Numerous people in East Nashville have received a letter, asking them to pay for parking tickets, that many of them said they were never given.
The letter claimed that the recipient never paid for parking tickets they allegedly received in the Premier Parking lot at Five Points.
Yet, many of those who received the notice said they haven’t parked in that parking lot for months or even years.
“It didn’t make any sense.” Benjamin Bishop, and East Nashville resident who received a letter, said. “I’ve actually never gotten a parking ticket since I moved to Nashville, I definitely would remember my first one.”
Bishop said when he goes to Five Points, he usually looks for street parking, avoiding the lots that charge, but the letter from Premier Parking said he parked in the lot 3 months ago and failed to pay, therefor he owed about $85.
At first, Bishop thought it could have been a simple mistake, and he reached out to the company, but he later found out that there were numerous other people who received the same letter.
In part, the letter said “If the amount indicated has not been paid within 14 days, we will be forced to forward your information to a third party collections agency.”
“That’s pretty strong wording.” Brian Hicks, another man who received the letter from East Nashville, said.
Hicks has lived in East Nashville for more than a decade, and he said he hasn’t parked in the Premier Parking lot for at least 6 months, contradicting what the letter claimed.
“Normally if you get a ticket, you’ll find it on your windshield.” Hicks explained.
Of the people News Channel 5 spoke to about this problem, none of them received a ticket on their car, likely because they weren’t parked there.
Many of those people reached out to Premier Parking, and Premier Parking could find no evidence of a ticket being issued.
Normally, Premier Parking will take a picture of the ticket on the car and put it in a file, but none of those pictures exist.
“If that’s the case, Premier Parking certainly has a lot to answer for.” Hicks said. “What if people get the letter and pay an $85 fine for something that’s not justified?”
In an email exchanged between one person we spoke to and Premier Parking, an employee with Premier Parking stated, “We did have an issue with this specific lot as in (sic) internal error” and added that some of the tickets issued may not be justified.
According to that employee, the company was in the process of switching systems in November when the tickets were allegedly given out.
The employee went on to say, “If you ever parked or received a ticket from us at any time the migration may have pulled your information from the system over to the new service.”
Essentially what that means is if you ever parked in the Premier Parking lot at Five Points, whether it be three months ago or three years ago, it’s possible the system could have falsely given you a ticket, and three months later, you could have received one of the aforementioned letters.
“Hopefully this gets straightened out and people don’t have to pay 85 bucks, because that really sucks.” Bishop added.
The good news is that if someone receives one of these notifications but has no recollection of receiving a ticket in the first place, they can reach out to Premier Parking, and if it was a mistake, it will be voided.
At this time, Premier Parking has not commented on what would happen if someone received one of these letters in error and paid for the ticket, even if they were not responsible for the issue.
If you have questions about any parking tickets you have received, you can visit Premier Parking’s website or call them at 615-238-2250.
News Channel 5 reached out to Premier Parking regarding the possibility of incorrectly issuing tickets, and they did not address the issue, but said anyone with questions can contact them, and if they find the violation is false, they will waive the ticket.
