Food bank users have been issued penalty parking fines and threats of court action after an enforcement company took over a community centre car park in Sunderland.
Clients and volunteers at the Youth Almighty Project (Yap), which runs a community centre, were issued parking charge notices after the car park came under new management.
The free car park was taken over by an Australian multinational called Smart Parking in 2020.
“They have begun issuing £100 tickets (reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days) to anyone that uses the car park, including me and my staff, even though we own the site,” Phil Tye, the Yap chair, told The Guardian.
“Even after we’ve contested them, people are receiving letters from a debt collection agency demanding £170 and threatening legal action if they don’t pay within seven days.”
Have you been issued a parking fine at a food bank? Get in touch: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
Parking enforcement firms are often hired to keep an eye on trespassers and those misusing the zone.
They make money through parking charge notices – the fines issued to drivers breaking the rules.
Yap took on Enterprise Parking Solutions in 2020 to stop unauthorised drivers using its car park.
Staff at the community centre were exempt from these costs, with their registrations numbers placed on a white list, according to Tye.
However last August, Enterprise and its 68 sites was acquired by Smart Parking, which manages car parks for retail parks and supermarket chains across the UK.
“Since then, instead of logging authorised vehicles on a white list, we have to email the details, but the emails are not acted on and Smart Parking is failing to cancel erroneously issued PCNs,” Tye added.
The charity also told the publisher it did not receive a new contract from Smart Parking.
When Tye demanded Smart Parking withdraw from the site, he received a letter from the firm’s lawyers threatening court proceedings to recover “significant” lost profits and legal costs.
“A multimillion-pound global company is making profits from hungry families,” Tye said. “How can this be legal?”
Yap’s contract with Enterprise states that the benefit – the income stream – can be assigned to a third party.
A spokesperson said: “Following an exchange of communications we have spoken to Mr Tye and after a good meeting we have agreed a strategy for moving forward. We very much look forward to working together into the future.”
