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News Archive 2007

20/08/2007

Jonathan Evans challenges NCP trading practices

The controversy over the decision of NCP to massively increase City Centre car park charges took a new turn today, when Welsh MEP Jonathan Evans asked the UK's regulator of fair trading to launch an inquiry.

Mr Evans, a former Minister responsible for the operation of fair trading practices, has written to John Fingleton, the Director General of the Office of Fair Trading, highlighting his concern over the current position in Cardiff, but also questioned whether other major cities had seen similar huge price hikes.

Mr Evans said: 'I am all in favour of open competition, but the close relationship between NCP and many local authorities leads to real concern that both have an interest in driving up prices to the consumer. It seems that the structure of the market in City Centre car parking throughout the UK may not have been investigated for some time, so the recent row over NCP's actions in Cardiff may be the right signal for the Office of Fair Trade to analyse and re-examine that structure.'

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