Car park firm fined millions over ‘guaranteed’ spaces claim
A car park operator has been ordered to pay nearly $11 million for encouraging motorists to book “guaranteed” car parks that were often not available.
The Federal Court today ordered Secure Parking to pay $10.95 million in penalties for making misleading or false claims regarding its ‘Secure-a-Spot’ online pre-booking service, following investigation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC said Secure Parking operates more than 600 car park facilities in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Hobart. It is owned by a Japan-based car park operator, Park24 Co Ltd.
The Federal Court has ruled a car parking business must pay over $10 million in penalties. Photo: Secure Parking
Secure Parking admitted it made false or misleading representations to customers between July 2017 and June 2022. The locations of offences were not disclosed today.
The service had been advertised via Secure Parking’s website, through email marketing, social media channels and marketing materials which used phrases including ‘Book online for a guaranteed spot’.
The company said in court that in using the name ‘Secure-a-Spot’ and representing in marketing material that using the service would reserve customers a parking space, it had made false or misleading representations.
The company did not generally reserve spaces for customers using the service and admitted that some customers who had pre-booked via the service would arrive to a full car park with their space unavailable.
The ACCC said more than ten million bookings had been made via the service during the relevant five-year period.
The watchdog launched Federal Court action against the company in July 2023, alleging it had breached consumer law.
“Secure Parking did not provide customers with the service it advertised, and it denied customers the opportunity to make an informed decision about which parking service best suited their needs,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
“Customers may have been seriously inconvenienced when they arrived at their chosen car park to discover the parking space they thought they had booked was not available to them.”
As part of the court’s ruling, Secure Parking will be required to pay part of the ACCC’s costs, publish corrective notices, and review its complaints handling systems.
