The Sydney Morning Herald on 4th September 2013 reported that NSW Fair Trading has issued court proceedings in Parramatta local court against Australian National Car Parks for allegedly harassing two people. They are facing two counts of "undue harassment over threats of legal action for unpaid parking fines".
The Department of Fair Trading has received with thousands of letters from drivers who say they have been harassed and ripped off.
Ms Kaan who received several legal threats from Australian National Car Parks, its debt collectors and its Solicitors over parking fines that she had disputed.
Ms Kaan said she tried to appeal her fine in a letter to Australian National Car Parks but received another threatening letter in reply. She said she was upset that she received a second notice so soon after, :demanding money from me that my opinion not right."
Ms Kaan said she rang the company and spoke to Australian National Car Parks employee Hamish Smith who wrote the second letter to her. "I said, 'is there anyone else I can talk to?' but "He said: 'Nothing will come of it. You'll have to pay $173.'
"I was very shaken and very nervous, very upset. I had every intention of coming to an agreement that was reasonable. He had no intention of listening to me. He was pushy and intimidating."
Australian National Car Parks has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Daily Telegraph on 4th September 2013, reports that "After thousands of complaints of intimidation to claim grossly inflated fees, the controversial Australian National Car Parks yesterday faced its first criminal prosecution ".
The Telegraph says Australian National Car Parks is for the first time being pursued through the courts for "undue harassment" and intimidating people into paying fines with threats of legal action.
The two directors of ANCP, Paul Gyles and Victor Nudler, weren't in court for yesterday's proceedings which is the first time the Department of Fair Trading has sought to prosecute them.
The department of Fair Trading says a record 4000 complaints have been made against Australian National Car Parks over their exorbitant fees and demands of drivers to recover money which many disgruntled drivers dispute they are even entitled to.
Ramesh Dharmapalan, took the stand at Parramatta Local Court yesterday. Mr Dharmapalan said he "disputed" the fine notice when he first received it in the mail because he was sure he had never parked in the Australian National Car Parks parking area in North Ryde. He told the court he requested photographic evidence and was not satisfied with what they sent him: "I couldn't identify my car based on that photo," he said to the court, saying he then provided a sworn statement that he hadn't parked there and assumed "the matter would be closed", but it wasn't.
Note that the authorities latter dropped the charges against Australian National Car Parks.
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