COUNCILLORS are set to call on the British Parking Association to take action against a company which was operating a car park in Saltaire.

The executive board will be asked to call upon the association to investigate Smart Parking, which was running the controversial Oastler Street car park. Councillors will also ask for "appropriate action" to be taken against the firm, including revoking its membership of the Approved Operator Scheme.

The local authority ordered Smart Parking to shut down the car park and refund thousands of pounds in fines slapped on unsuspecting motorists after receiving a host of complaints.

The council was able to step in after discovering that the patch of land had never legally been turned into a car park and was still part of the public highway.

Motorists 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.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, has been helping any of his constituents who were hit with a fine to get their money back.

He said: "Once again Bradford Council are way behind the times on this one. I am focused on getting refunds for all my constituents who were fined by Smart Parking and have had a great deal of success in doing so with the co-operation of Smart Parking.

"I would therefore wish to reiterate my call for any of my constituents who were fined by Smart Parking to contact me and I will do my very best to secure them a refund.

"I think, at this stage, this is a more practical help to my constituents than Bradford Council’s late in the day grand virtue signalling.

"Perhaps the council should be refunding people who were charged when they operated the very same car park without the proper planning permission as well."

Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, executive member for Regeneration, Housing, Planning and Transport, said: “I’m afraid it’s Philip who is behind the times as we’ve already refunded anyone who was fined when we ran the car park. We announced this months ago. We also made a donation to Saltaire Festival as a gesture of goodwill to local users of the car park.

"We’re pleased that Smart Parking has begun the process of refunding people it has inappropriately fined and want them to continue to do so as we insisted last year.

"However, that doesn’t excuse what’s happened. A petition has been given to us by concerned residents and it’s right we respond seriously to that. We’ve reviewed the information from the petitioners and have concerns about the reports of their behaviour. It’s right that we raise this with the regulator to help ensure their operation is above board and prevent the same thing happening again. We would encourage Philip to work with us to achieve this and to help support his constituents who signed the petition.”

Smart Parking was approached for a comment.