By senior reporter Elli Hodgson<\/p>\n
Some 18 months since KentOnline started exposing problems at country parks, Kent County Council has said it is trialling upgraded pay and display machines, and even its contract with Euro Car Parks is up for review.<\/p>\n
A walk with the dog and catch-up with friends, or simply just a place to relax and unwind \u2013 these are just some of the ways people enjoy their local parks.<\/p>\n
But for nearly two years, I\u2019ve been highlighting the stressful side of visiting – and parking – at eight of KCC\u2019s treasured green spaces.<\/p>\n
Far from leaving with peace of mind, thousands are returning home only to be hit with a penalty notice weeks later, despite having proof they paid for parking.<\/p>\n
Last year, I revealed that 994 park users had appealed their ticket only to be told they\u2019d made a major keying error and could pay a \u00a320 administration fee instead.<\/p>\n
According to the British Parking Association (BPA), which regulates the industry, a major keying error occurs when more than one digit or number is incorrectly entered.<\/p>\n
Money made from people paying a \u00a320 administration fee after being accused of making a major keying error<\/p>\n
Under its policy, on appeal, a major keying error will be reduced to \u00a320.<\/p>\n
Euro Car Parks (ECP), which manages parking at the sites for the council, made \u00a319,800 from the alleged errors from January 2024 to January 2025.<\/p>\n
The problem is that dozens of park users have reported poor experiences with the ticket machines, and many don\u2019t believe they\u2019re at fault for mistyping their registration.<\/p>\n
Complaints include concerns about overly sensitive keypads, blank screens and claims the machine prints a ticket and takes payment when you\u2019re halfway through typing.<\/p>\n
For those who experience this, they say that once the money is taken from their account and a ticket is printed, it creates a false sense of security that they\u2019re all good to go and can enjoy the park.<\/p>\n
Since seeing the data, I\u2019ve repeatedly called for the council to take a closer look at its machines, reconsider its contract with ECP and consider whether collecting money from people who have already paid for parking is a fair approach.<\/p>\n
Geoff Hanington paid \u00a33.60 to park in Trosley Country Park but is now being chased by debt collectors<\/p>\n
Now, over 18 months since I first reported on the problems at Kent\u2019s country parks, KCC has revealed it is trialling upgraded pay-and-display machines, with larger screens to assist customers and reduce the likelihood of keying errors.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been trialled at Pegwell Bay Country Park for the past three months, and now one is in place at Trosley Country Park. Separately, a solar-powered machine is on trial at White Horse Wood in Thurnham.<\/p>\n
In addition, KCC says it is actively working with ECP to explore further steps to minimise mis-keyed registrations.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the authority\u2019s contract with the firm is due to end in April and it is reviewing all available options, and no decisions have been taken.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAny future arrangements will focus on improving the customer experience at our country parks.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure these changes will be welcomed by visitors, and I will be keeping an eye on whether the contract is renewed.<\/p>\n
The council gets a cut of the money collected from parking fines but says it invests the funds back into the parks.<\/p>\n
A fresh Freedom of Information Act request has revealed from January 2025 to December 2025, \u00a318,680 was collected from 934 people who paid the \u00a320 admin fee for allegedly mistyping their registration.<\/p>\n
Total parking fines issued at Kent’s country park from January 2025 to December 2025<\/p>\n
The latest findings reveal major keying hotspots include Lullingstone Country Park, where \u00a35,240 was collected from 262 people who paid an admin fee after being accused of making an error.<\/p>\n
Shorne Woods Country Park collected \u00a34,620 from major keying errors from 231 park users in the one-year period.<\/p>\n
At Trosley Country Park, 684 tickets were issued in a year, with 13% paying an admin fee for making an error \u2013 that\u2019s 80 people and \u00a31,600 made.<\/p>\n
Overall figures show that 9,189 tickets were issued in the one-year period, with 15% of them being paid at the \u00a320 major keying error rate.<\/p>\n
Data also showed that one in four appealed their ticket and 33% of all tickets are yet to be paid and are outstanding.<\/p>\n
In response to the latest findings from the FOI, I asked KCC whether it was reviewing its contract with the firm or exploring the feasibility of different machines for parking at its sites.<\/p>\n
In addition, the authority was asked how it can be sure a major keying error was caused by the motorist instead of a fault with the machine or software.<\/p>\n
I also wanted to know if the council would consider adjusting the appeals process or refund policy to automatically waive charges where a motorist can prove they purchased a valid ticket.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the pay-and-display machines are checked every morning and evening with \u201cno ongoing faults\u201d recorded with any keypads.<\/p>\n
The authority urges people who believe they\u2019ve made a mistake with their registration to speak with a country parks\u2019 officer, or contact the team on the noticeboard.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not paying the debt collectors \u2013 if they want to take me to court they can<\/p>\n
Despite repeated attempts to contact ECP for a comment, I have never received a reply from the firm.<\/p>\n
