People claim to have received hefty fines after spending mere “minutes” in the car park
Ely Valley Road Car Park, Talbot Green has sparked outrage (Image: WalesOnline)
Dozens of drivers have been slapped with £100 fines after rules at an 18-space car park changed to stop people leaving the immediate area.
Ely Valley Road car park in Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, is directly opposite a number of businesses and is just seconds on foot away from the local high street. The 30-minute-stay private car park, managed by New Generation Parking Management, has long been used by people visiting the local area to run errands, drop or collect children at the nearby Tonysguboriau Primary School, and visit businesses at the adjoining Ely Valley Road Shopping Centre.
But in recent weeks dozens of drivers using the site, even for just a few minutes, have been hit with fines after the rules at the site were seemingly updated to sanction anyone who leaves the shopping centre land and car park.
Previously one side of the car park had been marked solely as customer-only for visitors to the on-site shops while the other had been subject to a general 30-minute policy enabling motorists to use businesses nearby such as JPJ Dance School, Bradleys Coffee, and Filco without falling foul of the rules provided they stayed within the half-hour limit.
Jane Prentice-Jenkins, owner and director of JCJ Dance Studios, said the car park has traditionally been used by parents dropping off and collecting children from the studio, particularly in the evenings and on Saturday mornings when nearby businesses may be closed.
“The car park is directly opposite the studio and our parents use it, normally when the shops that are deemed within their boundary are closed, so that is early on a Saturday morning before they open or later in the evening,” she said.
“Obviously it’s safer for the teenage students that are here later in the evening for their parents to park nice and close to pick them up safely. Generally pick-ups take between five and 10 minutes and do not impact the businesses that sit within the boundary.”
Ms Prentice-Jenkins said parents had nevertheless received parking charges despite being in the car park for only a matter of minutes.
“Lots of our customers have been fined for five minutes, 12 minutes,” she said.
“We’ve got in excess 30 people fined within the first week of coming back to class [in September].”
A spokesman for New Generation Parking Management said: “The car park is situated on private land and is provided specifically for customers who are actively using the businesses located within the shopping centre.
“Customer-only parking has formed part of the terms and conditions at this location for many years. The purpose of these restrictions is to ensure that the limited parking available remains available for genuine customers of the businesses operating from the site rather than vehicles being left within the car park while drivers visit premises elsewhere.”
While the fines handed out appear under the new terms appear to have begun around the start of September Ms Prentice-Jenkins claimed operators “didn’t put up a sign to explain that there were changes until September 17”.
She added: “It’s really having a massive impact on us and it’s going to have an impact on the safety of the children coming to and from the studio.”
According to Ms Prentice-Jenkins parents have been told that if the driver remains in the vehicle while the car is in the car park they will not be fined.
But she said this could create another problem as parents may then have to ask children to cross Ely Valley Road alone rather than collecting them directly from the dance studio.
“That means that children will have to cross the road on their own, which I fear is just going to cause an accident,” she said. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here
She also claimed the parking restrictions were pushing vehicles into surrounding residential streets, creating additional congestion in an area already struggling with limited parking.
“It’s also causing unnecessary congestion to the rest of Talbot Green, particularly residents who live on the street behind us who are expecting that car park, which is in the centre of the Talbot Green area, to be used by people visiting the area,” she said.
Ms Prentice-Jenkins also claimed the companies within the boundary area had not been informed of the changes. That assertion is backed up by a Facebook post from Dai’s Shop, which is in the shopping centre, on September 17 which said: “So, now you can get fined for parking in the carp ark but not using any shops in the precinct. What is the world coming to?”
They said they were “trying to help but our hands are tied”. They added: “We have tried to clarify everything as much as we can but we get very little communication from the car park company and the first all this has come to our attention is by posts on Facebook.”
Local resident Margaret Lloyd said she felt there was “a woeful lack of parking for the amount of businesses around Talbot Green” generally and said the existing restrictions on parking elsewhere in the town, which is on-street council parking, meant there were already few alternatives for people visiting local businesses.
Another car park user, who wished to remain anonymous, described receiving a parking charge after visiting the Jobcentre.
They said their appointment was running late meaning they could not leave when they had originally planned without risking being sanctioned.
“I was at the Jobcentre and they were running late which meant I ran late and I couldn’t leave it early because I would have been sanctioned. I came out to a ticket and there was nothing the Jobcentre could do,” they claimed.
The row has now attracted the attention of Alex Davies-Jones MP. “I’ve received a number of complaints from residents regarding the operation of the private car park on Ely Valley Road in Talbot Green, particularly around parking enforcement at the site,” she said.
“I’ve now written to the company responsible for managing the car park to raise the concerns that have been brought to my attention and to seek further information about how the car park is being managed and how its parking conditions are being enforced.”
A spokesman for New Generation Parking Management said the management and enforcement of the agreed parking restrictions “form part of our contractual agreement with our client”.
They continued: “New Generation Parking Management Ltd has a contractual obligation to fulfil the parking management requirements agreed with our client and to manage the site in accordance with those agreed terms. This includes applying the parking restrictions consistently and taking appropriate action where the displayed terms and conditions are not complied with.
“We are conscious that a number of units at the shopping centre have been unoccupied in recent times. These units are currently being marketed and there has been recent positive interest. It therefore remains important that the parking facilities are protected for the customers of the businesses the car park was designed to serve
“Recent alterations to the site have included the introduction of additional disabled parking provision and a designated loading bay to facilitate deliveries and collections. As part of these alterations, the signage at the site has also been updated to accurately reflect the current parking arrangements and facilities available.
“The signage displayed at the site is fully compliant with the applicable requirements and standards of the International Parking Community (IPC). The terms and conditions of parking are displayed on signage at the entrance to and throughout the site, providing motorists with the opportunity to read and understand the applicable parking restrictions.
“These terms include the maximum permitted stay and the requirement that parking is provided for customers actively using the onsite premises. Vehicles must therefore not be left within the car park while the driver leaves the shopping centre site to visit premises elsewhere.”
They also pointed out there was a route of appeal if someone felt a fine had been wrongly issued or if the signage was not displayed when they visited.
The spokesman said: “Where a motorist believes that a parking charge has been issued incorrectly, or believes that the applicable terms were not displayed at the time of their visit, they have the opportunity to challenge the parking charge through the formal appeals process. Each appeal is considered individually against the circumstances and evidence relating to that particular parking event.
“CCTV is used as part of the management and enforcement of this private land. Our operations are conducted in accordance with the applicable requirements governing private parking enforcement. Our operators are appropriately licensed where SIA licensing is required, and our parking management activities are undertaken in accordance with the standards applicable to us as a member of the International Parking Community.
“It is not our intention to discourage customers from visiting Talbot Green or to adversely affect the businesses operating from the shopping centre. The purpose of managing the car park is the opposite: to protect the limited parking facilities and ensure that spaces remain available for customers of the businesses the car park is intended to serve.
“We appreciate that parking restrictions can cause frustration where motorists have not familiarised themselves with the terms applicable to private land. However, those terms are displayed at the site and apply consistently to motorists choosing to use the car park.
“For the avoidance of doubt, New Generation Parking Management Ltd does not issue parking charges simply because somebody has been observed crossing Ely Valley Road. Any parking charge is issued on the basis of the applicable parking terms and the evidence relating to the individual parking event.”
