The people of Bristol have been paying millions of pounds to Britain’s biggest car parking company for an ‘administration fee’ to run one of the city’s ‘forgotten’ park and ride sites – for apparently no reason whatsoever. Council chiefs have paid up to 400,000 every year for nearly 20 years to the company that ‘operates’ the Long Ashton park and ride site, even though it doesn’t own the site or even run the buses there. The full picture of the way successive administrations have continued to pay NCP a figure believed to be as high as 7 million has now only been exposed in the release of a shocking report destined to go before the council’s cabinet next week.
Under Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees’ new administration, questions were asked about why the council was paying NCP so much money to ‘operate’ the car park, even though council bosses now say they had no contractual reason to at all. NCP took charge of the car park, which is off the A370 Long Ashton bypass to the south west of the city, when it took over a company called Park and Ride Ltd, or PRL, which set up the original deal in 1997.
Read more: Council admits mistake over removing yellow zig-zag lines outside Bristol primary school1
But the council report makes it clear no-one at City Hall is entirely sure what PRL does for the money, apart from maintain and man the car park. The firm stopped actually running the Park and Ride bus, the 903, six years ago, but has still been billing the council every year. Next week the council’s cabinet is expected to agree to stop paying the 400,000 annual subsidy, which appears to have continued to be paid because the original deal had an agreement in place that the council would cover any losses incurred by PRL in the first six years, between 1997 and 2002.
What happened then and for the 14 years since bears comparison with the urban legend of the lone Bristol Zoo parking attendant who was said to have taken 1 from people to park outside the zoo entrance, with the council and the zoo each thinking that the other employed him, until he retires on the proceeds.
Read more: Urban myth of the Bristol Zoo parking attendant
2
But while that tale is entirely fictional – and there is no suggestion of NCP breaching any laws or regulations – council chiefs dealing with the Long Ashton Park and Ride now admit that there seems to have been no contractural reason to pay NCP a penny for the past 14 years – and did so only because they were billed by the firm. The official report to cabinet makes it clear that the council say the 25-year deal, which runs until 2022, only had a required to pay a subsidy if the park and ride made a loss for the first five years.
“The contractual obligation on Bristol City Council (BCC) to pay the subsidy ended on March 31, 2002,” the report says. “The reality of the operating position is that the overall park & ride service has never made a profit.
“After 2002, BCC continued to make monthly payments to PRL based on invoices received from PRL representing the difference between its operating costs and income received from fares.
“By 2009 annual subsidy was running at about 400,000, patronage was not increasing and service level was below that set out in the Operating Agreement.”
By 2010 the council was effectively running the 903 bus service – and was paying all of its costs by 2012. From 2010, the council claims PRL was “providing just part of the service required”.
For the last six years, the council says, PRL has effectively been billing the authority 400,000 a year for “providing the car parking, security and associated administrative functions”, and the council has been paying it.
The council said it has investigated PRL’s accounts as best it could, and discovered that it registered a loss of around 560,000, almost all of which was met by the council’s subsidy for its ‘administration fee’.
“Recent accounts show that PRL is making a profit from the subsidy payments,” the report said. “There is no right to a subsidy.”
Read more: Why residents may never get a Bristol City matchday parking scheme around Ashton Gate3
NCP, which owns PRL, is understood to be vigorously challenging and disputing both the figures and the claims made in the Bristol city council report, and both sides appear set for a legal battle if the council stops paying overnight. A spokeswoman for NCP said: “NCP is unable to offer any comment as we are still in active conversation with the council.”
A spokeswoman for the council said she could not reveal the current level of the subsidy paid, or the total amount paid over the years since 1997 or 2002. The only figure revealed is the one of 400,000 paid in 2009, and it is thought to still be roughly the level paid in 2016.
So over the past 19 years the council has paid at least 3 million to PRL and possibly more than 7 million. The Long Ashton park and ride is made more controversial because the council cannot control when it is opened, or what buses run from it. A line in the original planning permission stipulates that buses from the park and ride site can only go to the city centre which is why it cannot be opened for football or rugby matches at Ashton Gate.
Read more: Why Long Ashton Park & Ride is closed to Bristol City fans
45
The council will claim that PRL has not met its side of the original deal, because it has not even marketed the site, and instead just taken the money.
“There is no incentive for PRL to keep costs down and to maximise revenue when its income is protected, whatever the costs, useage and revenue of the service,” the report said.
“As a matter of fact, and despite obligations contained in the Operating Agreement, PRL does not appear to undertake any marketing of the site,” it added. Green Party leader Charlie Bolton questioned why it took so long for anyone at the council to do anything about the situation.
“Long Ashton Park and Ride seems to be turning into the ‘forgotten man’ of parking in Bristol,” he said. “Not only does it seem to be taking forever to get the park and ride to open to fans on match days, now we find we have had 20 years of giving it an ‘administration fee’ to not run a bus service.
“Successive administrations have let us down, so it is good to see something happening now.
But did it really have to take so long?”
Read more: Bristol’s new congestion busting 45 million link road definitely open by end of the year6
References
- ^ Council admits mistake over removing yellow zig-zag lines outside Bristol primary school (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Urban myth of the Bristol Zoo parking attendant (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Why residents may never get a Bristol City matchday parking scheme around Ashton Gate (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Why (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Long Ashton Park & Ride is closed to Bristol City fans (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
- ^ Bristol’s new congestion busting 45 million link road definitely open by end of the year (www.bristolpost.co.uk)