Private parking control company drops lawsuits

One in three drivers has disputed parking fine received in company-administered halls

print this

Finland’s largest private parking control company ParkCom has decided that for the time being they are not to sue those motorists who do not want to pay the parking tickets they have received from the company for illegal parking. Moreover, ParkCom has withdrawn its previous lawsuits in the middle of the legal proceedings.
      At the same time, a growing number of drivers in the Greater Helsinki area have disputed the parking tickets issued by ParkCom.
     
ParkCom came to a difficult situation in December when the Vantaa District Court ruled that the company’s operation was unauthorised. The court stated that only the police and municipal traffic wardens are empowered to issue parking tickets to motorists.
      However, the court decision is not legally valid as yet, because ParkCom has appealed against the ruling to the Court of Appeal. Hence, the company continues issuing parking tickets to motorists.
      "It is not worth our while to file further lawsuits until the Court of Appeal has given its decision", reports Tom Ek, the Managing Director of ParkCom.
      ParkCom has announced that the company will not collect the disputed parking tickets until it has received a decision from the Court of Appeal.
      Besides, the Automobile and Touring Club of Finland has also advised its members to dispute the parking tickets issued by ParkCom.
     
According to Ek, around 30 per cent of those motorists who have received a parking ticket from ParkCom have disputed the payment following the decision made by the District Court that the company is not authorised to issue parking tickets.
      "The ruling has somewhat weakened people’s willingness to pay", he outlines while not revealing the total number of tickets the company has issued to motorists.
      However, no clients have terminated their contracts with ParkCom. In October, Ek reported in Helsingin Sanomat that the number of areas they supervise in the Greater Helsinki area is around 500 to 600.
      At that point ParkPatrol, a rival of ParkCom, was supervising a total of some 350 parking areas in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Järvenpää, Tuusula, and Hyvinkää.
     
The ParkCom disputes have mainly centred on "free" parking areas that oblige motorists to display a "time of arrival" disc in the windscreen, and where free parking is for a limited time.
      If no such disk is visible, the company has issued tickets with a flat-fee fine.


Links:
  The Automobile and Touring Club of Finland

Helsingin Sanomat