The three-year fight over two parking fines
BBCA woman who spent three years fighting parking fines issued at a care home she says she was authorised to use is calling for changes to the way private parking firms operate.
Val Price, 70, received two parking charge notices despite being on the site's whitelist of approved vehicles and visiting the care home more than 100 times.
Two weeks before the dispute was due to be heard in court, Smart Parking Ltd dropped its claim.
The company said Price's vehicle was not authorised on either occasion and that the charges had been issued correctly.
Speaking to the BBC, Price, from Birmingham, said she received about 30 letters demanding payment.
"They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. It's just bullying tactics," she said.
Price had been visiting the Harborne care home for the past 10 years and said she had authority to park there. The two fines were issued in September 2023 and February 2024.
The family said the car park uses a shared automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera system covering land owned by Smart Parking Ltd and Civil Enforcement Ltd, and that Price had been parked in an area owned by Civil Enforcement.
Despite appealing both charges, she said the demands for payment continued.
"If you parked wrong, you would think it's your duty to pay the parking fine," she said.
"But when you haven't and you've told them that and they don't listen, you think, 'what's the point?'.
"They just keep chasing you. They're just hoping that you're going to give in and pay the fine."
Price said she would not have been able to challenge the claims without the support of her daughter, Sarah Ashe, and son-in-law, Wayne Ashe.
Sarah said the family was relieved the case had ended but questioned whether it should ever have reached court.
"The stress caused by these proceedings had a significant impact on [Val]," she said.
The family said that once legal proceedings had started, they were unable to take the case to an independent appeals body.
Wayne said they had wanted the company to consider his mother-in-law's explanation rather than force the matter towards a court hearing.
"Potentially people seeing our story will get the confidence to fight claims and not pay fines that they shouldn't have to," he said.
The family have since raised the issue with their local MP and want changes to the system governing private parking enforcement.
A spokesperson for Smart Parking Ltd said the car park was managed to prevent parking abuse and ensure visitors could find spaces.
The company said Price's vehicle was not authorised on the two occasions in question and that the charges were therefore issued correctly.
It added that it follows International Parking Community guidelines and that Price's appeals were rejected, with information provided about taking the matter to the independent appeals service POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals).
The firm did not explain, when asked by the BBC, why the claim was dropped.
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