British Parking Association Reviews 

It is 10 days since I made my complaint about the unfair system and treatment I have endured with regard to a Parking Charge Notice received back in May. Civil Enforcement and POPLA have both rejected my appeals. I had paid in £2 but later discovered the ticket machine was faulty so my payment was not recognised. Surely the ticket machine should have been checked and investigated by someone? I am nearly out of time now and still holding back in case there is any way I do not have to pay the massively disproportionate £100 for my mistake. I feel dreadfully under pressure to pay a very unfair charge. Is there no other help available left?

A joke of a company.
I have had no reply to my appeal and yet other than to say it'll be on hold until there is an outcome.
I've had no outcome and now have a letter saying I must pay the fine in the next few days!
Why would I do such a thing without resolution to my appeal.
I'd also like to know if they have the legal right to issue and enforce fines in accordance with UK law? The mere fact I can't contact the company to talk to anyone directly, I've had no direct replies via the email complaints procedure makes me feel they are sharlatons.
I'm going to guess you'll respond in what is my only direct contact with something other than an automated reply via email or letter but you'll only do so as its been made public

This Private Company needs serious scrutiny.

Went to the Royal Clifton Hotel & Spa to enquire about accommodation as none of their contact numbers were working so decided to take the 50 mile journey to check out the location and parked up to go inside.

According to the letter that was then received 2 weeks later a total of 27 minutes was spent in the Hotel (questionable as well) but on their letter the terms state nobody can park there for more than "0 Minutes and 0 Seconds".

I've already sent this review to the national newspapers as well as a number of local papers as this company is a front for unfair parking fees and terms.

I also have many connections within the news industry so they will be also learning about the practices of the BPA.

BPA say they are not for profit but surely there is profit in charging someone £100 for a 27 minute enquiry at a Hotel you plan to stay in.

Might take this to Martin Lewis at MoneySavingExpert.com as he loves to oust corrupt charging practices and none more corrupt than the relationship going on with ParkingEye and the BPA.

Also check the date of the incident and the date of the issue because if they are over the 14 day period they have no right to pursue as defined by POFA 2012 section (5) sub-paragraph (4).

I have recently received a PCN which I appealed with UKPC.

I must stress all the points in the appeal were valid and none were without foundation. UKPC deliberately chose not to investigate the appeal, and they did not respond to any of the points which had been raised. What UKPC did was scan the appeal, look for key word(s) and then search their database for a standard template letter. In my case the letter that they sent was not relevant to the appeal.

I complained to BPA that their operator had deliberately refused to investigate the appeal in the hopes that with their threat of increasing the charge by £40 and potential court action I would settle there and then.

I did not expect BPA to comment on the case, and I did not expect them to help me in any way regarding the ticket which had been issued - however I did expect them to help me in ensuring that I was treated fairly and correctly by their operator. Actually I must confess that is slightly untrue I hoped they would help me, but suspected that in reality they wouldn't as they will always side with their operators that pay their fees.

Unfortunately this was the case they sided UKPC and clearly condone the fact that they are automatically rejecting all appeals.

Shame!

******************************************

Thank you for your response and I will lodge a formal complaint regarding a deliberate and unequivocal breach of your Code of Practice by UKPC.

The Code of Practice states the following:

'You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle.’

The problem now for poor old POPLA is that if they follow the Code of Practice they have to uphold the appeal and this will really upset all their buddies at UKPC - they have very detailed High Resolution A4 photos showing unequivocally that there is no signage present.

In fairness to POPLA they had the option of lying and saying that signage is present when it isn't! However instead they decided to interpret the Code of Practice that the motorist must park and if they do not see any signs much walk in unspecified areas for unspecified distances to search out signs...........

You could not make this up.

I also find it amusing that UKPC sends ONE yes ONE picture of ONE sign 100m away from the parking bay as evidence and then they use this to state that there are multiple signs throughout the site - really - how did they know this apart from no doubt assuming their buddies at UKPC would never do anything wrong!

So over to you BPA - I will lodge the complaint - will you investigate fairly or will you protect your buddies at UKPC? I am not holding my breath!

****** UPDATE ******

I have supplied BPA with high resolution photos from every angle in the car parking bay, and also at intervals walking to an from the shops showing that there is no signage present which is a direct breach of their Code of Practice.

Let's see what happens!

