The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Secure Parking Pty Ltd for allegedly breaching the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading claims about its ‘Secure-a-Spot’ service.
The ACCC alleges that over at least a five-year period between 2017 and 2022, Secure Parking represented to consumers that a booking made with its ‘Secure-a-Spot’ service would reserve a parking space chosen by the consumer at a particular time and date, when this was not the case.
“Anyone who has ever driven into a capital city CBD will know that pre-booking a parking space helps puts your mind at ease,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
“We have commenced these court proceedings because we allege Secure Parking was not providing the service it was representing to consumers, and did not reserve a parking space after consumers had pre-booked using the Secure-a-Spot service.”
Secure Parking’s car parks sometimes reached full capacity before people with a ‘Secure-a-Spot’ booking arrived at their pre-booked time, which meant there was no parking space available for them.
“Some of the consumers who were unable to access the parking space they’d booked complained that they were late to, or entirely missed, appointments, events, and work commitments,” Ms Carver said.
Secure Parking promoted its ‘Secure-a-Spot’ service through a range of representations made on its website, in direct marketing emails to subscribers, and in paid advertisements published online and in print which represented that by using the service, consumers would have a parking space reserved for them. These representations included:
- use of the name “Secure-a-spot”
- “With Secure-a-Spot, Secure Parking’s simple-as-can-be online booking service, you can ensure you’ll have hassle-free parking whenever you need it”
- “Book your parking online for a guaranteed parking spot”
- “An advance booking with Secure-a-Spot means guaranteed parking in the CBD at a much cheaper rate”
- “PARKING GUARANTEED”.
Secure Parking received a significant number of complaints from consumers who had booked parking online using the ‘Secure-a-Spot’ service but were unable to find a parking space when they arrived at the time of their booking.
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, compliance orders, corrective notices and costs.
Background
Secure Parking operates 474 car park facilities in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart. It is owned by a Japan-based car park operator, Park24 Co Ltd.
Secure Parking offers parking services, including traditional drive-up parking and online pre-bookings.
Secure-a-Spot was offered throughout the relevant period at 104 Car Parks in each of the cities in which Secure Parking operates.
Concise statement
The document ACCC v Secure Parking - concise statement contains the ACCC’s initiating court documents in relation to this matter. We will not be uploading further documents in the event these initial documents are subsequently amended.