With the ever-increasing numbers of vehicles using the roads in the UK and the corresponding congestion associated with the issue, more enforcement is becoming necessary both in the ‘on street’ (public highways and local authority car parks) and ‘off street’ (unregulated private car parks) environments.
In the off street environment, the main concerns of the private Landlord/Landowner are to:
a) Protect their property from unwanted trespass.
b) Ensure that in protecting their property, legitimate users of their facilities are able to park unhindered in their private car park.
There are a number of methods by which this can be enforced, but the newest of these is ANPR. As with all methods of enforcement of unregulated private land, charges enforced by ANPR are subject to the law of Contract. They are also self-regulated through the BPA Code of Practice for Parking on Private Land and voluntary membership to the BPA’s Approved Operator Scheme.
The principle is as follows:
a) CCTV style cameras are placed at the entrance and exit to a car park.
b) Timed photographs are taken of the vehicle itself entering and leaving the car park, and also close-ups of the vehicle’s number plate.
c) The duration of the stay of the vehicle is calculated from the times registered on the two sets of photographs.
d) The driver of the vehicle needs to ensure that they have made enough payment to cover their full stay in the car park, else they risk being required to pay a parking charge notice (which will be mentioned in the car park’s signage).
e) If a driver does contravene any of the terms and conditions laid out in the signage, they should be aware that they will not receive a ticket at the car park site. Using the vehicle’s registration number, the operator will access the DVLA’s Vehicle Keepers’ details database (with the Reasonable Cause of pursuing a broken contract for parking on private land) and send a charge certificate to the keeper of the vehicle.
As with all methods of enforcement on private land, proper enforcement is dependant on clear signage that is visible from all points of the car park. The BPA’s revised Code of Practice contains recommendations for the size, placement and information for private car park signage, including the fact that the car park is monitored by ANPR technology and that DVLA with be contacted to obtain keeper details in the event of a parking contravention occurring.
As with all new technology, there are issues associated with its use:
a) Repeat users of a car park inside a 24 hour period sometimes find that their first entry is paired with their last exit, resulting in an ‘overstay’. Operators are becoming aware of this and should now be checking all ANPR transactions to ensure that this does not occur.
b) Some ‘drive in/drive out’ motorists that have activated the system receive a charge certificate even though they have not parked or taken a ticket. Reputable operators tend not to uphold charge certificates issued in this manner (unless advised differently by the Landowner/Landlord), but operators should also now be factoring in a small ‘grace period’ to allow a driver time either to find a parking space (and to leave if there is not one) or make a decision whether the tariff is appropriate for their use or not. This ‘grace period is however at the discretion of the Landlord/Landowner and will also vary in duration, dependant on the size/layout/circumstances of the car park.
The Information Commissioner's Office has produced a Code of Practice relating to the use of CCTV in public transport