A parking enforcement agency has cancelled all tickets handed out in Shrewsbury over a two-month period after experiencing ‘severe’ problems with notices being illegally removed from car windscreens.
Bosses at Elite Management (Midlands) Ltd claim individuals have been following wardens issuing parking charge notices at the Barker Street car park and on Kingsland Bridge. They have declared void all notices handed out to motorists from the second week of December until the middle of February.
Since the Chronicle reported on pranksters targeting cars at the Barker Street car park last week, a host of readers have come forward with their own cases, including several on the Kingsland Bridge which is also patrolled by Elite wardens. In almost all cases drivers have received letters from Roxburghe Debt Collectors demanding £197 in payment for parking fines they didn’t know they had been given.
Matthew Key, operations manager for Elite Management (Midlands) Ltd, said the situation in Shrewsbury was the worst he had ever known and said he believed they were the malicious actions of someone following wardens around, although he was unable to confirm how many parking notices had been cancelled.
He said: “We have cancelled the tickets of every single complainant from the second week of December until the middle of February with the debt collectors. Normally we only get a small number of people contesting notices but in this period it was very high.
“We have had instances in Birmingham where individuals have ghosted wardens and removed tickets from windscreens but the situation in Shrewsbury is the most severe I have ever known. It’s a one-off.”
Caroline Reid, Shropshire Council’s performance and quality manager, said the council had had no problems with people removing tickets on car parks it manages in the town.
Anyone who wishes to discuss individual cases at either the Barker Street car park or Kingsland Bridge can contact Elite Management (Midlands) Ltd by calling 01922 722388.
By Peter Kitchen
