My husband has just received a £75 fine for supposedly going over the half hour in the car park by our local bank.  He only went in to conduct one transaction in the bank and kept an eye on the time while he was there - the carpark has cameras and supposedly filmed him on the way in and out. Naturally we will be having a word with the bank manager - the delay in dealing with this transaction was because the staff didn't know what they were doing.   Our postman said that he had another 30 odd of these fines to deliver - as happens every week.  (representing only just one round in our area) so the company must be absolutely raking it in.  My question is - how does this company have access to DVLA records - I thought it was only police that can do that?  

Sorry I donnot know, but I know our Local Tesco's do the same.
And there are signs on the way into the carpark that state they will contact DVLA to get car details if you go over the time allowed.
Lea :)

Solicitors can certainly access DVLA records - and i think land owners, such as the car park owners will also be able to apply for registration details.

It only cost £2.50 a time and you have to specify the purpose for which you want it, but DVLA seem to be very happy to provide details if it is for something relevant.

As far as I am aware there is no breach of data protection by DVLA doing this.

Thanks Kate. My husband was going to phone up DVLA in the morning to ask.  £2.50 from £75 makes a tidy profit.  I know that carparks have to be limited - our shopping carparks are 2 hours - fair enough - so many people have been leaving their cars all day and car sharing to go to work - that shoppers can't get in.  Even now with the 2 hour limit carparking is severely limited many times of the day.  The doctors surgery is right in the middle of it and for elderly or people who are not well they are left with a long walk to reach it.   On the rare times that I go to the bank I walk from home - which can sometimes be quicker then driving round and round looking for a space. 

Bit like my dad picking my mum and I up last night from the airport.  My parents are both disabled so have their blue cards, but it cost my dad £1.80 to stop in the car park for 2 seconds whilst we threw the luggage in!

Our local airport (Stansted) now charges £25 if you are longer than 1 hour in the pick-up area :( :( If you are quick and under 15 minutes, it only costs £1 though :)

Daisy

Anyone can get details of a car's registered keeper by filling the appropriate form & paying the fee, but you have to have a valid reason, like a hit & run, drive off from a petrol station or illegal/overtime parking.  Years ago you didn't have to have a reason, I had my registration protected whilst I worked for the DWP(Fraud section)as I had had threats to my home address after my vehicle reg number had been obtained.

I got a letter demanding money from a windscreen company for replacing the windscreen on my Lotus Elan Er only one thing my car is a Subaru Impreza & at the time the windscreen was replaced I was in the Netherlands !

What had happened was the windscreen replacement operative had only partly completed the registration number & they hadn't bothered to contact the Insurance company that paid most of the bill for the correct registration number. The windscreen firm had actually breached the Data Protection Act as there was another option to tracing the owner of the car via the Insurance Company, they also sent me the blokes full credit card details & his name !!! another Data Protection breach. I reported they & they got a huge fine-when I rang them to query how they had replaced the screen on my Subaru with one for a Lotus Elan they told me that the bill should have been for an Impreza !! When I gave them the correct number(obtained legally via the police-who were interested in their attempt to obtain money by threatening me)I finally got a sort of apology & a voucher towards a new windscreen if I ever needed one !! Like I would use their company !!

Moonmaiden is spot on...anyone can access records if they fulfill the requirments...:D

So what is to stop you making up the reason?

you can always ask them for thier evidence- including calibration/testing/servicing of any equipment they may use to guage times etc

The reason is that it has to be the only way the registered keeper of the car can be traced. The windscreen company had another better route as they had already been in touch with the insurance company & not asked them for the details of the insured person-so it was not the only way to trace the keeper of the car.

There is nothing to stop anyone making up the reason but if challenged they have to prove it was the only way of tracing the car

Errmmm NOWT!!!:rolleyes: and some people do!!!

im not sure why "disabled" equates to "poor" surely the blue card system is to allow disabled people better access....not because they cant afford to pay?

I've got a disabled parking permit(as does my cousin)& we try to park as near as possible to supermarket etc entrances why because we both have problems walking not because we can't afford the parking fees

im not sure why "disabled" equates to "poor"

It doesn't necessarily Sam ;).
I've never really understood why disabled parking is free

My husband has been onto DVLA this morning and given them an earfull about selling our personal information for a company to make personal gain.  The local councillor is sympathetic - he hasn't heard of anyone who has challenged the camera but it is thought that only speed cameras are callibrated and therefore this one won't stand up in court.  He said not to pay it. My husband found another discussion on this and the opinion on that forum was that they can't really enforce the parking fine.  Haven't got the link but it was an interesting argument.  According to them the parking companies frighten everyone into paying up because they say if it is not paid within a certain time then it goes up and they never actually take it to court - they make enough money from those people who do pay.  

I think i'd be tempted to ask the bank manager/cashiers for a brief statement confirming the times he was in the bank on business, after all it is their car park, they should be able to say exactly how long this was from their CCTV cameras i would have thought.

If you were there on valid business grounds i don't think that any Court would hold you responsible - it's not like your using the car park to say go off two doors down and get your hair cut!

>I've never really understood why disabled parking is free

No, nor me. Disabled badges aren't means-tested, as far as I know.

Car parking in the nearest town isn't free in the public car parks everyone has to pay The disabled bays are just closer to the shops

No, J/G, they're not means tested. 
I know that all public car parks within my local authority are free for disabled badge holders. I think a better idea would be to charge but, say, give an extra hour free to allow more time for disabled people to return to their cars (I think this is what they do in some parts of Devon).