British Parking Association Reviews 

Im still waiting for a refund of 45.oo because my appeal was successfull I've written to them twice and received a letter telling me to be paitient. Its now 3 months and in still waitng.

The BPA is supposed to uphold their members standards. They have a published Code of Practice, but don't actually care if their members don't follow it. Even with evidence of CRIMINAL actions, they turn a blind eye. The organisation only exists to portray a veneer of responsibility to the industry.

Regarding the reply below: They want to give the impression that they look into things, but this has been raised at least 3 times via their complaints portal, and they keep fobbing me off, despite black and white evidence of CoP breaches.

It hurts me to say that I am very disappointed in the British Parking Association with how they have handled my previous complaint of a parking company under their membership and code of practice.

I complained about a specific parking company to the BPA on their official website (britishparking.co.uk), and I supplied plenty of photo evidence, but the BPA responded with that because I had not supplied any evidence of the parking company in question breaking any rules in the BPA Code of Practice, they closed my case.

HOWEVER I have recently researched the latest version of the BPA Code of Practice (Version 8, January 2020) on the official BPA website, and have found specific rules which I believe were broken and were not taken into account.

Examples being:

Section 14.1: Misrepresentation of authority
-You (the parking company) must give CLEAR information to the public about what parking activities are allowed and what is unauthorised.-
&
Section 19.2: Signs
-Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of.-

I did pay and feel like I was pressured into paying the £100 fine in the end as all the stress of the PCN was and still is affecting my mental health; to which I have had to get in contact with a doctor about, as I suffer from bad anxiety.

All over something that would have been avoided if the parking company that my previous complaint to the BPA was/is aimed at had better use of signs on and off of site.

As the whole reason for my appeal and complaint against the specific parking company was the fact that they did not supply any details of their car park being pay and display at the entrance, as well as having no terms and conditions information displayed at the entrance either. Plus the ticket machines (where the terms and conditions information was placed onsite) were also hidden from view due to the car park being close to full on the day as it was school half term (17/10/2021), and there was no signs away from the ticket machines telling people where to go to purchase a ticket. Which made me believe that the car park was free to use to the public.

I did also previously supply evidence to the BPA on other rules which I believe were broken by the parking company in question, which have all been taken from 2 other official BPA Guides:

-BPA Approved Operator Scheme Good Practice Guide
&
-BPA Guide to Members

The biggest example of rules being broken in the 2 previously supplied official BPA handbooks above is found in:

Section 12.1: Signs
-Signs are the most important way of telling drivers what the terms and conditions are to use of a car park or other location. If your signs are difficult to read, PLACED IN OBSCURE PLACES or fail to include terms that you subsequently may wish to rely on you may find that you are unable to enforce the terms you intended to apply.-

As there is only 1 ‘private land’ and ‘parking tariffs apply’ sign at the car park in question and it was/is located on the wrong side of the road as you enter the site; the exit lane, where it can be/was obstructed by other vehicles leaving the site. And you are also obviously not looking on the wrong side of the road as you are driving.

... And I feel that these rulings (and many others supplied in my complaint to the BPA) were not taken into account.

Which upsets me to say I feel that my evidence was ignored. :’(

UPDATE/MY RESPONSE TO BPA’s REPLY:
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I’d advise (if you actually will) looking at my photo evidence PROPERLY. It’s crystal clear especially when there was no pay and display information presented on the main car park road sign or any information boards at or near the car park entrance. And you clearly haven’t taken into account the 2 BPA CoP examples I have shown above which were taken from the latest ‘Version 8, January 2020’ BPA CoP, NOT THE OBSOLETE & OUTDATED GUIDES YOU ARE REFERRING TO IN YOUR REPLY!!... I may have referenced 2 other so called obsolete guides and also included 1 other example rule (Section 12.1: Signs) from 1 of these 2 guides, but this now makes me ask you... Why isn’t this “obsolete rule” on OBSCURE PLACED SIGNS; taken from an “obsolete guide” (which this rule I believe to be fair regulations that works for both parties) not included/removed in the latest BPA CoP???? Sorry I do not recommend your service! A very poor quality of service!!

