Parking firm fined for obstructing fly-tipping probe

UK Parking Control was fined almost £6,000 for refusing to provide CCTV footage from a Lincoln car park that would have helped an investigation into fly-tipping.

North Kesteven District Council was looking into a case of dumped car parts and other materials near Leadenham in September last year.

Among the rubbish investigators found a receipt for food bought from McDonald’s on Tritton Road in Lincoln.

The council asked UK Parking Control Ltd, which manages the restaurant’s car park, to provide ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) footage from the car park in a bid to identify the culprits.

Although the company initially acknowledged receipt of the request and said it would respond, UKPC did not provide the footage.

NKDC took UKPC to Lincoln Magistrates’ Court and charged the company with obstruction.

The national car park management firm pleaded not guilty to the charge and asked to give evidence over a live video link, but the court refused the request and no-one representing UKPC attended.

The company was found guilty in its absence on April 11 and was ordered to pay within 28 days a total of £5,752.96, with includes a fine of £4,000 and costs of £1,582.96.

During the investigation, NKDC then asked McDonald’s to provide their internal CCTV footage of the man who made the purchase, who complied with the request.

However, as the external registration plate recognition system was owned and operated by UK Parking Control, the council was unable to find the fly-tipper.

This was the only line of enquiry and without it the investigation could not progress.

NKDC Councillor Peter Burley said: “Only by us all taking our civic responsibilities serious and working jointly will we be able to counter or combat such harmful acts as this fly-tipping.

“Through the parking company’s refusal to co-operate and comply with the law they have allowed someone else to escape prosecution and left them free to potentially perpetuate such a crime again.”

UKPC was covered by The Lincolnite previously when its wardens were part of a fraudulent scam at city car parks.