@CornwallCouncil how do I complain about a car park? The “Any problems” number doesn’t work.

Furthermore it isn’t a 10p transaction fee to use @JustPark

It’s charging me 1.10GBP for 30 mins! pic.twitter.com/nkn62iak76

— Kai Hendry (@kaihendry) August 28, 2024

Bodmin’s Dennison Road Short stay car park charges between 09:00 - 16:00 Mon - Sun

• Up to 30 mins - 60p
• Up to 1 hour - £1.10
• Up to 2 hours - £2.10
• Up to 3 hours - £3.20

In the case you do not have cash, you are expected to use the JustPark app.

Purchasing 30 minutes of parking time with Just park is 1.10GBP. That’s a 83% markup! How did we get from 60p to 1.10GBP?

I contacted the help line 01872 224698. No answer.

I went online to find parking@cornwall.gov.uk, and recieved the reply:

There is a 10p surcharge for using Just Park, but I believe there are also charges of reminders etc that you can opt out of, Just Park is an app that can be used in our and other car parks so we have no access to their systems

As you can see in the screenshot above, I painstakingly opted out of the insurance upsell and Justpark set the parking fee as 70p (not 60p) and has charged a whopping 40p for the convenience of using their app.

40p SMS charges

The Customer Experience Director at JustPark wrote to me on 2024-09-07:

Pricing I think this is due to your previous SMS choices. I just tried out the app myself at the same location for 30 mins - it came up as 70p as expected (60p + 10p transaction fee). Without being able to check your account, I am pretty certain the 40p extra is because you have opted in to receive an SMS Receipt and an SMS Reminder. These two add ons get you to £1.10.

To change (the SMS choice) them you view your account in the app then:

1. Scroll to ‘Communication settings’ at the bottom
2. Scroll down to SMS notification for drivers
3. Untick one or both of the reminder types
4. Click ‘Update SMS settings’

I have no recollection of opting in to SMS reminders. The fact that Justpark don’t show you are paying 40p for SMS reminders breaks trust. I don’t even look at my SMS inbox!! I use the phone’s native notification features.

I have completely lost trust in JustPark and will be avoiding them as much as possible in the future.