I would have given zero stars if I could.
I would call this a modern way of ripping people's money. It took a few minutes until I could find the venue I was invited to. It was a massive car park with several doors around and I did not know which one is the venue we should go to, so I had to contact my host and check with them to see if I am in the correct car park or not? Also as it was a very cold day and snowing I had to find a space as close to the venue as possible to take children to the venue quickly as they had worn costumes. So after finding the venue door, I tried to find a space. Take my children inside and come back to pay for the car park when I realised they don't accept cards. Looked for cash etc. all of this took around 15 mins then I finally paid for 3 hours. Finally, I left the car park a few mins earlier. Then received a £100 (yes one hundred) PCN, stating that I have not paid for the whole time I was in the car park. appealed and they rejected because I have paid 15 mins late. They take photos when you enter and leave and calculate the time without considering the time you are looking for space etc. You may even leave and do not park, but they don't care.
Absolutely unacceptable!
I am wondering while this amount of bad reviews is available on the internet, why is no one bothered? is there any organisation to look after customers? Can they do whatever they want and we just write reviews here? so what's the point?
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Update after a reply from BPA:
Premier Park Ltd is the one I am talking about. and yes, as I have mentioned in my review above I appealed and they rejected. They also said if you appeal again you will lose the opportunity to pay the discounted rate!!!! So I paid and will be trying to see if it can be refunded.
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Second update after the second reply:
After my update based on their reply, they just deleted their previous reply and pasted a pre-written version as they do for others. Absolutely ridiculous!
they say if you are not happy, appeal to POPLA, but they also say if you appeal to Popla and it is rejected you will lose the opportunity to pay the discounted rate!!! So, you should take a risk....

The BPA claims that it uplifts the standards of parking but it is clearly not the case when an operator does not have comply with the BPA code and still get to fine you.

The BPA staff is incompetent and negligent, they seem to lack the ability to read and appropriately respond to complaints.

Section 19.5 states that the site signage has to be specific to the site. However, when the signage on a site is generic and worded significantly differently to the actual terms to such an extent that a user will take a different action because they believe they are complying with the rules of the site, it is then obvious the signage is deficient and not compliant. I pointed this out to the BPA investigation officer, however they believe that there was no breach by the operator, even though the photos submitted of the signage on site was blurry to the extent that you could not read the text.

Secondly, the BPA also deemed it acceptable evidence when the operator submitted evidence in the form of photos of the site signage time stamped 14/08/2020 for an incident that took place 28/09/2021.

The BPA also did not even respond to the complaint that the photos provided as evidence where blurry and you could not read the text of the signage.

BPA also did not respond to the complaint that the operator submitted an illustration of a sign that is NOT present on site as evidence that the signage clearly displays the terms. The signage on the illustration is fundamentally different to the signage on site.

EDIT: I upgraded the review from 1 to 3 stars. After complaining about the BPA assessor the BPA actually investigated the matter and found that the UKPC in fact did make an error and overturned my parking charge. My parking charge was refunded by the UKPC. It is great that the BPA took action and ensured that one of the operators complied with the code, however this cost me a significant amount of time (ie lodge an appeal against the UKPC, and appeal with POPLA, then an appeal with the BPA and then a complaint against the assessor) for someone to actually investigate the matter and vven though I received a full refund of the charge, I still had to incur the costs associated with the postal order and posting of the postal order to pay the charge initially.

This parking BPA shame on you for ripping people off I was 13 min late to my car and that cost me £60 Lidl shame on you for using the rip off company

I contacted BPA.. as i had received parking ticket (I felt was unfair, ). I had previously contacted POPLA that was a waste of time. They upheld ticket.

However I contacted BPA.. giving all my information and reason why ticket was unfair/ illegal.
I recrived response saying they passed my details to company who issued ticket.. approx 10 days later received Confirmation Ticket CANCELLED.. Well done BPA..

