The Federal Court has ordered Secure Parking to pay $10.95 million in penalties for making false or misleading claims across a five-year period regarding its “Secure-a-Spot” online service.
Last year, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) instituted Federal Court proceedings against Secure Parking, following complaints the company had made false or misleading representations to consumers between July 2017 and June 2022.
‘Secure-a-Spot’ was the parking firm’s name for its online service which allowed customers to pay before arriving at one of its 104 car parks across Australia.
However, Secure Parking’s marketing material falsely represented to customers that a parking space would be reserved for them at a particular time and date, which the service wasn’t capable of providing.
Its marketing material also included phrases such as ‘Book parking in advance and save’ and ‘Book online for a guaranteed spot’, though Secure Parking admitted this sometimes led to customers turning up to a car park which was at capacity and with their ‘booked’ space taken.
According to the competition watchdog, more than 10 million bookings were made via Secure-a-Spot in the five year period.
“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 in a media statement.
“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.
“This penalty sends a strong message to all businesses that making misleading claims to consumers about the nature of the services provided can attract substantial penalties.”
On top of the $10.95 million penalty fee, Secure Parking has also been ordered to pay an undisclosed part of the ACCC’s legal costs, publish corrective notices, and review its complaints handling systems.
Secure Parking has since renamed its pre-booking service to simply ‘Book Online’.
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