In order for a parking company to pursue the Registered Keeper of a vehicle for a parking charge for a breach of the terms and conditions of parking on private land, remember we're talking about a supermarket or in a hospital, they must apply to DVLA for the keeper's details. Actually, DVLA sells this information for £2.50 a time, but that's a whole other story.....
DVLA insists on safeguards to protect the data it sells to these companies:
" at DVLA we have tough safeguards in place to protect the privacy of information held on our records. One of those safeguards is that all unregulated organisations, such as private car parking management companies, requesting information from us must be a member of a DVLA Accredited Trade Association (ATA). "
I have an email from DVLA, dated 20th May 2016, that confirms the two ATA's for the private parking industry are British Parking Association and Independent Parking Committee.
But that's just not correct, is it?
On March 30th 2016, around two months before the email from DVLA above, the Independent Parking Committee filed papers with Companies House to change their name to United Trade and Industry Limited.
So, any time after 30th March 2016 the Independent Parking Committee did not exist.
Therefore, members of Independent Parking Committee ought not be able to access DVLA records and obtain the name and address of members of the public, as they are no longer a member of an accredited trade association.
This means that some high profile PPC such as Excel Parking Services, G24, UKCPS and also VCS (plus all other members here: IPC Members ) should not have access to DVLA's database after March 30th 2016 as they are not a member of an Accredited Trade Association recognised by DVLA.
Now, this may seem like a bit of a technicality, the fact the IPC changed it's name but still operates in exactly the same way as it did prior to the name-change and back when it was recognised by DVLA, after all, it is still the same organisation run by the same people.
But that really is my point.
If you breached the terms and conditions of parking at a site operated by an IPC (or whatever they're called this week) member, then this would also be a technicality. Most car parks are operated with ANPR cameras at the entrance and exit. Many require you to list your vehicle registration by inputting it at a keypad at the ticket machine. Get this wrong and you'll be hit with a £100 charge.
A technicality.
But it seems that DVLA don't care that the parking companies and the trade association's breach the terms and conditions of DVLA, so long as they keep raking in the £7M plus each year that they get from selling keeper details.
It really is time for this whole sorry mess to get sorted out. What is required is a regulatory body to oversee the industry. A regulator with real teeth to keep the parking companies operating to a new code of practice that ensures fairness for landowners, operators and motorists. As I've been asking for since I had a run-in with one of the parking companies. A call that has now been echoed by Patrick Troy, Chief Executive at British Parking Association.
