Parking in a privately owned car park, and having to pay for it, is becoming much more common. As Councils have introduced charges, and traditional spaces once used for parking for free have been developed, car park space is at a premium.

Many companies, especially those in tourist areas, such as Symonds Yat and Ross-on-Wye, have had to rethink their parking policies, and engage a company, such as Parking Eye, to manage their car parks. There are many accounts of customers who have fallen foul of the Parking Eye system. These include; people who claim to have used a car park for many years and not noticed the signs, those who have decided not to visit the attraction and leave the car park after a short time (but longer than the grace period offered by the company), those who enter their car registration number incorrectly and those who have paid for a ticket but stayed longer that the time paid for.

Social media sites are full of stories about people who have been sent parking charge notices after this has happened to them.

The Ross Gazette has spoken to several people who feel they have been unfairly treated by Parking Eye.

One lady told the Gazette that she arrived at the Symonds Yat Visitor Centre where she was meeting up with a friend and her family. They sat in their car and chatted for a while as the weather was dreadful, and then decided to go elsewhere. She said: “It was only after we had both returned home and received parking notices we realised we should have bought a ticket, even though we did not stay to visit the attraction.”

Other people have also said that as regular visitors they did not realise the situation had changed.

Another gentleman, Brian Preece of Trelleck, visited the Wye Valley Visitor Centre on March 12th. He purchased a ticket for £3 and left well before his time was up. He was astonished to receive a parking charge notice demanding £100 ‘for not purchasing the appropriate parking time’ if he paid before April 25th. The amount would be reduced to £60 if he paid within 14 days - by April 11th.

Mr Preece wrote to ParkingEye explaining that he had purchased a ticket and asking them to rescind the charge. He added that he had not kept a copy of the ticket.

He then received a letter from Parking Eye telling him that: “It has come to our attention that the incorrect vehicle registration was input on the date of the parking event which has therefore resulted in a Parking Charge being issued.”

They offered to accept a discounted payment of £20 as a ‘gesture of goodwill.’

The Ross Gazette contacted ParkingEye who said that Mr Preece was asked to pay an administration charge because he had put his registration number into the machine incorrectly. The company said if anyone inputs their number incorrectly this is what they are asked to pay.

Mr Preece feels that as it was a ‘simple mistake’ and he had purchased a ticket he should not have to pay anything and took the matter to appeal. POPLA rejected the appeal but Mr Preece is not giving up, he has contacted several newspapers and the BBC television programme Rip Off Britain, as he feels that this is unacceptable.

The Wye Valley Visitor Centre in Symonds Yat is one of the businesses which feels it has had no choice but to appoint a parking management company. Co-owner Lindsey Heyes, told the Ross Gazette that due to changes to the amount of local parking available, and as the village is a very popular tourist destination, many people were using their car park without visiting the attraction, and also using the toilet facilities. He said that at any one time about a third of the cars parked in their car park were not customers of any business on their site

Lindsey explained that they had considered all the options but decided to engage a parking management company, ParkingEye, as without enforcement it would not work.

He said: “Parking at the Wye Valley Visitor Centre is charged to control use of parking spaces so that they are available for Centre customers. Without this, our car park and toilets would need to be about 50% bigger to meet our needs, and that extra cost would fall unfairly on our genuine customers and seriously limit future development.

“An independent and accredited Parking Management Company, ParkingEye Ltd, operates the car park for regulatory compliance, because no small company can economically acquire the range of competences required by the regulations which have arisen from the Protection of Freedoms Act.”

He added that people should read the signs, of which there are many in the car park, people need to understand how it works and all the information is there.

He added: “A car park, like a gym or theatre, is a place where one might expect to pay for a service, so the onus is on the driver to look for the price.”

He said that the procedure is very simple, and if anyone who doesn’t have the right change they can pay later - at any time before they leave. The driver only needs to enter their Vehicle Registration Number to match the total payment to the ANPR record.

The ANPR software starts as soon as a car enters the car park, there is a ten minute grace period, either before or after the paid for time has ended. He said: “I think the time has come when people who drive into a car park should expect to pay.”

He added that the charge is not excessive - £3 for four hours and £2 can be redeemed against the admission charge.