Ticket issued in hotel car park.. signs outside carpark says Read signs inside .. this company's documents say they abide by BPA CODE of practise.. COP. States. SIGNS OUTSIDE CARPARK. Must GIVE ALL INFO IF IT DOES NOT ITS BREACHING ITS OWN RULE.
WHEN I POINTED OUT INVALID SIGNS TO POPLA.. THERE RESPONCE ..... IT WAS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO READ ALL SIGNS WITHIN CAR PARK .. IM DISABLED..
AND AS IVE SAID
SIGNS MUST BE OUTSIDE AND HAVE ...EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION YOU REQ.
RULES FOR PARKING. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU BEACH RULES.
FONTS MUST CLEAR AND BE SAME SIZE ON SIGN

Received a parking charge in a private car park, complied with all requirements.
Appealed , no reply. Received a £100 charge demand.
Wrote to BPA as due process not allowed.
Civil enforcement Ltd eventually replied, reduced to £60.
Thought, this is harassment. I didn't violate any rules. Couldn't deal with issues as a result of this. Was gng to pay.
My card is then declined. I contact my bank, wait for 25mins for fraud team who told me they blocked it because the organisation I am trying to pay do not have the correct steps in place to take online or any form of payment. Do not comply with banking standards, fraud preventions etc!!!
Can't speak to anyone!!! Can't email anyone! As no one is available! Wrote to BPA again. Need help. And no one available, just threats of CCJ , bailiffs etc
If they can't set up a trusted system to receive money, they clearly didn't investigate my complain either...as both situations relate to their IT systems.
BPA I think did get in touch. But now I need more help, can't get in touch with anyone!! Neither BPA or Civil enforcement ltd!!!
I am stressed as a result of this. So far, weeks of my life has been wasted. Exhausted! In tears, harassed and can't even pay or speak to anyone!!!!!!

From the start this has been a deeply frustrating episode for my wife and myself. She is a midwife and had an appt with a woman on the 21st of September and displayed her NHS 'health and emergency' badge when arrived at the flats in London HA8. Subsequently she was surprised to receive a parking fine for £50? She of course appealed right away but this appeal we think has been willfully ignored and she has received 2 further threatening demands for firstly £100 and now £170. She even sent them a 'signed for' letter (costing £2) attempting to query the second letter....with no reply or response.

If we go to the website and try to find out what is happening it simply states that there is a 'already an appeal' etc. But why the threatening letters?

Shes gone to bed in tears....it's just awful that this company can do this. How are NHS staff supposed to do their jobs? It's already stressful enough.

Sunday December 2018 My daughter parked her can in the Q&D car park not realising that it was not included in the free town center parking scheme. She parked for 35 minutes and was asked to pay a fine. She pointed out that she did not realise that it was not included town parking scheme. BPA dismissed her submission and have been pursuing her through the courts for the past 3 years. The case has yet to be decided all for the sake of a £1.00 BPH is no more than a blood sucking money machine who will persue people for a simple mistake. AS I CANNOT GI VE THEM 0 STARTS 1 WILL DO

When an organisation fails to rein its members in to the extent it needs government intervention TWICE (first the cowboy clampers and then the cowboy ticketers), it cannot hope to score more than one star. If I had my way I would have awarded zero stars.

I drive into a car park, get my disabled passenger into wheelchair and buy a ticket then I get a fine for overstaying my ticket, as the car park has parking eye and time starts when you drive in and not from time on ticket!! How is that right? None of the signage states that time starts upon entry to car park I pay and then appeal and am told that because I paid I've excepted liability! Con men

I got scammed by one of these parking companies who advertised the payment as £30 but then took £60. They made is impossible to contact them directly and speak to a human being.

BPA backed this up by confirming that every single point I made was not a breach of their conduct.

So basically they side with these countless scam companies instead of providing unbiased regulation.

The average score on Trustpilot does not lie, do not rely on the BPA to treat you fairly, just like these unofficial parking companies.

Please, please make sure the parking company can enforce the fine before you give them any money. A lot of them are making a fortune and it is lot legitimate.

*******

Another generic reply from the BPA. Bottom line - they can not be trusted to evaluate your complaint fairly. They refer to their 'Code of Practice' but basically use anything and everything to side with the companies who are no doubt lining their pockets.

