Dundee’s Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has dealt with almost 60 complaints about private car parking charges in the last nine months.
The organisation has now issued an appeal for other motorists who feel they have been unfairly issued one of the charges to get in touch.
Dundee CAB director Mary Kinninmonth said: “Over the last year, we’ve seen more people coming to us for help about this very specific problem. In the last nine months alone Dundee CAB has dealt with 57 complaints about parking.
“There has also been a 50% jump in complaints to bureaux and our consumer helpline relating to the penalties applied by the operators of private car parks, such as those often found at retail parks, supermarkets and garden centres.
“If the charge was issued by a local authority or the police, other than talking you through the appeals process, there’s not a great deal we can do to help you.
“Tickets issued by these authorities are called ‘penalty charge notices’ and they are far less problematic than the charges given out by private car park operators.
“Crucially, for these public parking penalties there is an independent and open appeals process if you feel you have been treated unfairly, or if you think that the rules weren’t clear.”
Private parking firm UKPC is currently chasing three drivers through Dundee’s small claims court for alleged non-payment of charges relating to Gallagher Retail Park, with the cases set to continue next month.
Ms Kinninmonth said: “If you have been issued with a parking charge notice or something similar when parked on private land that you feel was issued unfairly we should be able to help and we want to hear from you.
“We would encourage you to stand up for your rights as a consumer, and to let us know about your experience so we can present a detailed picture of the problem to the Scottish Government.
“Too often we have heard of over-the-top charges which disregard mitigating circumstances, such as reduced mobility or disability, meaning it takes longer to get round the shops and a lack of obvious signage making the rules you need to follow clear.
“We would encourage people to appeal in circumstances such as these.”
Information on appealing a parking charge on private land can be found at www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland.