'An affront to the taxpayers' - NCP gets £1.5m council debt write-off after failing to pay its bills

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Debts of almost £1.5m owed to Bolton Council by car parking giant NCP are to be written off by the the authority. The council, which has had to make more than £30m of cuts in the past three years, works with National Car Parks Ltd (NCP) to operate the multi-storey car parks at the Octagon, Topp Way and Deane Road, as well as surface car parks on Ashburner Street and the Octagon.

NCP also manages the maintenance and cash collection for the on-street pay and display terminals located in the borough. The contract was originally signed in 2009 with over an initial term of 35 years.

Within the contract, there is a requirement for NCP to make payments to the council of £79,398.90 per month. When the contract was first signed, the payment was £55,000. READ MORE: The gangsters from down the M62 who brought terror to Manchester READ MORE: Man dies after police incident closes section of M60 A report to Bolton council’s cabinet reads: “During the period March 2020 to present, use of the multi-story car parks was significantly impacted due to national and local Covid-19 restrictions and patronage has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.

As a result, NCP have experienced long periods where the car parks have either been closed, or operational but empty and have suffered a significant loss of income. “During this period NCP’s account with the council moved into arrears and as of August 2023 the outstanding debt was £3,844,819.40.” The meeting heard the council had been negotiating with NCP since February 2022 about the arrears.