Parking company agrees to waive 'first offence' charges amid confusion at Leighton Buzzard train station

Saba Parking has agreed to waive "first offence" charges due to confusion at Leighton Buzzard's train station.

A number of constituents had contacted South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous about receiving fines from the company, "even though they had paid to park in the station car park" – a result of uncertainty about who owns the different car park areas at the station. After Mr Selous raised his concerns with the business, Saba Parking has agreed to waive the fine on the first offence, which he believes "will make a big difference".

The MP was told by Saba Parking: "Any user parked in either land area and on first offence, who purchases a valid parking session within the incorrect area, will on appeal, have the parking charge notice cancelled. To assist, we will provide supporting information within the appeal outcome letter to explain the correct process to the user."

Mr Selous said: “I wish they had adopted this policy earlier, but I welcome their change of heart. I have had at least 10 constituents complain, which is actually quite a lot, because there will have been many more in the same situation who have not contacted me. People are really fed up because it is expensive to park and get the train anyway, and then to have a big fine on top of £80 or so when they already paid for. Parking is really wrong and unfair."

Leighton Buzzard’s MP explained that there are two landowners who own different parts of the car park, and up to now, if a commuter parked and paid the wrong land owner, they would receive a parking charge notice and fine.

Mr Selous added: "It was not clear who you should pay, and hence many people ended up paying the wrong person, even though the app had directed them to pay what they thought was the right person. Saba have now at least agreed to waive the fine on the first offence, and I think that will make a big difference because people will then know to make sure they pay the right parking fee for the right landowner."

However, he told the LBO that others have now been in touch to say that, due to the postal strikes, people are running out of time to challenge parking charge notices. Mr Selous is taking up that issue with Saba as well.

He said: "I have to say I find a lot of the parking companies very difficult to deal with and very uncommunicative and there is a private members bill coming in put forward by my colleague Greg Knight MP to have proper regulation of their behaviour and we need to get that into law as quickly as possible, so people are treated fairly."

The LBO contacted Saba Parking, but it did not wish to comment.

Saba Parking previously featured in the LBO during 2019 when payment problems were reported with Saba's new app. Readers claimed that the parking company had created two separate car parks on their mobile app - rather than the one previously – making it unclear as to which car park was which. Commuters claimed that if you parked in the wrong car park, you received a ticket.