‘Fined 22 times for parking outside my own home’

Karen Niven has been hit with 22 parking charges just for leaving her car outside her own home.

She's been to court 10 times to dispute the parking charge notices - and won every time.

"When you first go to court it's a scary place, but I was so determined because I knew I was in the right," she said.

She's one of many victims who've contacted the BBC over plans to curb the worst practices of private parking firms.

The companies will be forced to display prices more clearly, introduce a fairer system for appeals and give drivers a grace period for lateness.

The crackdown is long overdue, reckons Karen, who lives in Aldershot.

"My neighbours and I have been bombarded with private parking fines in the last few years, even though we have a right to park here."

• Private parking fines to be capped at £50

The problems began when homeowners on her estate - half the homes are housing association - decided to bring in a private parking company.

Under their tenancy agreement, the housing association tenants are allowed to park wherever they want, just like the private homeowners.

But the tenants weren't given permits, which led to many tickets being issued incorrectly.

"They were just putting parking charge notices onto our cars, literally wherever we parked," Karen said.

Each time she has written to the parking firm to explain what happened, and every time it has refused to drop the charge, resulting in the matter going to court 10 times where it was subsequently thrown out by a judge on each occasion.

She is still waiting to hear back having appealed 12 other parking charges.

The difference between parking charges and parking fines

Private parking charges are different to Penalty Charge Notices, which are usually issued by local authorities, and Fixed Penalty Notices, which are usually issued by the police.

Private parking firms issue invoices to people they state have broken rules they agreed to when parking on private land. Those rules should be laid out clearly on the car park's signage.

These firms can take someone to a county court if they don't pay the charge, but it is a civil matter and someone cannot go to prison for non-payment.

However, unpaid charges can result in a County Court judgement (which can be disputed) and bailiffs can be brought in to recover debts owed.

Read more about parking tickets here

She's not the only one. She said many of her neighbours had been wrongly charged, and some had paid up after receiving threatening legal letters from the parking firm's solicitors.

Residents have asked the company to change its permitting policy with no luck: "There's been no engagement at all," Karen said.

She hopes the new rules will force the parking firm to play fair with tenants and stop making their lives a misery.

'Nine months of stress'

Catherine Jolliffe endured nine months of stress trying to have a £250 parking charge overturned.

"I'm glad to read of the proposed changes, but we also need a proper appeals process, not one that is run by the parking firms themselves," she said.

Her nightmare began when she stopped to read the sign at a short-stay car park entrance at Bristol airport but decided not go in.

"I received a parking fine, but the photograph they sent me clearly showed my car outside the car park barrier," she said.

Catherine appealed to no avail - while the amount charged began to increase.

"I couldn't find anyone to speak to about it and eventually received a letter threatening court action."

In desperation she wrote to the chief executive of the airport and soon after received an email from the parking firm saying the court case had been dropped.

"But there was no apology or no sign that they would look at their processes to see what had gone wrong or why I had been ticketed in error," Catherine said.

'Intimidation by a private company'

David Linney, from Leicestershire, parked at a Sheffield leisure centre and ended up being charged despite paying the amount he was asked at the machine on his departure.

"I paid using my bank debit card, so have proof of payment - but I have since received a parking invoice stating I did not pay the correct amount," he said.

"I am at a loss how I could have paid any other amount but that requested. I did everything I possibly could."

He is appealing against the £100 charge but says he is prepared to take it to court.

"This is intimidation by a private company who expect me to pay and go away. I won't."

Charged £155 for a typing error

Granville Henderson and his wife Tina

Granville Henderson, from Staffordshire, grudgingly paid a £155 parking charge notice in October after his wife made a small error at the parking machine.

Tina wrongly entered one letter of their registration plate at the machine in a restaurant car park.

"By the time we'd got the notice of a fine, 14 days had almost passed and they then inferred that the cost would go up if we lost the case. It was just a disgrace," he says.

"We had no time to appeal so just paid the £155. I don't mind paying a fine, but we should have been given a chance to put our case across."

He said the government crackdown on private car parks is a "great idea. It's long overdue".

The new rules

As part of new plans, the government says it will make it easier for drivers to challenge a ticket if there are genuine mitigating circumstances.

This could include having a valid ticket but failing to display it correctly, or inputting your number plate incorrectly by mistake at a parking machine.

The cap on charges in private car parks will also fall by 50% in most cases - and be capped at £50.

Higher charges of £70 and £100 will remain for serious breaches, such as parking in Blue Badge bays. Motorists will get a 50% discount if they pay within 14 days.

The plans will also ban excessive debt collection fees for late tickets, which can be as high as £70.