Kinver white heart car park marsdens pub , 29th July the ticket machine showed no payments from 27th July 2021 , !!!!! Why have I received a fine please answer

Fraudsters. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PAY ANYTHING UNLESS THEY TAKE YOU TO COURT. WHICH THEY DON'T BECAUSE IT COSTS THEM MORE.

Sending me fines when Ive registered my number plate. Hahaha definitely not paying it as no one I know has payed theirs and they have done the same thing. Frauds, do not pay the fine just show the court the trust pilot reviews and you will be fine.

BPA imply in their code of practice, their approved operators are lawfully entitled to issue Parking Charges for Trespass, this is complete fabrication, BPA are fully aware charges can not be LAWFULLY issued for trespass.

All BPA approved operators issue Parking Charges for contractual breaches of regulations, they do this as they are fully aware they can not lawfully pursue motorists for trespass. The first principal of issuing a claim or demand in trespass is, you must retain propriety possession of the land in question i.e you must be the landowner or leaseholder. A third party BPA approved operator without possession therefore can not issue a claim or demand in trespass.

What BPA do with full knowledge of the practice is allow their operators to issue contractual Notices on land where trespass are being committed. they do this as they know the operators can not issue for trespass without possession.

This practice is being carried out on a huge scale at housing Estate and commercial sites throughout the UK. In the case of housing Estates where tenants have permission to park their vehicles, the approved operators are interfering with the tenants rights by issuing parking charges, where tenants or their visitors are entitled to be.

If you park your vehicle on somebodies land without their permission, it would result in trespass, which is a tort, the act of occupying sometimes land without their permission, indeed against their will. if you are not entitled to park then the entity with possession of the land has a remedy to sue for trespass, they can not make a charge as the BPA Code of practice implies , they must sue for loss or damages. As the BPA operators can not issue proceedings or demand sums without possession to demonstrate a loss, or justify damages suffered, they disguise their authority and operate contractual enforcement remedies.

It is perfectly acceptable for BPA approved operators to issue Parking Charges for liquidated damages at locations where you are entitled to park a vehicle and break the rules , however you can not have a contractual breach on land where you are not entitled to park in the first instance. To put it simply you cannot have a waning signs which says you are no park here then sue for breach of a contract where no parking is offered or implied you must be committing the tort of trespass where you must sue for damages or loss.

ALL OF THE BPA MEMBERS ISSUE PARKING CHARGES FOR CONTRACT NOT TRESPASS

Last year I received a Parking Charge from a BPA member Secure A Space, at Regatta Quay in Ipswich. I made a complaint to BPA regarding Secure A Spaces actions, as some of the vehicle spaces at the site are leased or under licence to tenants of the site. Secure a Space are aware this is the case, however they blanket issue contractual Parking Charges on the site, when they are fully aware trespasses are being commited and some of the vehicles spaces are under licence or lease to tenants. A Third party can not act on a leased vehicle space at a site where a tenant has a leased or licenced vehicle space as that tenant has peaceful enjoyment or sole use of that space.

I forwarded a copy of a signed witness statement to the BPA which was evidenced at a trial in Ipswich County Court. The Witness statement contained a written response from a Mrs Linda Stiles of Secure A Space, where she confirms her company are fully prepared to erect false misleading (possibly Fraudulent) warning signs purporting contract based obligations are in place on their sites with the full knowledge trespasses are being committed. Mrs Styles also confirm she has raised the issue of trespass with BPA and she has asked them for advice regarding the position.

The Complaint regarding Secure A Spaces actions demonstrating their clear intention to deceive the public was also brought to the attention of the DVLA, both organisations ignored the facts.

The issue of the BPA's declarations in their Code of Practice their members are entitled to issue Notices for trespass are currently being investigated by the Information Commissioners Office. The ICO have received various authorities detailing the principals of trespass to land, together with numerous Court decisions , which prove BPA's approved operators can not lawfully issue parking charges for trespass.

If you have received a Parking charge from an approved operator at a location where no parking is implied, i strongly advise you to check the validity of the Parking Charge, by demanding to see on what authority the operator has the right to issue that Notice. The issue you will encounter is BPA will possibly deliberately cover up the issue and not instruct the operator to forward you confirmation of the operators authority to issue that notice.

Quoted code of practise when requested help on a fraudulent parking charge. No help whatsoever. Let it go to court nothing came of it as Excel parking claimed we were not paying to park in Newcastle.. Never been there and proved that we were in Manchester at the time of the 'offence' ! BPA are there for fraudulent parking companies only.. They earn money from them being members. How can people actually work there knowing what goes on
They need shutting down.

