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Many people gathered in The Walk car park to complain to X-Ray

Convenient and accessible car parking is important to many of us, especially for blue badge holders who rely on it to make the weekly shop a little easier.聽

In the past many people thought that blue badge holders who used The Walk shopping centre at Ebbw Vale could park for free, because parking charges weren鈥檛 enforced when they used disabled bays. But that wasn鈥檛 the case.聽

Now a new parking company has taken over the running of the car park and drivers who didn鈥檛 pay and display have been facing hefty charges.

Melvyn Morgan has severe arthritis of the spine and, with his wife Glenda, is a carer for their son Melvyn John who has Down's Syndrome. Melvyn regularly takes Melvyn John shopping at The Walk and they previously displayed their blue badge, like many others, believing it entitled them to free parking. But after using the car park in October, the family received two notices from Excel Parking Service Limited demanding 拢60 for each time they'd parked at The Walk without paying.

Melvyn told Rachel Treadaway-Williams, 鈥淚 think a lot of people were unaware they had to pay in disabled bay, in front of you there was no sign indicating you had to pay. Later on we were told it was on the machine, but if you were a disabled driver you wouldn鈥檛 think of going to the machine.鈥� Glenda added, 鈥淚t was really upsetting because we never get things like that, we couldn't believe why it was sent at first.鈥�
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Excel Parking Services Limited installed CCTV cameras which use Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology to monitor vehicles as they come and go. This means registration details are fed back to the company running the car park so they can obtain details about the registered keeper from the DVLA in Swansea.

People using the car park are expected to put their car number plate into the machine at the car park when they buy a ticket, so the parking company knows who's paid. But a lot of people who use The Walk car park hadn鈥檛 realised what they needed to do.

Barrister, Christopher Rees explained that companies which run car parks assume drivers are agreeing to enter into a contract with them when they use the car parks. He said, 鈥淚f you refuse to pay any penalty notice that's issued by the firm their only redress is to take you to the county court and try to sue for breach of contract, based on the fact you ignored the signs which were clearly visible.鈥澛�

Excel Parking Services Limited recently lost a case at Stockport county court after one motorist refused to pay their charge - because he argued the writing on the company's signs in a car park in England was too small. The judge agreed with him and ordered Excel to pay his costs.

So what about the signage at The Walk? Mr Rees assessed the signage in place when X-Ray filmed at The Walk. He said, 鈥淚f one drives the car in and looks at the sign on the entrance I would suggest it's so small it would be impossible to read it on parking. If you approach the disabled bays there's no signage at all, I would suggest there ought to be a sign at the disabled bay informing them they have to pay as well.鈥�

Other blue badge holders who鈥檝e been charged for not paying to use disabled bays include Diane Wilkins - who鈥檚 a care worker and was charged after driving one of her service users to The Walk. Mary Askew also got a ticket and thinks the signage is inadequate. Gary Cook is refusing to pay the charges after receiving several letters from Excel Parking.

Excel Parking points out that there has been a charge for all parking, including in disabled bays, at The Walk for many years. Although local people say many didn't realise this as the charges were never enforced.聽

It's not just blue badge holders who've been affected. Julie and Melvyn Morgan use The Walk car park regularly. They've always paid to use the car park, but they recently ended up receiving two parking notices from Excel Parking. After appealing to the company, the fine was dropped but the couple still faced a 拢10 charge from Excel for admin charges.

Car parks nearby only require drivers to input the last three digits of their registration number. So when new machines appeared at The Walk many people assumed it was the same - and they鈥檝e also received charges. People say they鈥檝e successfully appealed to have the charges dropped, but still face a 拢10 admin fee. Excel says when a motorist incorrectly enters their registration number they incur processing charges which is why they charge an administration fee.

While we were in the car park we were approached by dozens of people who feel they've been unfairly charged. Amongst them was Claire Gittins who parked at The Walk for 25 minutes when she rushed to help her teenage daughter - a diabetic who was taken ill in the town. She admits she didn't buy a ticket, but appealed to the company to waive the charge because of the circumstances.聽 They refused and Claire said, 鈥淚'm absolutely disgusted.鈥�

Taxi drivers tell us they're boycotting The Walk after being charged for picking up customers, many of whom are disabled. Geoffrey Hornett said, 鈥淚鈥檓 doing my job.聽 For picking a 拢3 fare up I鈥檝e got to pay 拢60 out.鈥�

In one of Wales鈥� most deprived areas, feelings are running high. Mrs Dobb said, 鈥淚 think they should get from here, because it's upsetting a lot of people. They don't want to come in here and park because they're too afraid to park in case they have a fine. The shops, the whole town is suffering.鈥�

Now the local MP Nick Smith has stepped in to try to help. He鈥檚 written to Excel Parking and the British Parking Association to try and resolve the problem. He says, 鈥淲hat we need is effective communication between the car park managers and the local community using this important car park.

鈥淟ocal people are very cross about it and word of mouth is really important in valley towns, and so it's important it doesn't affect trading, shopping is important, there's a lovely market and they shouldn't be put off by this cack handed parking management at Ebbw Vale.鈥�

Excel Parking Services Limited say they have acted properly in their running of the car park and they say the signs are appropriate. When they took over the car park they allowed a period of 17 days for people to adjust and be educated in the new arrangements before they began to enforce charges, and they follow Guidelines set by the British Parking Association. They are now writing to blue badge holders who've received multiple notices, and will only charge them for the first unpaid ticket.

So is there any legal advice for people who feel they've been unfairly charged?聽 Christopher Rees says, 鈥淚 would suggest if they feel they weren鈥檛 bound by the terms and conditions, they didn鈥檛 see them, it wasn鈥檛 properly signed, so they weren鈥檛 aware of that, then they should write to the company concerned and inform them that they鈥檙e not going to pay the ticket and give their reasons for not doing so.鈥�

Rachel asked, 鈥淚s it worth the company taking you to court?鈥� Mr Rees replied, 鈥淚t鈥檚 for the company to decide whether it鈥檚 worth time and effort and expense of doing that.鈥�

Speaking on behalf of the local community, Cllr John Rogers said, 鈥淧eople are outraged and quite understandably so. They're extremely worried about the draconian and insensitive way this firm has dealt with the opening of their car park. It is quite appalling.

鈥淚t should have been made patently clear at least a fortnight before this firm took over that this was what was going to happen, that disabled bays would be charged for and that people were made totally aware of everything they were expected to do in the car park - this clearly didn't happen.鈥�

According to Cllr Rogers, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council鈥檚 Planning Department have confirmed to him that the CCTV cameras at The Walk haven鈥檛 had proper planning permission. He says Excel is disputing the issue, and the dispute is ongoing, but he says, 鈥淚t does beg the question of whether these cameras are legal or not.鈥�

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