ParkRight bosses had a Shropshire road sign uprooted and moved during a row over a £60 parking ticket, it was revealed today.
Brenig James, of Whitchurch Road, Shrewsbury, had to fight a year-long battle to have the ticket cancelled. Adjudicators also awarded him more than £400 in compensation.
ParkRight met county council bosses three months after issuing Mr James with a ticket and asked them to move a sign, the positioning of which was at the heart of the appeal.
Mr James was fighting a ticket issued while his car was parked after a “zone ends” sign in pedestrianised Claremont Hill, Shrewsbury, on May 6 last year. He had taken pictures to back up his case.
After the meeting Shropshire County Council instructed contractors to remove the sign and remount it further along the pavement, bringing the area where the car was parked inside the restricted zone.
ParkRight informed the appeals co-ordinator that the sign had been moved, but said it believed it was in its new position before the ticket was issued.
Mr James submitted a Freedom of Information request to the county council to find out when the sign had actually been moved.
It revealed the meeting between Parkright and the council happened on August 6 “following ParkRight’s receipt of a challenge to a Penalty Charge Notice”. The sign was moved on August 22.
Mr James appealed twice and finally won a third appeal after showing what he had uncovered to the adjudicator.
He said: “We won the appeal on the basis that it should have been quashed on the first appeal because the sign was in its previous location at the time the ticket was being issued.
“How many people are not fighting them because they don’t know how or are scared they will lose? I don’t think it’s right.”
ParkRight is a partnership of the county council and Shropshire’s district and borough councils. County council group manager for traffic and highway engineering Hugh Dannatt said an investigation would now be carried out.
Exclusive by Rhea Parsons
23 Comments
So, Park Right run the Council now, do they?
No the council proffit nicely from parkright i think
Sounds like we are not hearng the full story here! im sure things are not as sensational and shocking as they sound, there just massive hate for Parkright locally for some reason. im sure if people looked at where they were parking they woudlnt get tickets!
Parkright from what I can see do a good job yet idiots that like to park in dangerous, illegal and inapropriate places neglect to see it.
I have never received a ticket from these people as I always park LEGALLY! Its also amazing how easy it is to get ‘let off’ parking tickets if you contest them due to political correctness etc.
Well, Parkright was set up BY the council’s wasn’t it?
I wonder what Mr Sandy Harper of Parkright has to say about this conduct. Presumably there is some legal loophole which lets them behave like this. Or maybe they think they can do what they like anyway!
Either way, cancelling the ticket and paying compensation should only be the start.
Well done Mr. James.
You have proved that ParkRight are not as their name implies,
AlwaysRight.
Great News.
Parkright never cease to amaze me…… They are obviously so powerful that they able to manipulate traffic road signs and the law via the County Council to please themselves.
Thank goodness we live in a democracy!
No the sign was in the wrong place and ParkRight brought it to the Council’s attention.
The article is trying to imply it was moved in an attempt to justify the ticket. This is extremely unlikely, as to do so would require a council employee motivated to make money for his employer and intelligent enough to work out how to do it. It would also require co-operation and co-ordination between council departments and I for one have never experienced that in Shropshire.
So Park Right move the goal posts , and the signs, to fit their needs. Congratulations to Brenig James for bringing them down a peg or two. How many other motorists are they conning by their devious behind the back tactics.Bring back the old traffic wardens.
just three words sum them up…
Idiots, Idiots, Idiots
did parkright tell the council why they wanted the sign moved? how many other signs have been installed or altered to make more money for parkright?
This proves that ParkRight’s brief is to screw money out of motorists at all costs. The council is their partner in crime and the electorate should be urgently seeking to get rid of both of them.
Well done Brenig.
Shrewsbury centre will survive whatever the council and their developer ‘friends’ {and of course their pet revenue trawlers Parkright} come up with.
i dont see how they are screwing motorists, they are screwing illegal parkers, good luck to them, we all drive and yet only a gobby minority hate yellow lines and parking wardens, the law abiding majority are in favour of regulation to improve our towns access, congestion, safety and such, come on you gobby cheats, just accept you dont like the rules because you dont play by them, everyone else who park legally, is happy with them
Well done Brenig - small business takes on the might of the Council, backed by our money! Glad he did though, it’s about time someone took the wind out of their sails.
I hope that Brenig uses the data protection act as well as FoI and get copies of all documents that bear his name.
The Times law section of 16 January 2001 hada very interesting article about Channel 4 comedian & journalist Mark Thomas whose investigations were upsetting the Department of Trade & Industry. The above article had picture of Mark Thomas holding a copy of e-mail DTI had written requesting that they get some dirt on him and leak it to media.
I think that the moving of the sign shows that SABC and Shropshire CC have no idea of what is honest and decent.
Why not hand the town centre CCTV operation over to Parkright so that they can FULLY establish control and at the same time watch illegal parking from their seedy office.
Don’t agree - I have never had a parking ticket from Parkright and park legally but I’m not convinced of the councils motives.
Congestion and access problems - what congestion - and I can’t recall any access problems.
I think it’s just a easy way to earn money - it’s all too heavy handed - Shrewsbury is not exactly opening it’s arms to shoppers is it? The on-street parking has been slowly eroded away over the years - no wonder people get annoyed. Now your left to queue in and out of multi-storey car parks for what could be a 1/2 hour shop!
Didn’t mean it seriously Itsallajoke - just wanted to highlight the sinister and frankly worrying advancements that so called authorities in the UK are making in respect of watching you your every move.
Well said JD - dont park like a burke and you wont get a fine!
Exactly dont break the law if you cant pay the fine / do the time!!! I once got a ticket as my car broke down and was left overnight awaiting a tow, I showed ParkRight my mechanics receipts for the break down and the ticket was resinded! They are perfectly civil and decent people, just dont break the law!! You wouldn’t complain at the Police. Also to complain that the Council makes money is just rediculous, this is our council, our public services, if they make money, its our money, it helps keep our council tax down, pay the bin men, enforce the planning etc, its a good thing to have a regulated parking system, since parkright came in, street scene, access and congestion have visibily improved, this is obvious to see to all
Hear hear JD and Blue eyes. Don’t illegally park and you don’t get fined. Parkright do a good job in minimising congestion and penalising those drivers who think they own the road and sometimes even the pavement.
If I’m not mistaken the whole point here is that the gentleman did park legally. The signage showed where he needed to pay to park. If there was no desire by Parkright or the council to deceive why did it take a request under FOI to get the truth over when the sign was moved and why did the adjudicator award compensation? I have no truck with people who park illegally but when you do park legitimately you should not be targetted.
Parkright are useless - they issued me with a £60 fine for not paying and displaying on Frankwell car park.
This was despite me diplaying a valid season ticket, which cost over £500!