As well as my work in the House of Commons, the other half of my role as Solihull’s MP is helping residents with local problems. One issue which very often crops up is the challenges people face dealing with private parking companies.
For example, one local resident using an automated payment system got his number plate wrong and got fined. He got in touch to explain, but despite the fact that he had paid the correct amount the company refused to waive the fine!
My team were able to negotiate a reduction, I’m sure that there are others who simply gritted their teeth and paid an unjust fine. That’s why this month I have spoken in Parliament to support a new law which would introduce a mandatory code of conduct for parking companies.
At the moment there are two entirely separate sets of professional standards which these can subscribe to. That means when a local resident wants to dispute a ticket or fine, they don’t even know what their rights are unless they can find out which code the company in question is registered with.
I hope that by introducing a single, universal code it will be easier for the 10,000 people who contact Citizen’s Advice about parking issues every year to stand up for themselves, and for the industry to crack down on rogue operators who give parking companies a bad name.
Another parking issue I have raised in Parliament this month is the problem of excessive charges for hospital car parks. I am a long-standing campaigner against what I call the ‘tax on compassion’: it’s not right that people who need to regularly visit the hospital, either for treatment or to support a loved one, face this extra financial burden at what is often a very stressful time already.
However, as I said in the Commons we need an intelligent solution tailored to centrally-located hospitals such as ours, which might otherwise find their carparks overflowing with shoppers and other visitors to the town with no business in the hospital itself. At the very least, I would like to see a waiver or discount for patients and visitors who have to visit frequently, such as those receiving treatment for cancer and other chronic conditions.
Finally, last week I joined my colleagues on the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee to visit the United States. We heard evidence from representatives of the biggest digital and social media companies, such as Facebook and Google, about the spread of ‘fake news’ and how we can resist it. Before we left we also interrogated the BBC over their unequal pay for women, and I’m proud to say that I managed to get David Clementi, the Chairman, to apologise and admit that the Corporation had got it wrong in its handling of Carrie Gracie.
Originally published in the Solihull News, 16/01/17.