The police have estimated that parking guards in the City of Helsingborg have issued 355,000 parking notes without legal support.

According to police in the Region South, Helsingborg has hired a parking company even though a municipal decision has said that only municipal employees parking guards can issue parking notes.

At least three municipalities

The police have examined all municipalities in Blekinge, Kalmar, Kronoberg and Skåne counties. In addition to the Helsingborg case, the police have discovered another municipality, Karlshamn, which had similar shortcomings for several years.

The investigation was initiated after the court court granted a motorist the right to return the money for a parking note issued in Höganäs municipality. In that case, the High Court in 2015 found that the investigation showed that the municipality did not have competent parking guards for several years.

All three municipalities have now made their decisions. However, Helsingborg states that they do not share the police's assessment.

Not checking all municipalities

The plus editorial team has asked the other six police regions if they have done similar surveys to the police in southern Sweden. Only the North region states that they have done so.

In northern Sweden, the municipalities in Norrbotten County, as well as in the landscapes of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Medelpad have been checked, but there the police found no errors.

Every parking guard must be approved

SVT has previously reported a similar miss in a fourth municipality: Knivsta. In that case, it was a matter of the municipality's only parking guard issuing 2 216 incorrect parking remarks, because the parking guard was not appointed.

In order to obtain parking remarks on municipal street land, the guard must be appointed by the municipality, whether the person is employed by the municipality or by a parking company.

Much for a municipality to think about

There are also several other aspects that a municipality needs to consider in order not to risk issuing incorrect parking remarks, especially if the municipality chooses to add its own so-called local regulations.

- It is up to the municipalities to ensure that the decision-makers have the necessary expertise, says Emelie Schleenvoigt, lawyer in the police department of the South.

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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