www.newham.gov.uk/parking-permits

You will find all relevant information and also frequently asked questions (FAQs) which clearly state the changes. I

The Council has already given 8 months advance warning that visitor permits issued before 8 August 2023 will need to be used by 31 March 2024.

In addition, at the beginning of February 2024, the following reminder was placed on all relevant web pages, see below

Newham Council changes to Parking Fees and Charges, from 8 August 2023 - Newham Council

Frequently Asked Questions - Newham Council changes to Parking Fees and Charges, from 8 August 2023 - Newham Council

Parking and permits - Newham Council

The Council will and have honoured existing visitor permits and allowed them to be used until 31 March 2024. At this point, the permit will expire, and residents will be required to use the emissions-based resident permits. 

Therefore everyone who had the visitor permits has until 31 March 2024 to use any existing visitor permits that were purchased or were allocated free of charge, before 8 August 2023. To clarify anyone with unused visitor permits either purchased or issued free, before 8 August 2023 will have until 31 March 2024 to use them. If these permits remain unused by 31 March 2024 they will expire.

The Council considers this decision to be reasonable and fair and from 1 April 2024 it will ensure that all residents are subject to the same permit types with these being linked to a vehicles emissions ratings.

I must inform you that the Terms and Conditions T&C's regarding the VPs' were updated in July 2023 following the statutory requirements for advertising the tariff changes, which were agreed at a council meeting in December 2022.

Please note that Nehwam like any other organisation (I will use banks as a point of reference), each time they update their terms and conditions they send a notification by email or you have to agree to them when logging into via the app, this supersedes any previous agreement.  

The same situation has applied here any changes to the terms and conditions would take effect from the date they are introduced. 

I understand that this may not be what you were hoping for.

Sincerely 

Michael Bennett

Quality and Assurance Officer