Neil Milkins, 74, from Abertillery, has been issued with five parking fines despite parking legally in designated council bays at an Iceland supermarket car park. He says other motorists have faced similar issues.
Dispute with parking company
Milkins said he had been in dispute with private parking company Vehicle Control Services Limited (VCS) for 18 months after receiving five parking charge notices between March and December 2025. He claims the notices were issued while his vehicle was parked in one of four designated council parking bays at the car park, which he says offer free parking 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
All five notices were eventually cancelled after he appealed against them, with the company's own photographs showing his vehicle parked in one of the bays. However, he believes hundreds of other motorists have also been affected, with some paying £60 to avoid the charge increasing.
Threats and dropped charges
"After a lot of quite serious aggravation, they were threatening me with bailiffs, increased charges if I didn't pay, bailiff letters and threats of high court action," Neil said. "The five charges were then eventually dropped, as they proved themselves, from still photographs, that they were in one of the four council parking bays."
Despite the parking notices being dropped, Neil said he became aware of other motorists experiencing similar problems during his own dispute with the company. "Those who have paid £60 out of fear that it would rise to £270, which could escalate to bailiff and high court actions, even though they were in the council bays." He added that the company had treated payment as an admission of liability and closed the cases.
Council and company response
A spokesperson from Blaenau Gwent Council said: "The council has raised this matter with Iceland on two occasions, requesting that their parking management company cease issuing private parking charges to vehicles that are parked lawfully within the council-owned car parking bays. To date, Iceland has not responded."
The advice provided to members of the public who have contacted the council is that, where a vehicle was parked within a council-owned parking bay and a private parking charge has been issued, the notice should be challenged.
Camera issues and legal proceedings
According to Neil, he was told that the PCNs were unrightfully given to motorists due to a blurred camera lens which allegedly failed to capture the four designated bays correctly. He also said VCS had suggested possible human interference with the camera, before giving another explanation involving water potentially dripping from moss in gutters above the equipment.
Neil has said that motorists who successfully appealed received apologies from the company for the stress and inconvenience caused. Despite this, the penalty charge notices are still ongoing with one recently being issued in September 2026.
Neil is currently involved in legal proceedings relating to the dispute, with a court hearing expected to take place in February 2027. A solicitor representing Vehicle Control Service Limited has said they cannot comment further on the matter at this time due to "ongoing court proceedings."
Neil hopes the upcoming proceedings would help bring the matter to a conclusion, but remained concerned about other motorists who could receive notices in the meantime. An Iceland spokesperson said: "We appreciate the concerns that have been raised regarding parking charges at this location. While the car park is not managed by us, we have been able to arrange for the parking charge notices in question to be cancelled. We have shared this feedback with the car park owners."
