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Private parking companies have been accused of reaching a new low after a constituent of Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty received a threatening letter from a solicitor over an unpaid parking ticket fine of £170.
Mr McNulty raised the issue during Members' Statements in the Assembly on 1 December, highlighting what he described as a calculated escalation in tactics by predatory private parking firms. Although consistently outspoken about private parking companies threatening motorists with legalistic letters and fines, Mr McNulty stressed that the action of sending people correspondence from solicitors is a new development.
The MLA said: "On Friday, a woman came into my office in Newry, bringing with her a letter containing a legal threat sent by a solicitor about her unpaid parking ticket. The letter said that she had two weeks in which to pay an incredibly expensive fine - £170 but she received the letter only on the last day possible. Given the limited time constraints, we could not advise the lady, who was running from pillar to post in a distressed state and seeking advice and help, not to pay the fine and help her to appeal it.
"That woman is not alone. Literally hundreds of people have come through our doors, whom we have helped to successfully challenge many such fines with help from the Law Society and the Consumer Council. What is going on? Private parking companies now methodically adopt the calculatedly low tactic of sending frightening legal threats to individuals to siphon money out of them, taking advantage of people by threatening them into paying fines to avoid legal action."
The MLA added: "These [private parking] companies are a scourge on society. They are a money making racket, and their control over shoppers, business people, and all motorists must end. The Department of Infrastructure must hold these companies to account and stop them from harassing motorists, not just with extortionate fines in the post, but now with the extreme action of sending letters from solicitors. It is unfair, unreasonable, and completely unregulated by the DfI who should put the clampers on these companies."
The Newry and Armagh MLA has called on the Department for Infrastructure to take action against the companies and properly regulate their activities to protect motorists from what he described as harassment and extortionate practices.
