Private Parking Companies: In UK there is a huge problem with private parking companies taking innocent people every day through the pain of:

• Giving unfair parking tickets for minor offences
• Sending letters through debt collectors and asking for extortionate amounts up to £160
• Threatening normal people with court action and lodging 1000's of cases per week
• Taking normal people to court which result in many people paying higher amounts and others getting CCJ's

A summary of a DVLA report for the first 6 months of the year reads:

• 112 parking companies have requested vehicle owner details
• 4.2 million records where requested
  This is Money
• If each ticket is worth on average £100, then the companies are trying to make £427 million from normal people (could be higher)
• * Not including debt collection fees and court fees

This problem has to stop and here is HOW. If motorists knew how to appeal tickets, alot 90% of tickets would be cancelled because they are often incorrect.

Steps to take:

1. Please use parkingmateuk.com to write ALL your appeal letters, there is a simple checklist of errors to identify, once you find them, your ticket will get cancelled (Or send us your ticket)
2. Appeal through all stages operator, POPLA/IAS, Ignore debt collectors, defend yourself in court
3. Make supermarkets, hotels responsible by sharing stories on twitter and facebook pages
4. Report rogue operators to their association

Please note, you can use free forums like MSE and Pepippoo to get help with appealing tickets too.

Why this will work?

Because every stage will cost the parking company money and here are the minimum costs:

• Stage 1: Notice on car: A parking warden costs at least £8 an hour
• Stage 2: Notice to keeper: Getting your details costs £2.50 per record from the DVLA plus normal costs of operating car parks
• Stage 3 Operator Appeal: If you appeal, it will take at least 15minutes for someone to assess your case, £2 based on mimimum wage
• Stage 4: Popla Appeal: A popla appeal costs the parking company £27 (if you paid £60 at this stage, they would only make £20 profit)
• Stage 5 Debt Collection: Selling your details to debt collection companies is free, any amount over the parking notice goes to the debt collector (hence ignore)
• Stage 6 Court: Taking you to court has solicitor fees and other costs to prepare the case, say £60-70
• Stage 7 Court Attendance: Attending court has other costs, estimated £100 for someone to attend

If you win, you would have cost the parking company at least: £209 per ticket.
There are many operational costs not included which every company incurs.

Summary:

Total tickets: 4,200,000 parking tickets in first half of 2019
The parking companies are trying to make £427 Million (total x £100)
If every case goes to court, they would lose out on £457 Million (For costs up to stage 6)

If this were to happen. Most of them would simply go bankrupt and out of business.

In order to support Sir Greg Knight with regulating the industry, we need to report as many cases as possible to the BPA and IPC for breach of conduct, If this leads to suspension, then the parking company will be BANNED from getting details through the DVLA.

After that, the parking companies will have to play fair or face bankrupcy. 

You can see the bill in parliament here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted/data.htm

Petition written by Leo Musami, LinkedIn