NEWTON Abbot MP Martin Wrigley is preparing to tackle the private parking industry and tighten up regulation.

The MP wants to hold private parking companies to account and has launched a campaign for fair play in the industry.

He has taken a first step in putting an Early Day Motion before Parliament calling for the establishment of an independent parking regulator with the power to set reasonable charges and enforcement costs.

He said: ‘For too long private parking companies have been allowed to set their own rules and mark their own homework.’

His campaign comes after he was contacted by Teignmouth resident Norma Richardson who had received a ticket from UK Parking Control Ltd while parked in Newton Road Retail Park in Kingsteignton.

Martin explained: ‘While Norma had forgotten to display her blue badge when using parking facilities, the tone of the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) she received, which looks designed to easily be mistaken for a formal Penalty Charge Notice, panicked her into paying the £60 charge demanded rather than risk the increased charges and enforcement actions threatened.

‘A friend of Norma’s, Keith Palmer, wrote to UK Parking Control appealing the charge on her behalf after learning how she had been treated.

'However, with her payment already received, Keith didn’t even receive an acknowledgement.’

When he took up Norma’s case, Martin wrote to the directors of UK Parking Control to remind them of the Parking Code of Conduct.

This includes special dispensations which should be offered to disabled persons when such an oversight occurs, including the significantly reduced charge applicable.

Norma received an appropriate refund but only after Martin’s direct intervention rather than what Martin described as the ‘flawed appeal system relied on by the industry’.

UK Parking Control Ltd has been approached for a comment.