In violation of the municipality's own rules, Helsingborg has since 2010 allowed a parking company to manage the municipality's parking monitoring. This is despite the fact that a council decision has stipulated that only municipal employees have the right to patch motorists on the municipality's streets and squares.

This is according to the police who have examined the municipality.

Only in the summer of 2019 was the decision changed, which according to the police means that all parking remarks issued by the parking company from January 1, 2010 to June 4, 2019 lack legal support.

"A matter of legal security"

Based on statistics from the Swedish Transport Agency, the Plus editorial board and SVT Nyheter Helsingborg have calculated that there are over 355,000 parking remarks worth almost SEK 185 million.

In correspondence with the municipality, the police emphasize that it is important for the residents of the municipality to be able to deduce the authority of the parking guards to current decisions:

"It is a matter of legal security".

The municipality does not agree

The City of Helsingborg does not agree with the police and has therefore seen no reason to neither inform nor replace the motorists.

- We have delegated this type of case to our city building board. This means that the board decides on these issues, says Oscar Grönvall, traffic manager in the city of Helsingborg.

However, the police are firm in their assessment.

- We have accepted Helsingborg's response, but still judged that their decision was not valid, says Peter Saarman, group chief at the police justice unit Syd.

A question for the court?

But despite this, it is unprofitable for the affected motorists to try to fight the police fine to the police. An objection must be made no later than six months after payment, which in practice means that the deadline has expired for all concerned.

For those motorists who want to claim the money back there is only one way: to take the municipality to court.

Can have major consequences

Jan Turvall, associate professor at the University of Gothenburg and expert on municipal administrative law, does not want to talk about the chances of motorists in such a scenario. But according to him, a positive outcome for the motorist could have major consequences.

- Then, according to the Administration Act, it would be the duty of the municipality to trace and compensate all the other motorists as far as possible, says Jan Turvall.

Do you have insight into the parking industry? Or do you feel mistakenly treated as a motorist, or in any other situation as a consumer? Contact Plus! Photo: Matilda Sandberg / SVT

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