Parking firms - 402/18

Date Responded 10 May 2018

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

I’m attempting to find figures relating to the amount of money forces are paying to private parking firms, both in fines and for other reasons, such as the release of CCTV footage where requested. If I’m not phrasing my questions correctly, I’d appreciate any guidance that could enable me to clarify further what is being asked.

In each case, please provide figures separately for each year – 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 to date and for parking firms including, but not limited to: Parking Eye, Smart Parking Ltd, Excel Parking Services, National Car Parks Ltd, NCP, Parking Collection Services, PCM (UK) Ltd, Parking Control Management, G24 Ltd, Napier, PCN Parking Services, Smart Parking Ltd, UKCPS, UK Parking Control Ltd, UKPC, Vehicle Control Servics Ltd, Vinci Park Services, Premier Parking Solutions, Meteor Parking, BW Legal, Wright Hassall, TPS Parking Solutions, Observices OPC, Britannia Parking, Creative Car Park Management, Civil Enforcement Ltd, YPES, Parking Control Solutions, Ethical Parking Management, P4 Parking, LCP Parking Services Ltd, Parking Control Management UK Ltd, Vehicle Control Solutions, Northern Parking Services (North East) Ltd, Q-Park Ltd, Securitas and any others (who may be listed at www.britishparking.co.uk/BPA-Approved-Operators). Where applicable, please break answers down by each firm.

1. How many invoices/bills/charges has the force received from private parking firms?

2. What was the total amount of the invoices received for each year?

3. How much has the force paid to private parking firms in each year stipulated?

4. What were the charges for? Please specify whether they were fines or related to other issues, such as the release of CCTV or anything else.

5. How much remains outstanding in charges from each year?

6. How many appeals have been lodged against charges and how many have been successful?

7. How many payment reminders have been received by the force?

8. How many times has the force been contacted by debt recovery firms in relation to charges from private parking firms?

In Response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Finance Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held in part by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.

Financial information is held by financial year.

Company	£	Financial Year	Reason	Number of Invoices
PARKING EYE LTD	125	2017/18	CCTV/Information request	2
PARKING EYE LTD	425	2016/17	CCTV/Information request	8
PARKING EYE LTD	801	2015/16	CCTV/Information request	5

We hold no further information.

Disclaimer

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.