Worcester ends Flowbird contract

Cashless payments will resume when new Metric units go live

Worcester City Council is terminating its contract with Flowbird, provider of the payment machines in its 14 car parks.

The decision was taken by the council’s policy and resources committee following a review of arrangements, including two major issues at Flowbird payment machines in Worcester car parks. In September 2021 there was a delay of up to 49 days in customers’ payments by card being taken, while a year later in September 2022 numerous customers were charged multiple times for parking.

Last year’s problems resulted in almost £400,000 being taken in error from more than 15,000 sessions at the 14 council-owned car parks across the city. This meant more than 1,500 drivers were overcharged for parking with some seeing hundreds of pounds taken from their bank accounts after being charged multiple times.

In both cases the problems were not caused by the city council, but by the payment machines and software supplied by Flowbird and the payment system operated by the company’s partner, Elavon.

Card payments at the city council’s 14 car parks have been suspended since September 2022, in order to avoid any risk of these issues reoccurring.

Council joint leader Cllr Chris

Mitchell said: “I think most Worcester residents will understand why we have had to take this decision. Thousands of people were affected by these payment problems, with the most recent situation in September 2022 seeing £390,000 in incorrect payments being taken.

“All the multiple payments were eventually refunded, but it has damaged the reputation of

Private parking on course to be billion-pound industry

Private parking is set to become a billion-pound a year industry as the number of tickets issued by firms hits an all-time high, says the RAC Foundation.

Data from the DVLA suggests drivers are set to receive more than 11 million penalties in private car parks over the current financial year, 2022-23.

In the first-three quarters of the year, some 8,564,762 vehicle keeper records have been bought by the companies from the DVLA.

The RAC Foundation regards this figure as a proxy for the number of tickets issued.

Some 181 parking management businesses have so far requested vehicle keeper records from the DVLA in 202223, paying £2.50 a time. ParkingEye was the most active, buying 1.1 million records.

Access to DVLA records allow the firms to track down vehicle keepers for alleged parking infringements on private land.

Each parking charge notice (PCN) can be for up to £100.

The RAC Foundation says this suggesting more than £1bn will be sought from drivers this year.

Between July and December 2022, parking firms issued around 5.64 million tickets, a 24% rise on the 4,554,378 issued in the same period in 2021. This is an average of roughly 31,000 every day.

Besides PCN payments, parking firms often receive management fees from landowners such as supermarkets, shopping centres and leisure facilities, to look after their car parks for them.

Changes to the way in which parking on private land is regulated are being made under powers granted via the

Parking (Code of Practice) Act which became law in March 2019.

However, in July 2022, the government withdrew the long gestating code of practice for the private parking sector. It is not yet clear when the code –plus an independent appeals service and a scrutiny board –will be introduced.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “If only the rest of the economy was booming like the private parking sector, perhaps we’d all be feeling more prosperous.

“Private parking looks set to be a billion pound-a-year business, if it isn’t already, with demands for up to £100 a time being sent out to drivers at the rate of more than one every three seconds.

“There’s widespread agreement that the government should be setting up a regulatory framework for the industry, but it is nearly four years since the relevant law was passed. These numbers surely suggest that what’s needed now is action.” our car park operation.

“People who live, visit and work in Worcester need to know that they can confidently use our car parks, so it is vital that the council acts in order to restore that trust.”

Cllr Mitchell continued: “The city council’s reputation, as a consequence of Flowbird’s failure, has been damaged and that’s just not acceptable to us. We pay them to deliver a service and they have failed to deliver that service.

“It’s extremely disappointing. Having had the first issue in 2021, we were given assurances that the problem had been resolved, it would not reoccur and we were good to go, and we took them on that value having had disruption two years ago and then for a similar thing to happen within 12 months meant we just completely lost confidence in them to deliver.”

The council has now appointed Metric to supply new payment machines for its car parks. These are expected to be installed in the next few months, bringing with them the reintroduction of card payments.

Logistics UK calls for better truck driver facilities

Freight sector business group Logistics UK has called for improved parking facilities for HGV drivers.

Speaking at a Transport Focus event held at the Hollies Truckstop in Cannock, David Wells, chief executive of Logistics UK, highlighted the issues HGV drivers currently face regarding roadside facilities and the need for drastic improvement.

Wells said: “I am thrilled to have joined other industry leaders in coming together help to raise awareness of this pressing issue. HGV drivers are crucial for keeping the country moving and ensuring our supply chains remain protected, yet they face a significant lack of hygiene and rest facilities compared with other industries. Government has long been promising solutions and now is the time to deliver.”

Logistics UK is a business group representing business involved in the making, selling and moving of goods.