Hi thanks for the replies. I was just thinking of it from a business point of view as thats all they are they are a business and nothing else. Being a business owner I know that if someone requests the personal data that I hold about them I HAVE to give it to them. If they ask for it to be deleted then I HAVE to delete it as its their data. But thats from an internet perspective. If Meteor are saying that they need to keep it to prevent us from trying to use the same excuse again I cant see that as a lawfull reason. Marketing or stats or something maybe but not to try and 'stitch' us up next time we dont see a sign in one of their car parks. I will have a read of the DPA and try to challenge them on this. For now we have simply asked them the reason for the retention and the legislation they are using to retain it. Thanks again, Chris

I think that these signs are more of a deterent then anything else. They may prosecute someone for 'damages' should they fail to pay but they have NO way of finding out who the shoplifter was. After all you dont HAVE to give your details to a civilian security guard. If the person is prosecuted for theft then an order can be made for compensation at court. If they get compensation then they cant claim via a civil court for further compensation. I think that the point that most people are trying to raise is that the cost of the 'damages' are too big. How can 15 minutes of overstaying or failure to pay cost over 100 pounds? The cost of a parking attendant who is already employed by the company isnt recoverable in court as they would have been there if the breach occurred or not.

Hi all, Really provoking site you have here. I love it. The little lady recenty got a Parking Charge Notice at a local train station. We had checked on the Southern train network website and the national rail site and both said that the 'daily' charge was £4.50 or something like that. Neither site mentioned that you needed a permit to park there before 0930 am. She parked at 0730 and went to the ticket desk where she asked for a daily parking ticket. The guy gave her a ticket in return for the advertised £4.50. She displayed it and then went to work. When she returned she had a PCN which stated that she hadnt displayed a valid parking permit. When she looked on the sign she saw that if you park in that car park before 0930 then you need to have a parking Permit. The train station doesnt sell them and both websites dont mention them as they seem to be a fad by the PPC. We dispuited it on the grounds that the signage was poor and we had checked (albeit electronically) on the tinternet the day before. The withdrew it but said that it was her fault. This infuriated me even more as they havent accepted liability for the errors in the websites and the useless staff that they employ. We have complained to them, trading standards, Southern and Network rail. Thats the success but but the Parking company (meteor) have said that her vehicle details are on file and if a similar violation comes up again she wont be able to use the same excuse. I want to know under what law they can retain private information about you and your belongings. Basically I dont care that they have it as we will never use another BR car park and will avoid all Meteor controlled ones but I dont think that they are allowed to store personal information if you ask them to delete it. We never said that they could store it. Any ideas?? Thanks Chris