O’Loan asks Minister to intervene in parking issue

Mr O’Loan, who has already asked Ballymena Borough Council to investigate the matter, said: “I have been contacted by many people who have received these exorbitant parking charge notices since I first drew public attention to the problem (last month). I remain in no doubt that this is a highly unfair system of parking control. Because of that I consider that it is improper that the Driver and Vehicle Agency, a government body, is prepared to cooperate with the parking company by providing it with the vehicle keeper’s name and address.

“I have detailed twelve substantial faults in the parking system which are unfair to the motorist,” claimed Mr O’Loan who added that he had also raised his concerns with management at the HQ of the Co-op which has a shop adjacent to the car park.

In a statement of response to Mr O’Loan last month, the site owners said a system has been put in place “to ensure that genuine customers can park without risk of receiving a parking ticket – whilst restricting abuse by other drivers”.

They stated “This car park was heavily abused by local workers and people visiting other premises, to the detriment of the retailers at our property. There is nothing more offputting than arriving at a shop’s car park and not being able to find a parking space because the car park is full and congested.

“Because the car park was always full, potential shoppers assumed that the shops were also busy and congested and opted to make to make their purchases elsewhere. The parking abuse was having a dramatic negative effect on our retailer’s trade.”

“We now have a system in place to ensure that genuine customers can park without risk of receiving a parking ticket – whilst restricting abuse by other drivers,” the site owners stated. And, Alun Marks of Civil Enforcement stated: “We have placed prominent signage around the car park, detailing the terms and conditions of parking. Drivers, by their action of leaving their vehicle, enter into a contract with us. As a service to the community, drivers who are not customers are still able to benefit from short term parking up to the maximum stay allowance, which would not be the case if we used barriers with in-store checkout validated tickets for exit.

Mr Marks added: “We were the first company in the United Kingdom to offer maximum free stay parking regulations, monitored by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. We are Approved Operators of the British Parking Association (BPA) and are subject to regular audit by the DVLA. The BPA’s new Code of Practice together the rigorous DVLA requirements have removed the cowboy elements and bully boy tactics that used to be associated with the parking industry”.