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Just had an email from Trustpilot, ‘British Parking Association thinks you reviewed the wrong domain’.

Now they are trying to clear negative reviews by claiming the complaints are not about them.

Sorry BPA, this is staying online for anyone to be able to read it and draw their own conclusions on how awful you are.

No doubt you are still siding with the illegitimate parking companies 100% of the time without proper investigation and reaping the rewards.

Corrupt.

What is this association doing to protect customer’s interests and improve public parking ?
Absolutely nothing just taking money from car park operators and defending awful practices which allow operators to issue dodgy fines.
It’s time they stood up for the customer and not the operators.
It is clearly a club created to be a barrier around operators practices.

My sister and brother in law,in their 80,s have been messed about by one of your members, and still being hounded despite trying to pay at early stages. Bully boys. I was going to appeal to BPA. After seeing these reviews I wont even bother. Terrible reviews. We are talking with a tv company that will champion the cause for us. Are you sure Brittania parking and BPA are not the same company.

I bought a ticket for 4 hrs. Stayed 2. The machine only part printed my reg no. I failed to notice!! Get fine. Appeal. Produce actual ticket with part reg no printed. Appeal rejected.
So unfair. I’m an honest retiree. Paid up my entire life. Why can’t they understand I PAID!! Just unfortunate that the machine mis printed. The buttons were worn and sticky too!!

Don't waste your time contacting the BPA.

They are in the pockets of the parking companies that pay their wages. They don't abide by their own 'code of practice' and ignore any complaint against their members. All they do is stick up for the scam parking companies. They're a front for a despicable industry and woudn't dare bite the hand that feeds them.

Take every single private parking company 'ticket' to court. Ignore POPLA (as useless as the BPA) and make the parking companies pay £115 to the courts if they want to try and get you to pay.

Even if you have no case, make sure they're forced to cough up the court fees, then call and offer a settlement before the hearing. This destroys their business model and if everyone did it, the parking companies, the BPA, POPLA and everyone else involved in this national scam would be bankrupt within six months.

BPA’s Reply below:

No one likes getting a parking ticket, agreed. But if they’re issued fairly by reputable organisations, then you pay and move on. But 99% of tickets issued by BPA members are scam tickets.

And the website they suggest you visit? Don’t go near it! It’s funded by the parking companies to scare you into paying up!

And you’re safe ignoring tickets. The BPA are just trying to protect their interests with that statement. If you make the parking companies pay to take you to court, it destroys their business model and that of the BPA. Don’t be a victim to organisations like the BPA. They’re parasites.

I received a final demand letter from a debt collectors regarding being parked in my local pets at home store and returning a second time that day as there was a huge queue apparently you can not park at pets at home more than once in a day absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I had not received any parking fine off trojan eye they are a bunch of pirates who simply escalated to debt management and a whopping £160 fine thank you NOT so no opportunity to appeal and trying to talk to anyone is a nightmare even getting in touch with British parking association is a joke maybe I will get a reply to this I could not appeal the parking fine as trojan eye escalated it straight away to debt collectors without even sending me the original parking fine if British parking association read post correctly they would have seen this was the case

SCAMMERS! They accredit bank park who issued no initial notice (never had an issue with royal mail and received all their follow ups fine). Ticket issues outside of 14 days, don't follow BPA guidelines, and they ignored the appeal.

Wouldn't allow to change person responsible to myself and continued to harass the vulnerable. Charges on letters didn't match that asked you to pay over the phone.

They know that dealing with them is more painful than loosing the money, need their accreditation revoked.

Not fit for purpose. As others have mentioned it's a members club. I emailed with evidence of non compliance by a well known parking company with a dubious history and it basically got thrown out. No real investigation was ever done in my case, just the same generic bluster they reply with to all complaints, as evidenced by the replies to people on this very page. It's members are quite happy to pose for photographs in 3rd rate pamphlets and flyers but of no real value to anybody raising legitimate questions and with no power or substance to do much of anything that might assist people or raise the standards of its membership.

At the time of this review it has 59 reviews and an average score of 1.3 - I'll let you make up your own mind.