A COMPANY which was operating a controversial car park in Saltaire may be called before the British Parking Association (BPA) after Bradford Council urged it to be audited.

The local authority told Birmingham-based Smart Parking to shut down Oastler Road car park in Saltaire in October last year after the local authority discovered the land was declared a public highway, and therefore its use as a paid-for car park was unlawful.

Hundreds of drivers have been fined up to £100 by the Birmingham-based firm, after not realising Smart Parking required them to log their car’s registration for the free 20-minute stay.

Now, at yesterday’s meeting of the Council’s executive, it was decided to call upon the BPA to audit Smart Parking’s practices both at the Saltaire site and others across the country.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, the Council’s executive member for regeneration, housing, planning and transport, said: “We have made good progress with Saltaire Investments on this issue.

“It is the desire of the community to have it brought back into use as a car park.

“We will be writing to the BPA about Smart Parking, for them to audit them and look at it again.

“We need to make sure the car park is being run appropriately. Not just in Saltaire, but we want to protect people across the Bradford district from such unfair practises.”

Victoria Jenkins, who organised a 250-signature petition handed to the Council last year, said residents would be keeping an eye on which operator will take over the running of the car park. She said: “I hope the fact that it has now been referred to the ombudsman is the beginning of the end to this kind of unethical car parking practises.

“But we still need to keep an eye on this and what happens next and who takes over running it. We don’t know who will take it over next.”

The executive also agreed to continue negotiations with the car park’s landowner, Saltaire Investments Limited, about the future operation of the car park.

A Council official speaking at yesterday’s executive said it held a positive meeting with Saltaire Investments Limited last month about the future of the site. It added the firm is open to it being run as private car park, but would not be using Smart Parking.

The Council had run the car park under lease from 2004, offering 20 minutes’ free parking, but last year the lease was taken over by Smart Parking.

The local authority said it refunded all drivers it fined while it was in charge of the car park and also made a donation to the Saltaire Festival.