INCOMPETENT, CORRUPT, PARKING CARTEL, LAZY, INEFFICIENT, INEFFECTIVE might describe The British Parking Association. Having been given a PCN by Premier Park ltd for less than the statutory 10 minutes, outside my own building where I have an apartment inside, in an area that has not been set out in any client agreement with the landowner but has been commandeered by said Premier Park ltd by way of a few signs that originally allowed 20 minutes parking time for residents, I thought I would appeal then subsequently appeal to POPLA. This was the 4th or 5th time appealing in the space of 2 months as the sign had changed without informing residents that this was a now, “pick up, drop off” point. Given that all of the other appeals were successful POPLA decided on this last one to deny the appeal!!! This was all very strange as part of my argument being the incorrect landowner client agreement that didn’t cover the said area that was also out of date, but the fact as part of their further evidence a second agreement showed a different address. To make matters worse, the only reason I had to park in this area was another car was parked in my allocated parking space because they clearly can due to the lazy parking attendant not wishing to walk down two flights of stairs to ticket unauthorised cars in the area he’s supposed to be monitoring. I received the authorisation from the concierge, as instructed after paying for parking on the road to then pull onto this waiting area and run back into the building to get tools, then to my surprise a week later receive a PCN. I didn’t see the parking ninja nor did I see a copy of the PCN stuck to my window as the coward no longer has to! I sent all of the evidence to The British Parking association to be told, “this is planning information not a client agreement”, so I resent both client agreements……… you’ll never guess…… I received another email saying, “this is planning information not a client agreement”.

WHAT AM I DEALING WITH??? Are these people this flagrant, this corrupt that they think I will accept this comment? So, now I’m going to write a letter to anyone that listens, which may be a small list but I will still have a go!

What was particularly ironic was the recent fire in the building, a 24 storey building that had approximately 8 fire engines attend, who could pull onto this area in front of the building because it was packed with cars, not one of them a residents car and not one of them received a PCN. Why? Because it was a Saturday night and the fat lazy parking attendant was probably back under the bridge counting the nuggets of silver he’s paid for ruining a persons day!!

Considering some of the borderline criminal scammers they "proudly represent" I don't think it takes much guessing to find their moral level.
They ALWAYS side with theiving pondscum like Parking Eye over the general public and along with puppets POPLA are the chief enablers of their dodgy dealings.
Not in the slightest bit interested in hearing from us plebs as long as the cash keeps rolling in to the scumbags they represent.
They have now branched out into representing a new protection racket.
I recently filled up with petrol and when trying to pay the garages card machine refused to accept my fuel card.
Nothing wrong with the card I've used it since and it's fine and it was a type of card the garage accepted.
I signed an intent to pay form and was told by the garage they would contact me to arrange payment. I was expecting to hear from the garage itself.
Then the Email/texts started arriving from a company called VARS, a member of,,, suprise suprise,,,the British parking Association.
"You had no means of payment!!"
Pay immediately plus £15 in fees.
I appealed stating I was perfectly happy to pay for the fuel I took but I DID have means of payment and it was the garages fault that they couldn't take it so I wasn't going to pay any fees.
No response.
Repeated appeal
No response.
Tried a third time also stating that I had not consented to my private data being shared with a third party (VARS) and was not happy about it.
No response.
All the time the "late payment fees" were building up.
Eventually paid up to avoid the fees increasing any more.
These are the kind of money skimming middle men the BPA represents, shoving themselves into the middle of a transaction they have no right being involved in, without your knowledge or consent and charging a premium for doing so.

A Quick edit
I have noticed the responses on here commonly include advice to "always read the signs"
I have experience of this from helping my daughter appeal a fine some years ago.
T&C's sign located in the center of the car park. You can't stop on the road outside so you have to drive in to read them. At which point you have unwittingly "consented" without getting within 20 yards of the sign.
I took photos of the sign and spent the night word counting, 1973 words of leagaleze solicitor speak written in 3mm high writing, the top line of which was eight and a half feet off the ground!! Do you seriously expect us to read and understand this babble just to park a car for 30minutes!
It would take longer than that just to read it.

No response to my complaint over a week ago against Parking Eye. Sounds to me they are in bed with their members, the shark parking companies.

