Did you know that OPC Parking was fined over £26,000 having been convicted of various Trading Standards offences?

Regular followers of the fight against parking pirates will welcome the news that one of the Penalty Charge Notice perpetrators, OPC Parking, was fined £26,750 plus costs in Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on 31 March, having been convicted of numerous Trading Standards offences including the misleading of drivers by purporting to charge them for overstays in a free car park after they had left it within the allotted time but returned later in the day. How regrettable it is in any event that we live in times where free car parks are watched over by a battery of ANPR cameras and companies such as this can mine the DVLA for data. www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/03/03/parking-fines-firm-admits-misleading-motorists/ www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/03/31/26000-fine-for-parking-firm/

Asked on 3 April 2011 by DC, Pattingham

Answered by Honest John

Very many thanks for that. Excellent evidence against the dangerously vague Clause 56 of the Protection of Freedoms Bill lobbied for by the BPA to make keepers responsible for private parking penalties (however they are cooked up) in the same way that keepers are liable for road traffic offences if they do not identify the driver. See FAQ at www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/parking-fines/

Tags: protection of freedoms bill legal advice car parking

Similar questions

I urge your readers to write to their MPs over the Protection of Freedoms Bill.

I have for many months read your replies regarding experiences with members of the British Parking Association (BPA), and how they have used the DVLA to make money from unsuspecting motorists. I have recently...

Where do I stand legally if I use an angle grinder to remove a wheel clamp?

Having been clamped on private land (where I was working, I parked in the wrong bay at a block of flats last week), I now carry a powerful angle grinder in my van. The nice Russian lad who came to remove...

Is anyone lobbying against the British Parking Association's proposals to make vehicle keepers liable for penalties?

You recently mentioned in your column that the British Parking Association is lobbying Parliament to make vehicle keepers liable for parking penalties. Is anybody lobbying to maintain the status quo?