The Prankster congratulates the Marshall's Yard management team for their swift and decisive action, and also their decision that all parking charges should be cancelled.
The comments on the facebook page show that motorists also welcome this decision and motorists who have stayed away will now start to return to the shopping centre.
Litha Bacon commented that she had been told Smart Parking was paying Marshall's Yard to run the car park. In the Prankster's opinion paying for the right to issue parking charges never results in proper parking management, and just results in parking companies creating hard to follow parking conditions so that they can generate as many parking charges as possible.
Smart Parking's attitude exemplifies this, as the reports of their feeding frenzy when the started 'managing' the car park show. When new parking conditions come into force this is effectively Christmas for parking companies who get to issue tickets like confetti. The British Parking Association code of practice recommends that extra signs are erected when conditions change, but The Prankster has found most parking companies decide not to follow the code, preferring instead to maximise income and issue as many charges as possible.
The Prankster believes is is possible to manage car parks fairly. As an example, Total Parking Solutions operate a car park at Bristol eye Hospital where it is almost impossible to pay the incorrect amount for parking, or enter an incorrect registration, as the machines show you how long your car has been parked for and how much to pay. Freedom of Information requests show that hardly any parking charges have been issued there - less than one per month.
It is important therefore for landowners to choose their car park operators wisely. Marshall's yard have not commented on how much, if any, they had to pay Smart parking to cancel the contract. However Somerfield had to pay ParkingEye £300,000 and B&Q had to pay ParkingEye a reported £400,000, so making the wrong choice can be an expensive mistake.
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
I wonder if the necessary advertising consent and planning permission were ever obtained by Smart Parking
ReplyDeletePP should start doing annual awards - best and worst.
ReplyDeletePP should start doing annual awards - best and worst.
ReplyDeleteMarshall's could counter claim for breach of contract if Not-So-Smart Parking attempt to extort money from them IMV.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.a4id.org/sites/default/files/user/documents/english-contract-law.pdf