Fed up residents say they are being “hounded” with invalid fines after parking at a local convenience store.
Some drivers – who say they spent months fighting the tickets – have been hit with up to five different charges for using the car park at Greens of Kinross.
Some claim they have unfairly received fines after they already paid the right amount for parking; spent the allowed amount of time in the car park without needing to pay or they spent five minutes in the car park earlier in the day then returned about six hours later for five minutes only to receive a parking fine suggesting they had been there all day.
Greens of Kinross – who does not run the car park – has apologised and said it has had active discussions with operator UKPC (UK Parking Control) to resolve the issues.
Resident David Sinclair Aiton said the situation is causing “angst” in the community.
David –who runs a property and legal consultancy business in Kinross – was fined after attending at the store in the morning and evening, and was forced to prove he had not left his car there all day.
He said: “Within the last year or so I have received two fines which were completely and utterly inappropriate and invalid.
“There’s a short period where you can park for free. On both occasions I parked there for five minutes in the morning, I’ve then returned later after work for another quick visit and my vehicle has been identified on their camera as having been there from 10am until 6pm and issued with a penalty notice.
“On both occasions I’ve had to successfully appeal but it obviously causes a lot of stress and I had to provide records of shopping receipts and my vehicle tracking app that shows my car was elsewhere during those hours.”
He added: “The situation is causing a lot of angst within the community.
“There are a lot of blatant inaccuracies particularly in relation to the CCTV evidence which is fundamentally flawed.
“Parking users have been harassed.
“Individuals with mobility issues feel they cannot park there.
“It is causing a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Elizabeth Gault has been hit with five fines after parking at the store.
She said: “Since July I have had five parking charges for my car that I had legally bought tickets for the time I was parking. I appealed the first two and was contacted to say they were dropped.
“On November 2 I got three final demand letters for another three occasions when I had parked and paid. I thankfully had kept all my tickets so I have appealed again but, as yet, not heard.
“Every time this happens I get extremely stressed although I know I have paid. I have seen the posts on the local community page about lots of other people having the same problems.”
Another resident – who did not wish to be named – has also been hit with five fines.
The resident’s husband said: “My wife has had five letters demanding payment for overstaying her paid time. All these letters are wrong as we have proved with our parking tickets.”
Kinross-shire councillor Richard Watters called the situation “unacceptable”.
The SNP local councillor said: “UKPC needs to deal with this as a matter of urgency.
“It is unacceptable that local residents are being hounded with penalty notices, while producing their valid ticket.”
Perth and Kinross-shire MP Pete Wishart has also been contacted by a number of constituents.
“A few years ago he was involved in a similar situation with another parking company.
He said: “I helped bring forward the UK Government’s Private Parking Code of Practice, which aimed to tackle this very issue. It is therefore very disappointing to see it is still cropping up.
“I know what a misery these parking firms can cause to residents. I will now be writing to UKPC to remind them of the code of practice and the need to prioritise good customer relations.”
A spokesperson for Greens of Kinross said: “We genuinely value the feedback from our customers and the local community, and we are committed to making every visit to Greens a positive experience. We have been made aware of parking-related frustrations and have already taken steps to investigate these reports.
“We are in active discussions with UKPC, the parking management provider, to address parking fines made in error and improve the process to prevent any undue penalties.
“UKPC has investigated the issue and discovered an isolated issue where, for a few days, a miscommunication between the ANPR [Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera] and paid parking system caused PCNs [Penalty Charge Notices] to be issued in error.
“This affected approximately 10 transactions at Greens of Kinross and all incorrect PCNs have been cancelled or refunded.
“We recognise the impact that these issues may have had on our customers and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.”