However, it has now received a fine of its own.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the parking management company was hit with a penalty of \u00a3473,000 after it failed to hand over information to the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).<\/p>\n
The charge is the first issued under the CMA\u2019s new fining powers.<\/p>\n
It had failed to respond to a legal information notice, despite seven separate attempts by the CMA to secure a response, including delivery by post, hand, and emails to company directors.<\/p>\n
Only after officers told the company it was proposing to issue a fine did ECP begin to provide the necessary information.<\/p>\n
Trosley Country Park is one of sites with a new pay-and-display machine<\/p>\n
It said it had blocked the CMA\u2019s emails, saying they believed they were fraudulent and were attempts to scam the firm.<\/p>\n
The CMA did not consider this a reasonable excuse and imposed the \u00a3473,000 charge in December.<\/p>\n
At present, the CMA does not have a consumer enforcement case open against ECP and no assumption should be made that it has infringed consumer law.<\/p>\n
However, by ignoring the organisation\u2019s notice and failing to respond, ECP delayed the CMA\u2019s work and caused it to spend extra time and resources to get the requested information, which meant under new enforcement powers, it could issue a fixed penalty.<\/p>\n
So, it seems that journalists aren\u2019t the only people ECP ignores, after all.<\/p>\n
Returning to problems with parking in Kent, many accused of such errors refuse to pay the admin fee on a matter of principle.<\/p>\n
In their minds, they have proof of payment and a ticket, and they feel this alone is enough to quash the case completely.<\/p>\n
For people who choose this route, like Katie McCabe who visited Lullingstone Country Park on March 31, 2024, the saga continues as she is still being chased by debt recovery agencies for the unpaid fine, almost two years on.<\/p>\n
The data on major keying errors in 2024<\/p>\n
During her visit she remembers waiting in a queue as people struggled to work the ticket machine and says lots of people were looking confused.<\/p>\n
When it came to her turn to buy a ticket, she said the machine was slow but she managed to buy one.<\/p>\n
Not long after, she received a fine and despite appealing, Katie was met with the same response from ECP who said she had made a \u201cmajor keying error\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible state of affairs \u2013 people need these country parks but the stress has put me off going back to that park ever again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are horrible letters to receive because it makes you feel like you\u2019ve done something wrong – I want them to try to rectify this problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not paying the debt collectors \u2013 if they want to take me to court they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retired legal executive Geoff Hanington is also being chased by debt collectors after visiting Trosley Country Park in Gravesend last August.<\/p>\n
After paying a fare of \u00a33.60 he got a printed ticket and thought nothing more of it until he got a notice through the door 20 days after.<\/p>\n
The 83-year-old appealed on August 31 with proof of purchase but didn\u2019t hear anything until November 19 when he got a final notice asking him to pay \u00a370, despite not having received a response to his appeal.<\/p>\n
After querying this with ECP they sent a copy of a letter sent on September 23 rejecting the appeal and asking for a \u00a320 admin fee.<\/p>\n
Geoff maintains he had never received this response to his appeal and has signed an affidavit to this effect, which was signed by a solicitor in the event he has to go to court.<\/p>\n
The dad-of-two and grandparent-to-four says the whole process makes him feel \u201cvictimised\u201d and could be avoided if KCC instructed ECP not to issue a penalty notice for what are obvious keying errors.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the BPA, which regulates the private parking industry, said keying errors cause understandable frustration for motorists.<\/p>\n
They said: \u201cMajor keying errors, where characters are missing, swapped or an entirely different vehicle registration is entered, must be reduced to a lower charge of \u00a320 for the first charge issued to a motorist at a specific site.<\/p>\n
Senior reporter Elli Hodgson<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would note that if a motorist repeated the error, they would have to pay the full charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy contrast, minor keying errors, such as a single mistyped character, must be cancelled on appeal. These distinctions exist to ensure that simple and honest mistakes are not penalised in the same way as more substantial entry errors.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, I am pleased to hear KCC is taking action to minimise the likelihood of a keying error taking place.<\/p>\n
With ECP\u2019s contract due to end in April, I will be in contact with County Hall in the spring to find out more about its next parking arrangement at Kent\u2019s cherished country parks.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, it will be an arrangement which won\u2019t put people off visiting.<\/p>\n
Have you got a consumer issue or problem that needs highlighting? Not sure of your rights? Contact reporter Elli Hodgson on ehodgson@thekmgroup.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By senior reporter Elli Hodgson Some 18 months since KentOnline started exposing problems at country parks, Kent County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[142711,84,1319,59,192,21818,191,194,557,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-all-kent-news","tag-business","tag-consumer","tag-gb","tag-human-interest","tag-in-depth","tag-kent","tag-syndicate","tag-transport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}