Welham Green station car park is a small car park yet it has 3 premier parking bays.  Anyone can pay extra for a premier bay which guarantees a space in the car park.

The station car park is full nearly every week day, apart from the premier bays which remain empty.  This means APCOA make no money from these bays, apart from in fines.  According to APCOA's terms and conditions, any person with a weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual parking permit is unable to use a premier bay even if no other space is available.  This is despite having already paid to park.

I have an annual parking permit.  One day in January, I arrived and no spaces were free, apart from the premier bays.  I parked in a premier bay and got a fine.  I appealed to APCOA which was rejected.  As this is private land, I took my case to POPLA, the independent arbitrator, on the grounds that the fine was excessive and the loss of revenue to APCOA on that day was a matter of pence.  They allowed my appeal meaning I no longer had to pay the £85 fine.  This goes to show the premier bays are not even legitimate.

While collecting evidence for my case, I called a number, spoke to a person, as well as the person at the ticket office who confirmed none of the premier bays has been allocated.  In their evidence, APCOA stated that they had covered the phone number above the premier bays in the car park as all the bays are currently allocated. APCOA lied in their evidence.

By supporting this petition, you will highlight to the rail operator (Govia Thameslink Railway) and the car park operator (APCOA Parking) that there is a need for more available spaces in Welham Green station car park.  We can also show that they could make more money from more "normal" spaces rather than having the premier bays sitting empty every day.