Update on 22Jun21: In response BPA sent me a link to check the status of my complaint and all that tells me is that it is logged which it has been for 11 days. Useless company.

A biased and unfair organisation.

These people organise an 'Annual BPA Member's Dinner' which all of the Private Parking Companies attend.

The CEOs and Directors of The BPA and the Private Parking Companies rub shoulders with each other; I quote "...In an exquisite space, opulent tables welcome our members to share an impressive meal with great wine and fantastic company. Over the years we have shared the Annual Member's Dinner evening with clients and partners who have gone on to be colleagues and FRIENDS!"

It only takes a quick Google to see this and view the photographs with the Directors with their arms around each other. (Sadly I cannot upload photos!)

This company may claim to be 'not-for-profit' but they sure as hell protect their friends in the industry and side with them to ensure all their buddies running these Parking Companies make a sweet profit out of the little men each year!

They don't care about you. Be warned.

The BPA responded to my recent post, completely ignoring the fact that virtually every aspect of the OPSL operation at Stanmer Park (public highway) is contrary to the BPA Code of Practice (Jan 2020) - available on the BPA website
For anybody caught in the "scam" I suggest reading paragraph 14.2 which lists a number of things that members MUST NOT DO.
For example, use the words:
"parking charge"
"parking charge notice"
"PCN"

Don't forget that Brighton & Hove City Council are equally complicit by awarding a legally flawed contract to OPSL. Whilst some of the many city sites managed by OPSL are "private" in relation to parking management, Stanmer Park is "public, and the roadway is a public highway.

A Government (DfT) letter from Robert Goodwill MP dated 16 Sep 2014, to parking authorities, makes it quite clear that such land is not included in legislation which was introduced in response to illegal clamping of vehicles on private l;and.

Now BPA - please respond to this post - if you can ?

BPA is a waste of space. They deny they have anything to do with debt collection agencies if you read their responses to reviews on this site.

Please ensure you castigate your members whose role in this is to instruct or contract with such agencies, presumably thereby indicating the behaviour of such agencies is acceptable to them.

I cannot see the point of your organisation if your members do not subscribe to your codes of practice and ensure that third parties acting on their behalf adhere to those codes also, particularly when such third parties claim membership of your organisation.

Why would you have scammers as your members? CUP Enforcement has issued a parking notice which we have appealed through POPLA and WON. Yet CUP Enforcement is still hounding us and we are being threatened with debt collectors. Is it a scam? Are they being regulated by anyone? Or are they just running wild with no rules or logic?
Sort it out, will ya?

**BPA is a private company don’t be fooled** I work for a company (call them JL) i attended a site to carry out work where i received a ticket from Parking Eye. The hilarious thing is i work directly for the landlord who give the contact to parking eye, after advising parking eye i would not pay as i was working onsite and for the landlord they were adamant i still had to pay. so in my genius i decided to contact the 'impartial' BPA. believe it or not they sided with Parking Eye, so to get this straight, the BPA advised Parking eye to take me to court over the fine, so taking a direct employee of the landlord (the landlord who gives parking eye the contract) to court. Yes utter ridiculous, so i contacted my directors who got involved, cancelled the parking contract with parking eye and were utterly disgusted that the BPA had advised me to pay the fine and take me to court. To sum up, not impartial and most likely receive money from parking con artists. Only when directors of my company got involved did these people start backtracking, they were more than happy to bully the little man until then. Avoid like the plague EDIT ticket never got cancelled as debt had been sold to various companies threatening me with court action 7 years later still, funny how they never took me to court on YOUR advice because they read the case and saw it was the landlord but STILL THEY CHASED FOR THE MONEY, BULLYING AT ITS FINEST BACKED BY THE BPA, I wanted to go to court so the judge could see what a s***show the whole thing was and disgusting actions of the BPA but they knew they had nothing on me but still chased for money

I believe this company , has something to do with parking eye , say no more , both as bad as each other. I parked in parking eye car park, did not have enough change and could not work mobile app . In car park 5 mins and recieved parking ticket which I appealed against and lost ,surprise surprise. Disgraceful how they can do this, no morals

Had letter from ZZPS (BPA Member) complained to BPA and got this back.

"Please be advised that ZZPS is a debt recovery agent and while they are a member of ours, because they are acting on behalf of an operator who is a member of the IPC, they are not required to follow our Code in this instance."

If they don not have to follow your code why are they member ?