"I was completely on edge, every single day," said Rosey Greenwood. "I had letters coming through - I had debt collectors after me." Two years ago, Rosey was being told to pay £1,906 because she had taken too long to pay for parking. Rosey had paid every single time she parked at the Copeland Street car park in Derby, and had bank records to prove it.
But Rosey had unknowingly broken the car park's terms and conditions, which stipulated that drivers must pay within five minutes of entering. Rosey could not afford to pay £1,906 - she was due to get married and also saving up to buy her first home. As she prepared to fight the case in court, her fiance emailed the BBC and asked us to "shed some light" on what was happening.
The case was then raised in Parliament, external by Derby North MP Catherine Atkinson, who described the charges - which had caught out countless other motorists - as a "five-minute rip-off charge". The parking sector subsequently banned the five-minute payment rule by updating its code of practice, external, but the government is going further by bringing in a statutory Private Parking Code of Practice. "These charges leave people feeling ripped off and out of pocket, so I'm putting a stop to them," Prime Minister Andy Burnham said, external on Monday.
But will the new code actually put the brakes on "rip-off" parking charges? The government's new Private Parking Code of Practice was laid out in Parliament on Tuesday. It sets out standards that parking operators must follow.
Housing and communities minister Florence Eshalomi said, external the new code "will give drivers a range of rights and protections to make these unfair practices a thing of the past". The code is now subject to a 40-day period of parliamentary scrutiny, during which MPs and peers can object before it is formally issued. The code will then come into force 21 calendar days from the point of issue.
In places, the code appears to be very similar to the private parking sector's existing code of practice, external. For example, Eshalomi said drivers would "now have a guaranteed minimum five minutes to decide whether to park", known as the consideration period. However, the sector's code already gives drivers a minimum consideration period of five minutes, so this does not appear to be new.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
