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Thursday 1 October 2015

Parliament Schedule Early Day Motion to tackle parking company rogues

Although ParkingEye argued to the Supreme Court that Parliament supported outrageous parking charges and also supported their dubious commercial practice of providing cameras for free and then gouging motorist to make their money, it seems that Parliament do not agree.

An Early Day Motion has been tabled to note Parliament's concern of the increasing number of rogue operators and their behaviour.
That this House is growing increasingly concerned about the operation of private parking operators in town and city centres; notes that the £100 fines issued by these companies are significantly out of proportion to the few minutes that some people may be late in returning to their vehicles and which would take up to 15 hours to pay earning the minimum wage; is concerned about the use of debt collection agencies which set about routinely harassing those in receipt of a fine with increasingly intimidating demands to pay; further notes the new bewildering changes in technology that seem to be confusing many users of these private operations; has concerns about the use of Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency information to track down motorists on behalf of these private sector companies; regrets that companies such as Smart Parking refuse to engage in a meaningful discussion about their operations and arrogantly dismiss those with concerns about their parking arrangements; believes that the regulation of private parking is insufficient and must be urgently reviewed to ensure that private parking companies are more accountable and responsive to the communities they serve; and calls on the Government to bring forward plans to ensure that new regulations are brought forward which are user-focused and stop what is almost a licence to harass.
The Prankster calls on all MPs to support this motion. Blog readers can find and contact their MP via this link:

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Early Day Motions do not usually end up being debated. The idea is to show support of an issue. Therefore the more MPs who sign up, the better.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster

9 comments:

  1. About time too. I do hope that our representatives have the courage to take the required action. No doubt, though, that the PPC's will lobby hard and put substantial resources into doing so. "Carmageddon" will be their counter argument.

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  2. Actually, having just read up about early day motions, it seems that nothing actually happens with most of them. Still, I hope the Supreme Court somehow get the message.

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  3. Correct.

    An early day motion is merely an opportunity for a MP to get his name in the local paper as "doing something" about an issue.

    Practically doing something about the issue is another thing.

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  4. "Actually, having just read up about early day motions, it seems that nothing actually happens with most of them. Still, I hope the Supreme Court somehow get the message."

    Tell that to Nelson Mandella

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  5. Since when was 'doing nothing' a reason for doing nothing?
    I have also drawn the attention of Pete Wishart, this EDM's author, to mis-use of the word 'f - - -s' and explained why.
    In this case, all publicity is good publicity.

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  6. yup, could go nowhere, but I've tweeted my MP asking that he supports it.

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  7. yup, could go nowhere, but I've tweeted my MP asking that he supports it.

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  8. I notice the supporters are nearly all Scottish MP or Ulster Unionists! Only one conservative! I have sent my MP (a Conservative) an email asking him to support it

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  9. I also asked my MP to support it: Shailesh Vara MP, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire (Conservative)

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