Parking fines: we must fight when we feel conned

I was very pleased to see the article, in the Sussex Express on Friday May 29, where a judge ruled against a parking company called One Parking Solutions (OPS).

The alleged parking infringement occurred on the ‘private land’, Eastgate Wharf in Lewes just by Laura Ashley.

In what appears to be a frequent heavy-handed approach, OPS send out large parking fines which are quite threatening especially to any older or vulnerable member of society. Over 18 months ago, November 2018, a Readers’ Letter in ‘Opinion’ raised the question ‘Does an appeal ever succeed?’

One reader referred to the treatment they had received as ‘This amounts to legal mugging’. The letter contained ‘simply stopped to drop off or collect a passenger, in my daughter’s case for exactly 38 seconds’.

Another reader, an elderly lady that I actually visited during my investigations wrote OPS ‘referred me to a debt collector for £170’.

I was already aware of the issues and processes because OPS had issued me with two different parking tickets, earlier in the year. I, too, was angry with the way they treated me and was determined to not fall victim to their methods.

Some three months later, after appealing, then dealing with POPLA, speaking with British Red Cross, liaising with the British Parking Association (BPA) about the Codes of Practice for the industry, and becoming aware these issues had been going on for years, I had both fines successfully overturned.

The point I would now like to raise is, how can an issue regarding parking in sites managed by OPS be such a problem, for so long a period of time (years), and nobody seems to able to intervene and bring them to heel.

I have no problem with fines for ‘illegal parking’ but OPS does not act in a fair and reasonable way.

Although I probably can’t take direct credit for it, soon after my successful appeals and raising concerns about the ambiguous signage, I was advised by some retailers in the area that the large white road markings at the entrance to the area had been completely changed.

We need to keep the faith, be strong, and fight for justice when we feel we are being ‘cheated and conned’.