A new operator is being sought for car parks linked to a shopping centre in Lichfield.
Excel Parking took over the Backcester Lane and Gresley Row facilities at Three Shopping Centre last year.
The sites had previously been managed by Lichfield District Council before the decision to switch was made by the former owners of the shopping centre.
But there have been a number of complaints over parking tickets issued to drivers since the change to a new operator, leading to a Facebook page being set up with hundreds of members.
However, the new owners of the Three Spires Shopping Centre have now decided to terminate the agreement with Excel Parking, the leader of Lichfield District Council has confirmed.
Cllr Doug Pullen said:
“The new owners of Three Spires Shopping Centre have confirmed that they have given the required 30 days notice to terminate the contract with Excel Parking following review and feedback, and they are now in consultation with new suppliers.
“They’ve committed to upgrading the parking machines, ensuring that visitors get either a paper or e-mail receipt, and retaining the ability to pay by cash or card.
“I am really pleased that we have such a community-focused organisation now owning Three Spires Shopping Centre and we look forward to our continued engagement with them.”
Cllr Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council
Evolve Estates were confirmed as the new owners of the shopping centre last month.
As well as the change to the parking provision, they have already begun work with the council in a bid to convert the vacant former Debenhams unit into a cinema.
I parked on that car park not realising it had changed hands. As I have a blue disabled badge parked in disabled parking and went off to the shoe shop round the corner in the shopping centre. A week late I received a £60 parking fine. After asking the question on FB why I had been fined appears everyone has to pay including blue badge holders who were previously exempt. No extra signage to advise of the new parking regulations. I paid up as being an OAP I didn’t want to hassle. I could have parked on the double yellow lines for free.
It’s disgraceful that Lichfield council has allowed this company to manage it for so long. Endless people being ripped off with fines and they’ve refused to get involved and help people out.
Wow! Power to the People.
It’s not a council car park so I’m not sure what you expected the council to do????
Nice to know that the shopping centre has been sold, what happened to the pledge made by councillors to be upfront and transparent with the electorate.
@Richard Nelson – The council didn’t own and hasn’t sold this shopping centre. It was a private sale… so nothing for the Council to be transparent about. However, the sale was reported here in Lichfield Live.
I parked twice and got fined £60 each time i put in the first two letters of reg no and proved the money had come out of bank! Also a bb owner i wont park there again.
Well done to the local campaigners who managed to raise this. The parking company seem to be fining everyone regardless if they legitimately paid or not!
Best if people boycott these ‘private’ car parks until its changed hands….don’t line their pockets!
If the Council want people to visit the Town Centre, they need to get realistic about pricing and that includes the rents charged for the shops, or we end up with a ghost town, just full of charity, coffee shops & takeaways….. need incentives to encourage new diverse local businesses in.
I can’t park to visit my bank parked for 5 mins . I am disabled with a badge and sticks. Still got a ticket
Richard Nelson the council didn’t own it so the owners sold it
Richard Nelson – Three Spires is a privately owned shopping centre, sold by one private company to another private company. Nothing to do with the council.
Good news. As its a private car park I just hope the new company they choose would be better. ANPR based parking enforcement all work the same, so keen to know how it would be any different to current.
I have to agree with the many complaints about this carpark. I have avoided parking on there because i don’t want to pay with a card for just 1hr. My mother-in-law who is a blue badge holder and had parked there for years, got a fine before realising there was a charge for disabled. We were quite annoyed she actually paid as she said she would have worried.
I have to say, hopefully common sense has prevailed and local people , whether disabled or not will not be put off parking on this carpark in the future.
Lichfield Council should have sorted this out sooner !
I also got a £60 fine for parking in a disabled bay showing my badge and heading off to shop not knowing the car park had changed hands from the council to Excel no obvious signs to tell me otherwise made me decide it would be a long time before I visit Lichfield again 😡
I parked on 3 occasions at Backcester Lane car park. Each time paying. Some 4/5 weeks later I received demanding letters from Excel – reason none payment.
Letters to Lichfield council and Excel have gone unheeded.
Excel are now threatening me with court action for their claim of £480 for the 3 occasions that I parked. As I told the Lichfield council these cowboys are a disgrace on the city.
These companies should not be allowed to hassle people as I have had for the last 3 months of my life.
Lichfield is a nightmare for disabled parking now. I can walk a few steps which being in Lichfield was great when i could park outside specsavers door, the bank, dentist and shops. since they changed the parking i can’t go to any of the above anymore. I really hope they change it back soon so i can come back to Lichfield
Christine, the car park behind B&M has got extra disabled parking spaces now. If you park near to the passage way through to Market Street and walk through you will be almost next to Specsavers, the banks and Market. It’s not very far at all so hope you can manage that and you can return to Lichfield. kind regards.
Finally they have made the right decision to terminate the contract with this parking management company JUSTICE at last hopefully the parking management will improve now and be a lot fairer
I was issued with a fine, otherwise known as a Parking Charge Notice as Excel aren’t allowed to issue fines, 138 days after my alleged offence of not paying to park. When I unsuccessfully challenged the PCN, Excel told me that they were allowed to issue their notices for up to 6 years after the alleged offence. As they had stopped issuing tickets from the parking machine, I had no way to prove my case. Memory is no defence as not many of us can remember the fine detail of what we were doing last week let alone 138 days ago. Pity the poor souls who get PCNs 5 years and 364 days after their alleged transgression!